Evening star., 1950-02-12
ext of Coal Inquiry Boards Report Submitted President Strike

bor Management Relations Act,
1947.
(c) The provisions governing
the administration of the pension
and welfare fund. The changes
demanded here were, in substance,
that rules and regulations cover
ing the administration of this
fund be included in the contract,
that changes be made regarding
the eligibility Of pensioners and
beneficiaries. and that different
provisions be made for the ap-
pointment of trustees to admins
ter the fund. Reliance was placed,
in support of these demands, upon
alleged maladministration of this
fund, resulting in its bankruptcy"
Just as the operators had insist
ed on acceptance of the changes
indicated in these provisions prior
to any consideration of the money
matters, the Unions position until
the last negotiation had been that
no question could be entertained
on these non-money matters.
2. The current situation.
The board deemed 1t essential,
in ascertaining the actual causes
and circumstances of this dis
pute, to get beyond what the par
ties themselves described as road
blocks" to their collective bar
gaining. At a public hearing on
February 8, at 10 am, spokesmen
for the parties were questioned
on why collective bargaining had
apparently been so barren. The
answers offered were plainly in
adequate. The board therefore
proposed that the parties engage
in collective bargaining in it's
presence, SO that it might observe
the difficulties at first hand. All
the parties agreed to follow this
course.
Conferences Promptly Arranged.
Two conferences were promptly
arranged, one between the union
and the National Bituminous Coal
Wage Conference and captive
mine representatives, and the
other between the union and the
Southern Coal Producers Asso-
citation. These discussions started
at 2 pm. on February 8 and con-
tinued. with a recess for dinner,
until midnight.
At these conferences the parties
bargained over the terms and
conditions of an agreement. 1t is
believed that some progress was
made in the direction of Clarity
ing the issues and perhaps in
narrowing the gap separating the
parties. 1t seemed that either be-
Cause of the desire to exhibit to
the board members attitudes and
positions that would appear as
reasonable as possible or because
of sincere desire at this late
date to reach an agreement, the
conditions precedent" which had
apparently acted as bars to een-
uine bargaining in t." past six
or eight months were. for practical
purposes, reduced in stature to
ordinary items in dispute.
Regardless Of any other value
these sessions may have had, they
proved exceedingly helpful to the
board in sscertaining some of the
major circumstances of the pres
cnt dispute. Accordingly. at the
public nearing called the follow
ing morning, the board suggested
and the larties agreed that
further oral presentation be
waived. and that the parties
confine themselves to the filing
of such written statements, ex-
hibits, or other evidence as they
desired. The board believed,
further, that tois procedure would
help avoid the possibility of need
less displays OF antagonism.
The significant fact which
emerged from this inquiry is that
this is basically a dispute, at the
present stage, over the wage and
welfare fund contribution issues.
Behind the tactical maneuverings
Iof the negotiators is fundamen-
tally an issue of dollars and cents.
1t would be entirely improper
to infer from this statement a
conclusion on the part of this
board that the non-wage issues
in this case are unimportant.
They are not unimportant. They
involve issues of significant prin-
Iciple. It is evident, however, from
the bargaining which the board
observed, that mutually accept
able terms covering these non-
wage issues can be negotiated once
the money issues are resolved.
Responsible representatives of all
the parties involved reflected this
belief.
Money Issues Difficult.
Inc CWo money issues are more
difficult. That difficulty has been
enhanced, at least to a degree, by
some Of the bargaining tactics
which have been pursued. The
unions failure even at this late
stage to present specific demands
on the money issues has contrib
uted to the Illustration of the bar
gaining. Yet this factor might
have been neutralized if, at the
bargaining session On February 2,
the representatives of the Northern
and Western operators had not
broken off negotiations at the first
concrete sign in many weeks that
bargaining without reservations"
was being proposed.
Both parties have contributed