Evening star., 1947-04-07

effective" she declared.
The company said 951 employees
were at their posts by 10 am.
Pickets Orderly, Cheerful.
The picket lines were orderly and
cheerful. Pickets made no effort to
prevent company management and
supervisory employees from enter
ing the main building. There was.
however, an obvious atmosphere of
GOODNESS when any company en-
ploye entered the building.
Each of the picketers carried signs.
Typical inscriptions were: "The
voice with smile will be gone for
a while" Millions for profit but
nothing for workers; On Strike
for Union Security"
Around -the-clock picketing is
planned. Union spokesmen said no
women would be in the lines from
midnight to 6 am.
Inside the telephone company's
main building, which was picketed
on the Twelfth street as well as
Thirteenth street side, the execu-
tives and management and super
visory personnel went about their
assigned duties without confusion.
Company Cafeterias Open.
Four Of the company's IL cafe
terias were open for business, but
were being run mostly by employees
from managerial desks. Only one
elevator was running. The cafeterias
in operation were in the headquar-
ters building and at branch offices
at 14th and r streets NV. the
Columbia road building and the
Ludlow Exchange, Fifth and E
streets NE. Breakfasts Of scram-
bled eggs, fruit juices, cereals and
coffee were ready for workers who
reported this morning.
The company has provided 300
cots and has set In store of food
at its main and branch offices SO
that most of the 800 employees will
be continuously available.
This, according to officials, is ex-
pected to keep the entire system. in
Guiding the Ludlow, Capitol Heights
and Spruce exchanges, in operation.
Those three exchanges are manual,
but will be in operation for essen
tia1 calls, officials said.
Radio Networks Unaffected.
Network radio stations so far
have been unaffected by the tele-
phone strike.
A radio station official said today
no trouble is expected in broadcast
ing network programs "piped' from
another city except in the case of
a breakdown of lines which the
telephone company. might have
difficulty in repairing because of
the strike.
One effect the telephone strike
will have will be to restrict a local
radio station from picking UP
remote programs elsewhere in its
area where it does not already have
connections.
Radio engineers notified the sta
tions they would not handle pickups
from installations made by nom
union workers
The walkout of repeater" station
men along with other
long lines workers has left the COM
pany with special problem of pre-
venting breakdowns which would
seriously cripple telegraph. teletpye
and radio as well as telephone serv-
ice.
Supervisors Standing BY.
Supervisory personnel were sta
toned today at some repeater"
stations in this area. The company
said it believes many of the stations
can operate safely without continu-
Gus supervision.
I'VE have sufficient personnel to
care for these stations where neces-
sary at this time an official said.
Some of the stations can be left
for periods of hours or
days. But we are confident we can
meet any trouble that might arise"
The interdepartmental telephone
board providing direct telephone
communication among many Fed
eral Government buildings still was
in operation, except for calls from
the outside.
Is Part of Dial System.
This board will continue to func-
ton because it is part of the dial
system. the company stated. A COM
pany representative said that even
if this special board arrangement
were discontinued because of the
strike the operation of dial tele-
phones in Government offices would
continue so long as the dial system
stands.
The interdepartEnental board. he
explained. enables a person in one
department to telephone directly to
the switchboard in another depart
ment by dialing a special number
for that department. The switch
board in the other department then
puts through the call to the re-
uuested extension. This enables one
to call another without
going through the telephone COM
pany's main boards.
Calls from outside or from small
Federal agencies with no ''tie lines
directly to the major department
switchboards. however, were not be-
ing handled by the interdepart-
mental board today. Such calls can
be put through only by dialing the
general directory number of the de-
partment wanted
Company Move Rejected.
The Washington workers joined
the Nationwide strike after the
collapse of last-minute local con-
ciliation efforts at a three hour
meeting in the Hamilton Hotel last
night. Federal conciiiators met with
representatives OF the company and