Evening star., 1951-01-27
The Bockqround Of the Railroad Snofu
By jones Y. Newton

railroad wage dispute will be affected by
Yesterdays price wage freeze. The Wage
Sterilization Board has yet to decide
whether railroad pay comes under its
jurisdiction. But IN any event, what
ever wage stabilization plan eventually
emerges from the freeze, the railroad
problem is bound to cause some planner
a king sized headache.
Railroad labor relations month
ago looked very rosy indeed. Rail
management and the heads of the four
big operating unions representing the
people who run the trains) had just
signed a memorandum of agreement"
on wages and hours. Their failure to
get together earlier had led to wildcat"
strikes that snarled traffic at Union
Station and in dozen other rail yards
over the country.
The agreement signed December 81 at
the White House was subject to rati-
fication by the governing boards OF all
four unions, but nevertheless 1t gave
every appearance of being real three
year 'peace pact" It was described in
these terms by the newspapers. In 20
years union general chairmen" never
once had repudiated wage agreement
reached by the chiefs. The last time was
in 1928 the chiefs had affixed their
signatures.
Then things began to happen. Start
ing with the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, the general chairmen OF each
union refused to approve the agreement.
The union chiefs were Instructed to
come back to Washington and seek a
better contract.
Today, things are fouled up for fair.
The four chiefs are in town seeking
better things. Rail management nego-
tiators are standing by but saying they
will not bulge one inch from terms OF
the December 81 agreement"
Every now and then story appears
from anonymous union sources blaming
recalcitrant rail oWnerS-the Govern
ment, in general and John R. Steelman.
assistant to President Truman, in par
ticular-for the current snafu. DR..
Steelman is the man who finally OBJ
tanned the December agreement" after
holding the negotiators together over
night at the White House.
1t is very unhealthy situation, one
that could lead any time to new out
breaks of the wildcat" strikes which
tied up the pre-Christmas mails.
Rail labor relations and rail labor
agreements are very complicated things.
defying elucidation in anything short
of several thousands of words. But
here is some of the background of the
present goings-on:
Actually, this situation Is the result
of an almost complete breakdown OF
collective bargaining in the rail indus
try.
More and more, in recent years. the
unions especially have come to look to
the White House for aid. 1t all started
back in 1941 when the rail workers
baked at wage recommendations of an
emergency fact-finding board. Presi-
dent Roosevelt instructed the board to
reopen the case and mediate the dis
pute The ultimate settlement gave
the unions a few cents an hour moro
than the board had suggested originally.
1t has been the custom since for rail
disputes to wind up at the White House.
and generally the efforts OF the union
chiefs are rewarded.
Until that incident, the machinery
provided by the Railway Labor Act for
peaceful settlement of rail disputes had
worked well. The act was considered
a model for the resolution of labor
rarity when both sides did not go along
with emergency board settlement recon-
mendations-even though, other than
that supplied by public opinion, there
never was any compulsion on either
party to accept a boards finding.
Today, all that is changed. Accept
ance now has become the exception
rather than the rule.
hOord Rr6ipu 10 CT T1rc- Uoooc
hours and work rules-was rejected.
1t involved two of the unions-the
trainmen and conductors. The other
two in the present controversy-the
locomotive engineers and the flremen
Joined the wage movement later.
Things rocked along from crisis to
crisis until the agreement" was ham
mered out December 81. In 1t the
unions were given substantially more
than the board suggested. They un-
doubtedly were entitled to it, since living
costs had scared meantime, and the
workers involved had not had a wage
boost since October, 1948.
Some union sources have accused Dr.
Steelman of misleading reporters and
the public by indicating that the agree
ment was final and binding when he
knew it had to be approved by the union
boards. But it was the union chiefs
themselves, probably more than DR..
Steelman, from whose remarks the re-
porters got the definite impression that
board approvals were routine.
The agreement was announced at
news conference. DR.. Steelman ex-
planned it at length. AfterWard, j. P.
Shields, president of the engineers,
SpOke for the unions He said that
while they did not get as many con-
cessions as they thought they should
have, they were willing to sign up be-
cause of the national emergency.
'I just hope the Government, the
railroads and the general public" Mr.
Shields said, will appreciate the con-
tributions we on labor's side feel we
have made in this emergency
Mr.. Shields remarks were echoed by