Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-15

measure.
President Eisenhower is ex-
pected to veto the legislation this
week and Republicans predict
that Congress will sustain the
veto.
This also will delay pay raise
legislation for the Governments
classified employees.
Who is to blame for the dis
pute which is holding up enact
ment of the postal pay bill?
Each side blames the other.
ARGUMENTS - William c.
Doherty, president Of the AFL
National Association Of Letter
Carriers. says it seems "incredi-
ble' to him that President Eli
senhower will veto a measure
because it averages 13 cents a
day more for postal workers than
the administrations 7.6 per cent
top offer.
Thirteen cents day won't
even buy a daily loaf Of bread, "
Mr.. Doherty said. II have always
felt that President Eisenhower
was a great humanitarian. And
that's why I keep refusing to
believe that because the bill APP
proved by Congress gives postal
workers and their families an
extra 10 cents day over the
administrations proposal, the
President will veto the bill"
Administration officials blame
the large postal unions for the
impasse on postal and classified
pay.
A top Post Office Department
official declared: 1.-THE stubborn
ness of some postal union leaders
in insisting on legislation which
would give their members less
than 81 extra a week has jeap-
ordized the pay raise chance Of
all postal and classified en-
ployes.
Most postal workers under
the 7.6 per cent bill which origi-
nally had been approved by the
House Civil Service Committee
and which the administration
favored. would have received
more than an 8 per cent raise,
But for the sake of an addi-
tional $40 a year the large
postal unions rejected the bill
and succeeded in having Congress
approve an 8.6 per cent bill that
now seems headed for a Veto"
The Post Official added
Postal union leaders know it
isn't the fact of an average 10
cents a day that is threatening
the pay legislation. It's the way
the difference is distributed. It's
the fact that the additional l
per cent added by Congress goes
almost entirely to the letter car
riers and the postal clerks and
consequently upsets the entire
postal salary structures con-
tanned in the bill.
1T would create serious pay
distortions among many postal
workers and discriminate badly
against such groups as special
delivery messengers and rural
letters carriers. All the postal
salary Redistribution which we
have sought for two years would
have been In vain.
"The large postal unions in
sisted on the SO per cent bill
not because they truly felt that
an extra Is cents q day would
benefit their members, but be-
cause they wanted to show the
Postmaster General how much
influence they have in Congress.
BY doing so they jeapardized the
pay raise chances OF all postal
and classified employees"
In rebuttal, the postal unions
bitterly accuse the administra =
ton OF originally not having
wanted any postal pay raise and
then reluctantly" being forced
to support 3.5 per cent boost,
then S per cent. later s per
cent, and finally rs per cent.
IF the administration had
had its way, it would not have
favored any postal pay raise,
while at the same time enthusi-
astically indorsing the so per
cent congressional pay raise and
the IL per cent military pay