Evening star., 1947-04-16
Telephone
Continued From First Page.)

ElGlit, WILL UIUdQCdNk q Icply W NIL
Schwellenbach's proposal from 81!
to $3.50 pm. over the American
Broadcasting Co., which last nigh
carried the Secretarys message
4 Station WMAL plans to broadcas
a transcription of the Beirne tall
at $3.50.
Local telephone company official.
announced that 35 nonsupervisory
employees returned to work today
making the number of "bargained.
for" employees on the job 548.
Urging the public to demand &C.
ceptance Of his settlement terms
Mr.. Schwellenbach said in a radio
broadcast last night he would moi
accept the rejection without put.
ting up fight"
Proposal Made for Public.
81 made the proposal on behalf
of the American people and I an
asking you who want telephone
service, and who pay the telephone
bills, to demand of each side that
they accept the proposal which ]
made" the Secretary said.
Mr.. Schwellenbach's plan would
have ended the strike by 5 pm. to-
morrow. 1t called for an impartial
five-man board of arbitration to
settle six of the unions 10 national
demands in 80 days and the settle
ment Of other issues in two days
of intensive collective bargaining
Forty-five different decisions would
be handed down, applying to each
of the disputes between NFTW
ahliates and Bell System subsidi-
aries.
When the answers came In, 1t was
obvious that neither side was willing
to give up the basic ideals which
precipitated the strike.
Plan Called Impraeticable.
Answering for the telephone in
dustry. C. F. Craig. vice president
of A. T. & T., said the companies
approved the general basis of Mr.
Schwellenbach's proposal, but added
that it was entirely impracticable
to place all cases before one board
Mr.. Craig suggested, in one of 1a
proposed changes to the plan, that
10 regional arbitration boards might
be set up to review the cases. He
said the companies preferred sep
arate boards for each cofnpany's
disputes, but would accept the
regional plan. The companies be-
lieved it would require from six to
u months for one board to hear all
the questions in dispute, he added
Mr.. Schwellenbach stated his
views on regional arbitration in his
broadcast. He recalled that regional
negotiations broke down during the
war and a national commission was
set up at the insistence of both the
companies and unions.
| Mr.. Beirne wrote Mr.. Schwellen-
bach that his plan was unacceptable
in its present form.
Wants Nonstrikers Included.
| The union Policy Committee had
ruled that any proposal to terminate
the strike must include a general
wage offer and retroactivity.
One of the unions demands is a
S12 acroSs-the-board wage increase
Bell System companies by and large
have made no wage offers, but have
proposed to extend present con-
tracts.
Commenting on the secretary's
proposal, j. B. Morrison, vice pres
ident and general manager of the
Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone
Co.. said I'VE did not reject the
proposal; we accepted it in prin-
ciple but offered amendments de-
signed solely to expedite and imple-
ment final decisions on the issues
in dispute"
Urging appointment of regional
arbitration boards, Mr.. Morrison
said acceptance of the original plan
would result in some cases remain
ing in dispute for months after de-
cisions were reached in other cases.
causing difficulties over retroactivity
claims and effective dates.
Paeprrc fy.Ny,, YvIia y,1A,cefo ~,