Evening star., 1954-05-11
80 Plate Printers Out
AT Engraving Bureau
As Work Drops Off
By jones Waldo Fowcett

~ S0IUSS VVSt0V bSWSSN
Thirty plate printers in the
Bureau Of Engraving and Print
ing were notified yesterday that
they will lose their jobs on June
30.
1t is understood that Is others
are to be separated before the
end of the calendar year. After
the planned dismissalS take place
the bureau still will have on it's
rolls $50 plate printers.
Most of the men involved in
this reduction of staff have had
about years service and are
between 35 and so years of age.
All are skilled and experienced
craftsmen. None is being dis
missed for any fault or failure Of
his own, it was learned.
Associate Director Henry j..
Holtzclaw last night explained
that the requirements of the
Treasury and of the Federal Re-
serve System for currency are
declining approximately Is per
cent, and it is on account of this
circumstance that the bureau is
decreasing personnel. He said
that 1900 employees, most of
them women, have been dropped
from the rolls in recent months.
Some Firings Last July.
No change in policy is respon-
sible for the firing. Mr.. Holtz-
claw said. AS far back as July
10. 1858, it was discovered that
the production schedule did not
warrant continuing the appren-
tice program, and 10 apprentices
then working on presses printing
currency were reassigned to their
former jobs and 5 Journeymen
plate printers were discharged.
The apprentices protested their
reaSsignment and the Plate
Printers Union protested the
firing of the five plate printers,
with repercusSions that reached
all the way to the White House,
but the reduction order was not
rescinded. Instead, further cuts
were planned and now are to go
into effect.
The apprentices, however, be-
lieve that they have reason for
hope in the fact that last De-
cember. when it was announced
that Government bonds were to
be Surface-printed and not en-
graved, they officially were as
sured that future vacancies in
plate printer positions at the
Bureau will be filled by REIN
stating apprentices" The Plate
Printers Union argued that such
q procedure would be a discrimi-
nation against plate printers, but
the Civil Service Commission
ruled that the Treasury Depart
ment could use it's own dis
cretion.
Apprentice Hiring Unlikely.
No apprentices have been en-
gagged to replace journeymen
plate printers as yet, but it does
not follow inevitably that the ap-
prentice program will not be re-
vived and apprentices used in
lieu of some of the SIS plate
printers who are being "liqui-
dated" Mr.. Holtzclaw's opinion
Is that is very unlikely"
Meanwhile, the entire Bureau
personnel is nervous. One of the
reasons is a proposition made to
the Treasury Department by the
Thomas DeLaRue firm of Lon
don to supply the Bureau with
improved" British-built presses
with automatic feeder and de-
livery devices. The DeLaRue
machine would accommodate
plate large enough to print q
notes of standard currency size
at a contact, thus producing
2400 impressions an hour, as
against 800 an hour from the l8-
subject plates on the presses
now in operation in the Bureau.
Priced at $101, 900 for the first
installation and $85 900 for sub
sequent machines, the British
presses undoubtedly would bring
about the firing of additional
hundreds of Bureau employees.
The DeLaRue company has Of
fered to pay the expenses of a
committee of Bureau officials
from Washington to London to
see its press working, but Mr..
Holtzclaw has replied that no
consideration can be given to the
proposal at this time.
The dismissed plate printers
have no employment opportu-
mites in the Washington area
and will have to move to other
towns if they are to stay in their
trade. Their problem is compli-
Gated by the fact that the en-
craving business is of" every