Evening star., 1963-08-25
RAILS
Continued From Page Al

bLlOrlZeQ IOT some Clme TO walk
out as soon as the changes go
into effect.
The carriers continued to
withhold comment on the bill
pending in the Senate.
The five on-train unions
added nothing to their state
ment of yesterday condemning
the proposed legislation. They
called it compulsory arbitration
which would deny the right to
strike and do great damage to
the future course of collective
bargaining.
No meetings between the two
sides or between their repre-
sentatives and Department of
Labor officials were scheduled
for the week end as the prob
lem lay in the uneasy lap of
Congress.
The legislators, with the
Thursday deadline hanging over
their heads, were being forced
to a hard choice they had hoped
would be averted by voluntary
settlement of the 4-year-old
work-ruleS dispute.
Lacking such an agreement,
they were confronted with the
necessity to vote for a COM
pulsory settlement and strike
a blow at collective bargaining
and the right to strike or to
vote against compulsion and
thereby expose the Nation to a
strike which President Kennedy
and many others regard as eco
nomically intolerable.
This dilemma was reflected
in the statement issued today
by a group of Senators includ-
ing Chairman Magnuson of the
Commerce Committee.
Senator MagnuSon and his
colleagues said they would 60
along with binding arbitration
of the two main issues, but
would leave the secondary
points of dispute to settlement
by direct negotiation-a pro-
cedure for which the unions
have been fighting.
Urge Delicate COur7e
The Senators statement said:
In the present Crisis, a deli
cate course has to be steered
between two unthinkables-I
strike and seizure, on the one
hand, and the unacceptable. |
compulsory arbitration, on the
other.
Free collective bargaining
. =. . must survive without a pre-
cedent that would substitute |
legislation for negotiation"
Their views came in the form |
of a minority report on the
Commerce Committee action
although yesterdays vote was
as unanimous-and |
they were challenged by the
majority. The majority held
that to rule out binding arbi- |
tration of the lesser issues
could prove to be no settle
ment at all"
Besides Senator Magnuson,
the seven who signed the mi
noirty statement were Senators
Bartlett of Alaska, Cannon of
Nevada, Engle of California,
Hart of Michigan, Hartke of
Indiana, MCGEE of Wyoming
and Marlborough of Texas.
There is doubt that action
on the legislation can be COM
pleted in the Senate and in
the House, which plans to await
Senate action, before the strike |
Feadline. If it is not, the car
fierS would have to decide |
to delay posting of the
new work rules.
The principal issue is jobs
jobs the railroads regard as |
and want to elimi-
nate, but jobs the unions are
fearful of losing.
1t is costing the carriers and
the public some $500 million a
year to keep men on jobs that |
are no longer needed, the rail-
roads say.
They use the term feather
bedding" to describe a situa-
tion where an employer is
forced to pay unneeded work
ers pay for work not done and
to accept limitations on the
amount of work to be done
AbhOr the Term
The unions abhor the term.
Their members feel that all
including the firemen, most
often associated with the word.
are doing a useful job.
The chance that some $4,000 ]
firemen jobs may be lost -