Evening star., 1947-04-03
Conferees Begin Work
On Portal Pay Bills;
Veto Is Predicted
BY the Associated Pres.

House and Senate conferees
confronted by what one member
described as Substantial differ-
ences" in legislation against
portal pay, today tackled the
task of reaching q compromise.
~once that is accomplishing. it re-
mains to be seen whether President
Truman will sign or veto the bill.
fhere have been predictions of q
veto.
The No. aim OF the bills passed
by both houses Is to erase liability
tor 5000 .000. 900 In back pay claims
against industry. These resulted
from Supreme Court ruling that
wages could be sought for nonpro-
ductive activities controlled by the
employer. such as portal-to-portal
walking time.
The conference committees or
ganized yesterday, naming Senator
Donnell, Republican, of Missouri as
chairman. Members said there ap-
pears to be every disposition to get
dpwn to business"
Blow at Wage-Hour Law Feared.
opponents charged during de-
bate that the House and Senate
bills went beyond their original pur-
pose Of upsetting the Nationwide
stack of portal claims. Some Sen
ators expressed fear the bill in their
chamber would strike a blow at
the wage-hour law. Supporters
pooh -poofed this contention and
called the claims . threat to the
Nations economy.
Senator. Lucas, Democrat, Of Illi-
neis said he believed President Tru-
man would veto the bill passed by
the Senate, ard Senator Pepper,
Democrat, of Florida chimed in with
the hope that MIR. Truman would
do so.
One man in daily contact with
the President gave as his personal
opinion today that no bill acceptable
I'd Mr.. Truman is likely to come
from Congress.
Two Major Differences in Bills.
There are two major differences
In the House and Senate versions.
The first deals with future claims.
The House bill outlaws them all,
on the same basis as pending suits.
The Senate bill wipes out future
pay claims for portal activities be-
fore and after the regular work day,
defined as the workers period Of
principal activity" but it leaves
back-wage claims for portal activi-
ties during the work day to court
settlement or collective bargaining
The other important difference Is
on statute of limitation provisions
The House bill fixes q one-year time
limit after the work was done for
the filing of any qualified claims.
The Senate measure fixes q two
year limit.
Seek to Avoid New Court Test.
Meanwhile, counsel for employees
Of the Mount Clemens (Mich.) Pot
terry Co., whose portal suit resulted
In the Supreme Court ruling, moved
yesterday to avoid another immed-
date test in the high court and thus
force Congress and Mr.. Truman to
act s-s~s ssssesa1 S
After the tribunal handed down
its decision. The case was returned
to Federal District Judge Frank A.
Picard of Detroit to determine how
much the pottery workers should re-
ceive. Judge Picard dismissed the
suit on the ground that the work
time involved was inconsequential.
The employees appealed to the Gin
cilInati court Attorney General
Clark then asked The Supreme Court
for an irnmediate review of the ac-
tior1: - ~ ~a7ss .s'r $500
Edward Lamb, attorney for the
employees. yesterday filed motion to
dismiss the appeal, A representa-
tive OF the workers said this would
head off another Supreme Court
III.