Evening star., 1950-07-07
|Swifchmen Call Off
Strike Against Four
l0f Five Railroads
BY the Asseeiesed Press


men have called off their 12-day
strike against four of five big Mid
west and Western railroads. They
acted yesterday after President
Truman called the strike unjusti-
fed and threatened drastic action
The strike against the Chicago
Rock Island & Pacific continues.
The other lines-the Chicago
Great Western. the Great North
ern, the Denver g. Rio Grande
Western, and the Western Pacific
bent all efforts today to get rolling
again.
The end Of the strike on the
four lines came eight hours after
the President told a news confer
ence he would take drastic action
If necessary to halt the strike OF
1000 members Of the AFL Switch
mems Union of North America.
Trains Start Rolling.
He did not say what he would
do If his demand was ignored. He
did not, for example. say whether
he would ask Government seizure
of the lines.
The Western Pacific said in San
Francisco 1t would run its passen-
ger trains today. Officers of the
Great Northern, at st. Paul, Mimi,
announced operations would be
resumed "as fast as we cam
D. g. G. w. officials at Denver
said their trains would be rolling
"as rapidly as possible"
A spokesman for the Chicago
Great Western said, "We hope to
start running trains tonight. If
we have the tonnage"
The switchmen said they would
continue their strike against the
Rock Island 'to learn whether
free men in a free country can
still bargain with their employers
without fear that big Gov
ernment will team up with obsti-
nate employers"
Rail President Shocked
]. D. harrington. president of
the Rock Island, was quoted by a
line spokesman as saying he was
Shocked that the Rock Island
should be singled out" for con-
tinuation of the strike.
The Rock Island is paralleled by
other rail lines. union spokes-
man commented, and therefore
there is no strike emergency on it.
This way the railroads won't
be able to scream about an emer-
gency being created by the Rock
Islands switchmenif being on
strike"
The 8,000-mile Rock Island sys-
tenn runs from Chicago and con-
meets with West Coast lines in
New Mexico and Colorado.
The switohman went of the
job June Is in protest to presi-
Dental Fact-Finding Boards re-
port. The unionists wanted a 40
hour week at 48 hours pay. The
board approved. the 40-hour de-
mand, but suggested an 18 cent an
hour pay increase boost instead of
the 48 hours pay-about half Of
what the switchmen sought.
Glover Issues Statement.
The end of the strike on the
four lines was announced by Ar
thur j. Glover, the switchmen's
president, at news conference.
Mr.. Glover said that the Rock
Island strike would go on while
the union continues to attempt
to negotiate a settlement of the
issues in dispute"
In a statement of the unions S
position, he added:
There has been no true COL
lective bargaining in the railroad
industry for years. There has
been no true collective bargaining
in this dispute.
Railroad management has said
Go on strike. we don't care; the
Government will come in on our
side and knock the hell out of
the switchmen's union And
judging from President Truman's
remarks today (Thursday), rail-
road management has been on the
right track. Our strike is legal.
We have complied with all pro-
visions of the Railway Labor Act.
Now We'll just find out whether
a legal strike against a railroad
Is possible in this free country. /"