Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-02-28
ISSUE: FEATHERBEDDING
ISSUE: FEATHERBEDDING
Railroads and Brotherhoods at Odds
Over Work Rules and Attenuation

Continued From First Page
peared at the rate of 1000 a
week for the last 10 yearS-or
more than 100000 jobs.
Daniel P. LOOMS. president
Of the Association of American
Railroads, contends the unions
must let management run their
own railroads. The alternative,
he warns, is bankruptcy fol-
lowed by Federal ownership OF
the roads.
Mr.. Loomis says many OF
the current railroad work rules
require management to pay
for work not done or not
needed. He terms this work
Misunderstanding" claiming it
costs the roads $500 million a
year. He declares the rules are
from the horse and buggy
era" despite the fact that rail-
roads have undergone a near
revolution in technology and
operating methods"
The brotherhoods counter
that they are not against let
ting machines take over Jobs
as long as railroad safety is
maintained. They holly deny
the featherbedding charge.
Claims and Counter Claims
George NJ. Harrison. grand
president of the Brotherhood
of Railway Clerks, claims:
Workers in no other indus
try have made the progress in
giving more service for the
hour of labor than those in
the railroad industry. We are
the most efficient group Of in
dividual workers in America"
The national officers Of rail-
road management and labor
have been making claims and
counter-claimS like this for
months, often in full-page
newspaper ads. But the issues
become graphic only when one
goes into a place like Potomac
Yards and talks to the men
themselves.
I'm a superintendent who
can't superintend my own yard
because of these union work
rules" complains D. c. Has
tings, superintendent Of the
Potomac Yards. He wants to
follow up the man in the tower
with other work and money
saving systems.
You spend years in train
ing to get this job, and then
when you finally take over a
yard like this you can't put
your ideas into practice be-
cause of the work rules, Mr..
Hastings frets.
'ExaSperating' Rules Cited
He licked off some of the
union rules which he said
make his job exasperating:
0Although he does not think
a fireman is needed on the
engines which pushes cars
around the Potomac Yards, the
union says he must carry one.
elf a freight train breaks down
Just south of the boundaries of
Potomac Yards, the union says
he cannot send out a yard en-
CINE to haul it back in for re-
pairs. Instead, Mr.. Hastings
says a road crew must come up
with an engine from Richmond
and pull the train back into
the yard. If he sends his own
men out anyway. he must pay
his own yard crew extra for
this road work plus the crew in
Richmond which should have
been called unless he can prove
it was an emergency.
0Although one union clerk
punches an IBM tape listing
the individual cars of a freight
train, the union says another
Geographic clerk in one Office
above must punch a duplicate
tape before transmitting the
information outside the yard.
Arguments by Unions
The railroad unions counter
that there are good reasons for
these and other work rules:
OFirsmen are needed to act
as co-pilot as the engine pushes
cars around freight yards. Will
liam H. Wood, SO, a veteran
of As years engine service on
the railroads, sincerely believes
firemen are needed in his own
Potomac Yards as we'll as other
yards.
Il don't think I would have
made it without fireman over
there" he said. II can't see
what's on his (the firemans
side. There's no way a man
can live on an engine like this
by himself"
0Yard and road work are two
different specialities requiring
special skills. Mixing the two
jobs, says Chairman G. E.
Leighty of the Railway Labor
Executives Association, is like
a railroad vice president of per- !
sonnet being asked to spend the
last two hours of his day as
superintendent of the electrical
shop"
SThe telegraphic clerk Mr..
Hastings complained about
conceded he punched the same
tape as the man in the office