Evening star., 1950-02-18
Farley
Asked asFirm
Charges Sailing
Unions 15-Cent Wuqe
Demand Held Bid for
Intervention by U. S.

DSWuH0 7elQ DIO TOR
Intervention by U. S.
One division of the Chesapeake
q Potomac Telephone Co.'S union
employees today answered a COM
pany charge of union stalling
with demand for a bargaining
meeting to be held this afternoon,
The company's charge was made
by c. H. Johnson, vice president
and general manager, after the
union announced yesterday its
demand for a 15-cent-an-h hour
wage increase.
Mr.. Johnson said this was the
first time the union indicated the
magnitude of its wage demands
since bargaining started Febru-
ary /. He charged the union
with waiting until the final hours
before the strike deadline of next
Friday in an attempt to bring
about Government intervention.
Watts Asks Meeting Advance.
Glenn E. Watts, president OF
Division 36 of the CIO Communi-
cations Workers of America, re-
piled with a demand that the
company meet with the union to-
day instead of Monday. He said
he would ask that a representa-
tive of the Federal Mediation and
Cancellation Service sit in on the
meeting.
The company and Divisions 36
and so of the union agreed yes
terday to meet again Monday,
but this was before Mr.. Johnson's
statement was issued 1t seemed
doubtful that Mr.. Watts could OBJ
tain the meeting today.
After Mr.. Watts demand
company spokesman said: Meet
lngs are scheduled for 2 m. Mon
day and that's when they will be
held so far as is known at this
time"
Proposal a Package" Item.
Division So includes $500. plant
workers and commercial employees
and Division SO has $500 op-
orators and clerical workers. The
l5-cent proposal is for package
increase which may take the form
OF higher basic wages or shorten
ing of intervals between periodic
wage increases employees receive.
The 15-cent demand was or
dered yesterday by the parent
union. Joseph Beirne, CWA presi-
dent. said orders to lay the con-
tract demand before telephone
management had been sent to all
25 of the unions negotiating divi-
sions.
Mr.. Johnson, in his statement,
said of the union demand:
THE unions did not further
clarity their demand at today's
(Friday's) meeting. In the few
days remaining before the strike
deadline, the company representa-
tlves must endeavor to have the
unions clarity and justify their
demand.
This maneuver of the unions
in waiting until the final hours to
make a specific demand is an OBJ
Vlous attempt to bring about the
substitution of Government inter-
vention for real collective bar
gaining.
Continued threats of a strike
by national union leaders which
were made before our bargaining
began and which have continued.
a proposal to arbitrate the issues
only after few biref bargaining
sessions and the repeated stalling
and evasive tactics of the unions
make this conclusion apparent"
Firms Stand Held Evasive.
Mr.. Watts said the company
so far has refused to say yes, no,
Or even maybe" to the unions re-
quest for wage increase.
Mr.. Watts said that when the
15-cent figure was advanced yes
terday, S. A. Moss, general plant
and chief negotiator for
the company, said he would take
the figure, determine what it
would cost the company, and try
to give an answer Monday.
After reading Mr.. Johnson's
statement, Mr.. Watts said. OBJ
Mr.. Moss has been re-
versed by the hierarchy of the
Bell System in its master plan
to force a strike and break our
union"
Mr.. Watts said the union asked
for a general wage increase last
January l when it notified the
company of its desire to reopen
negotiations on the contract. He
indicated that the union did not
name Spec1lc ngure, believing
that if the company agreed to
an increase it would not be diff
ficult to arrive at a figure and il
the company said no. there was
no use going on.
Ads Held Misleading.
He said also that after a figure
is set, the company endeavors
to discredit the union by mislead-
ing advertising. In 1947, he said,
the union asked for an increase
OF S12 a week and the company
put it. at $35' a week in its ad-
vertising and said it would cost
every subscriber Sc a month more.
They considered the entire
War Department as a single sub
scriber in that advertisement.
when the department had about
12,500 telephones Mr.. Watts
said. 1--WE got a wage increase
and the rates were not raised"
Mrs. Eleanor Jane Palmer, head