Evening star., 1946-07-21
Companies Supplying
Railroads With Ice
Fear Crosser Bill
By Gould Lincoln


have a tough time getting ice If the
Crosser bill, amending the Railroad
Retirement Act, is passed by the
Senate next week without amend
ment
The measure has already passed
the House. and Majority Leader
Barley will demand action on it in
the upper house before Congress
adjourns.
The bill has been vigorously as
sailed, first on the ground that it
will add another $100000,00 to the
annual costs of the railroads-piledl
on top of the $500, 100000 wage in
crease which the workers recently
won in their controversy with man.
agement, and second, that 1t will set
pattern for retirement and unem-
| ployment insurance rates that would
necessitate an annual payroll take"
of $20,000,0 ,000,0 900 if applied to all
other workers covered by social in
surance.
At the time the Crosser bill was
before the House Interstate Com
merce Committee, Chairman Lea,
Democrat, of California, declared
that the economy of the country
could not stand such burden.
The fact that the railroads may
have difficulty getting ice If the
Crosser bill is unamended was made
clear by Mount Taylor, executive
secretary of the National Association
of Ice Industries. He said that many
ice companies which supply the rail-
roads are unwilling to continue to
do so unless the proposed law-now
the Crosser bill-states definitely
that their employees, who ice the re-
| frigerator cars, are not to come
under the terms of the act.
Forsees Forced" Tax.
Mr.. Taylor. estimated that under
| the Crosser bill a payroll tax up to
II to IA per cent would be forced
upon the railroad companies and
perhaps upon the ice companies as
well as other companies, like freight
forwarders and railroad controlled
motor companies. This will be used
1Ol S1CdllN lAIl CdoCo
benefits and unemployment insur-
ance Half of this tax will be born
by the employers and the other half
by the employees. However. MIR. Tay-
lor said that the burden would fall
entirely upon the employers in the
end, since increases in wages would
probably be demanded and OBJ
q iYnG fn tho iy1n fox
charged to the employees.
Ice companies which have been
supplying the refrigerator cars, Mr..
Taylor said. are unwilling to take a
chance on this matter They want
it written into the law they will not
be affected. Some of the companies
have definitely stated they will not
continue to supply ice to the rail-
roads, he said, and some will make
it clear in the contracts they are
now making.
There are $500 ice companies in
the country and between 1900 and
2,300 supply ice to the railroads.
Large terminal companies-at rail-
road terminals-whose business Is
principally with the railroads, will,
Mr.. Taylor said, continue to furnish
the ice, regardless of the Crosser
bill. 1t Is the other companies, To-
Gated on railroad runs which are
called upon frequently to re-ice cars,
or which have a regular business of
re-icing them en- route, which are
objecting to the provisions of the
Crosser bill. The business they do
with the railroads amounts to as
little as 20 or 10 or even per cent
of their total volume of business.
Confident of Passage.
Senator Barkley of Kentucky, ma
jority leader, who reported the
Crosser bill from the Interstate
Commerce Committee and is in
charge of the measure, said today
he planned to press for action on
the bill as soon as possible. He is
confident it will pass.
In a report from the committee
approving the bill, Senator Barkley
said:
Many representations have been
made to the committee indicating
that persons (other than carriers
subject to part I of the Interstate
Commerce Act) engaged in manu-
featuring, harvesting, storing, dis
trlbuting, selling or delivering re-
frigeration or ice to or into equip
ment used for refrigeration purposes
in connection with the transporta-
ton of passengers or property are
included in the term employer and |
that, therefore, their employees will
be considered to be railroad en-
ployes
THE committee would like to state
categorically that there is no pur-
pose or intent to include such per-
sons as employers under the act and
that it is the unanimous under
standing of the committee that such
persons are not SO covered.
THE committee also unanimously
understands that there is no
purpose or intent to include ware
house or trucking companies or
individuals carrying on either busi-
ness, within the term of employer
If they are not owned or controlled, 4
directly or indirectly, by common
carrier"
Fear misunderstanding.
Representatives of the ice COM
panies reply that if this is the case,
they see no reason why the language
should not specifically exempt them
from the operation of the bill, rather
than leave the matter to an under
standing" by the members of the
committee, which might or might
not stand up in court later.
The provisions of the Crosser bill
go beyond those for workers in other
industries covered by the Social
Security Act, when it comes to bene-
fit payments. Even at present, the
railroad workers are given advan-
tages over those in other industries
in this matter of social security. The
carriers and the employees share
seven per cent payroll tax for PEN
sions-which runs to $3.50, 900 900 on
a $4,000,000 900 payroll. This tax
would be raised to II per cent and
in three years would go to 121s per
cent. In other industries, the
present social security tax payment
is | per cent paid by the emnloyer