Evening star., 1946-01-13
1877 Increase Urged
For Oil Workers by
Fact-Finding Board
b the Associated Press.

b. the Associated Press.
A general wage increase of Is per
cent was recommended yesterday
by a presidential fact-finding board
for about $4,000 CIO Oil workers.
Under the proposed boost, the
average hourly pay Of the workers
would 60 from $120 to $1.40 per
hour. The union had asked 80 per
cent. The board said no compen-
sating price increase in oil would
be necessary.
Most of the major refineries and
pipelines in the Nation are at pres
ent under Navy control, having been
seized last October to avert fuel
shortage on Navy ships when Fed
eral efforts at conciliation of the
wage dispute broke down.
Some Disputes Settled.
Some of the companies, in the
meantime, have reached private
agreements with the union on the
18 per cent basis.
The recommendation came from
o three-man fact-finding board, the
first appointed under President
Truman's plan to try to solve labor
dificulties under that procedure.
Secretary of Labor Schwellenbach,
who announced the finding, called
1t sound and fair"
The board said the principal fac
tors considered in arriving at it's 18
per cent recommendation were in
creases in the cost of living, the
reduction in take-home pay which
will result in a return to the 40
hour week, the general financial
condition of the industry, and the
ability of the companies to pay the
wage increases without a price
boost.
In the judgment of the panel
the group added. "the earnings of
the workers must be as high as is
consistent with both the mainte-
nance of the stability of the price
structure and the provision for rea-
sonable returns to the owners Of
industry"
OF the So Oil properties originally
taken over by the Navy under a
presidential directive, the Navy now
Is in possession of SO refineries and
three pipe lines.
The Labor Department recalled
that it was announced at the out
set of the hearings that the board S
recommendations would apply to all
companies whose plants were under
Navy control. The department said
the total number of employees in
these companies is 24.436. 1t listed
the total number of oil workers in
this country as 141,417.
Basis for Agreement.
Members of the oil fact finding
board were Frank P. Graham, chair
man; Paul Eliel and Otto S. Boyer.
Mr.. Schwellenbach commented in
a statement that:
The recommendations proposed
by the panel provide basis for the
speedy conclusion of collective bar
gaining between the parties so that
the plants and facilities may be re-
leased promptly to their owners. by
the Navy"
In New York, Clark S. Teitsworth,
chairman of the Socony-V Vacuum
Oil Co.'S Manufacturing Committee,
said his concern has been prepared
to pay a wage increase OF 18 per
cent, provided the new contracts
with the union for 40-hour week
cover at least period Of one year
and do not include any closed shop
or maintenance Of membership pro-
visions"
A New York spokesman for the
Sinclair Refining Co., which also
had been involved In the pay dis
pute, said the report apparently
was in line with our agreement,
which now is in effect"
. o. A. Knight, president OF the
CIO Oil Workers international
Union said at Fort Worth, Tex,
that the fact-finding panels recon-
mendation of the 18 per cent wage
increase for oil workers reduces the
entire fact-flnding approach in in
dustrial disputes to an absurdlty.
He said the union would continue
negotiations with the oil companies
in an effort to attain the 80 per
a.~+ ;,,oraoSo II had demanded