Evening star., 1953-07-01
Transit Dispute
Still Unsettled;
Talks Continue
Hopes Of Averting
Strike Are Pinned
On Session Today
By Froncis P. Doubles

~S~9tSS
The District Commissioners
and Federal mediators were to
have another 60 at attempting
to break the deadlock in the
Capital Transit pension dispute
this afternoon.
What the outcome would be
was problematical. Samuel
Spencer president of the Board
of Commissioners. described the
as delicate"
The Commissioners and medi-
ators, however, had one achieve
ment to their credit: No strike
has yet been called.
Most Washingtonians went to
bed last night not knowing
whether they were to take a
bus or streetcar to work this
The Stars switchboard
was flooded with calls from per-
sons trying to learn whether
there would be a strike.
The hour of the expiration Of
the present pension contract
last midnight-which was also
the earliest moment when the
union leaders were authorized by
the unions members to call a
strike. passed with no strike ac-
ton taken.
Agree to Stay Strike.
At that hour the union lead
ers were closeted with Federal
Mediator D. Yates Heafner and
Martin j. O'Connell. regional di-
rector of the Mediation and Con-
ciliation Service.
Shortly before / o'clock this
morning a statement was issued
saying the Commissioners and
the Federal mediatorS had
"jointly requested the union to
stay any strike action" for the
time being, and that the union
had agreed. The statement said
another meeting would be held
at 2:30 pm. today in Commis-
ssoner Spencer's Office in the
District Building.
1t was the climax Of a Az hour
meeting in air-conditioned Of
fees in the Labor Department
Building. Commissioner Spen-
GERS Office is not air-conditioned.
Parties Never Together.
At no time during the evening
were the two parties to the dis
pute together.
Commissioner Spencer. Com
missioner Renah F. Camalier
and Brig. Gen. Louis w. Prem
tiSS, engineer Commissioner, and
Mr.. O'Connell and Mr.. Haefner
were closeted in one conference
room. Company officials were
in an office down the corridor
and union officials in a large
room at the end of the corridor.
After a discussion by the COM
and mediators, j. A.
B. Broadwater, Capital Transit
and Edmund L. Jones,
general counsel of the company,
were called in.
A half hour later they emerged
from the conference room and
President Walter j. Bierwagen
OF the union and Bernard Cush-
man, attorney for the union.
were summoned. They, too,
stayed about a half hour and
then returned to their group for
a consultation.
The union representatives
then went back to the confer
ence room. There was more dis
cusslon and then Mr.. Camalier
read the statement about the
stay of the strike.
Proposal Rejected.
1t was learned that at yester-
day afternoons meeting of both
company and union groups in
Mr.. Spencers office, the COM
pany officials had been asked il
they would settle the dispute on
the basis of the unions estimate
of the cost of the increased
pensions. The company is said
to have rejected such a proposal.
The union is asking for
monthly pensions of $104 as
against the present figure of $40.
The company has said this
would cost it $1,006,000. The
union has not made public it's
figure, but it is understood to be
considerably lower.
The company's position is that
1t cannot afford to pay the cost
of increased pensions and that
present pensions are liberal. It
also has rejected the unions
demand that the issue be arbi-
trated.
Mr.. Bierwagen yesterday re-
piled to a letter to him by Doran
S. Weinsteln, executive vice
president of the company, in
which the union was warned
that if it struck the company
(See TRANSIT. Page A-3.)