find very many railroad presidents in this country today that will just say arbitrarily, "We will sweep everything aside. We haven't been able to agree here, and we will put this thing into effect regardless.” You can't find that. Because they know very well that we to some extent have been relieved of involuntary servitude in this country, and they have some respect for that fact and are unwilling to just ram down people's throats. They don't do it. Because they know very well that good American people who fight the wars for this country aren't built that way. They don't undertake it. A railroad president of today, with practical experience, who has the sympathy and the good will of his men on the railroad, won't do that sort of thing. He will find a way to get it other than that.

Mr. MURDOCK. Have you in this dispute appealed to the presidents of the railroads?

Mr. ROBERTSON. No.

Mr. MURDOCK. Why not?

Mr. ROBERTSON. Because we haven't had an apportunity.

Mr. MURDOCK. Is that because you have been under Government seizure?

Mr. ROBERTSON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I have listened to your statement, Mr. Robertson, with a great deal of interest. I think you have made a very clear and understandable presentation of your case here, and I want to congratulate you on the clearness of it.

Mr. ROBERTSON. I thank the Senator very much.

The CHAIRMAN. I think it will be very helpful to us in our studies. Mr. ROBERTSON. Thank you, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The next witness will be Mr. J. P. Shields, grand chief engineer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

You have not been sworn, have you Mr. Shields?

Mr. SHIELDS. No; I have not.

The CHAIRMAN. You do solemnly swear that the testimony that you will give in this proceeding will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. SHIELDS. I do, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed, Mr. Shields, with your state

ment.

TESTIMONY OF J. P. SHIELDS, GRAND CHIEF ENGINEER, BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, ACCOMPANIED BY GUY L. BROWN, FIRST ASSISTANT GRAND CHIEF ENGINEER, CLIFFORD D. O'BRIEN, COUNSEL, AND FRANK P. DOUGLAS, SECRETARY TO MR. SHIELDS

Mr. SHIELDS. My name is J. P. Shields. Since August 19, 1950, I have held the position of grand chief engineer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

The

Before making my statement to this committee I should like to express our regret that our seeming inability to settle our problems with the railroads has made your investigation necessary. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers welcomes your investigation of the reasons for the extensive delays and for the failure to settle our wage-rules dispute. It is willing to cooperate in every way possible

to get the full facts before you, and will comply with any requests made by the committee or its staff in the course of the investigation.

Our brotherhood is an unincorporated labor union, having its principal offices located in Cleveland, Ohio, and representing approximately 80,000 engineers, firemen, and hostlers employed on the railroads in the United States and Canada.

I began my railroad career as a fireman in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad. Subsequent to that time I was employed as a fireman on several railroads, and in 1910 I established a seniority date as a fireman on the Union Pacific, a date which is still effective for me on that property. In 1916 I was promoted to the position of engineer and continued working in that capacity until 1932, at which time I was elected to the position of general chairman of the B. of L. E. on the eastern district of the Union Pacific.

I continued in the capacity of general chairman until March 15, 1939, when I was appointed temporary assistant grand chief. Since that time, as assistant grand chief and as first assistant grand chief, I have represented the B. of L. E. in several Nation-wide wage and rules movements, and carried on the other duties of those offices until my selection by our convention last summer as grand chief engineer.

As assistant and as first assistant, I was the B. of L. E. officer assigned to represent the grand chief engineer in national conferences, emergency board proceedings, and mediation sessions in our 1943-44 Diesel movement, our 1946 wage-rules movement, our 1948 wage-rules movement, and in our 1948-49 Diesel movement. When the present wage-rules program was instituted the then grand chief engineer assigned me to work with the wage-rules committee, and throughout the entire movement up to now I have been intimately involved as principal representative of the brotherhood.

There are two aspects of this particular controversy which have so far been important if not controlling factors in making a settlement impossible.

The first is the carriers' insistence that the December 21 memorandum is a firm agreement, and, second, the unrelenting insistence on the part of the carriers that we must through negotiation and arbitration give them a satisfactory adjustment of four rules. It is our firm conviction that under existing circumstances their insistence that in a settlement of wage issues we must agree upon arbitration as a means of final disposition of two of these rules is tantamount to forcing upon us compulsory arbitration to which we will not passively submit.

Because of the fact that this has been an unusually long-drawn-out controversy and particularly in view of the temporary unauthorized withdrawal from service by some of the employees during a period of national emergency involved, I can, I believe, understand that your honorable committee is desirous of determining conclusively and with reasonable expedition whether this situation is a result of an inadequacy of the Railway Labor Act, its complete breakdown or a result of the unethical or unreasonable attitudes of carriers or employees, or both.

Upon this premise of understanding of your purpose I have prepared a statement which is confined to a brief factual narrative account of the conference experiences of my organization beginning October 5, 1950, to date.

The following is a rather comprehensive and detailed narrativeby no means complete-of the current wage-rules controversy between the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the carriers. It may not be necessary in oral testimony to advert to all of the events which have been included in this statement, but the brotherhood desires to place the full facts of consequence in the committee's written record.

On October 6 and 7, 1949, this wage-rules movement of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers had its inception at a meeting of our Association of General Chairmen, in Cleveland. Action was there taken to request the then grand chief engineer, Alvanley Johnston, to take steps to initiate a national movement for expenses away from home for road engineers, for increased rates of pay for yard engineers, and for standards of guaranteed pay each month for most road and yard engineers.

At this point I would like to say that under our law-and it is basic; a copy of our constitution is in the hands of your committeethe real authority for instituting and expressing final approval of any wage or rule agreement is inherent in a division of our organization known as our general committees of adjustment. So when I say here that a committee appointed by the grand chief engineer considered these matters, what I mean is that the general chairmen in conference on October 6 and 7, at which time the skeleton work of this wage and rules program was promulgated, selected from their group the three regions' representatives who were to represent them in the conferences. The grand chief's appointment, as a matter of fact, went only to agreeing to put them on the grand office payroll.

A committee appointed by the grand chief engineer considered these matters, conducted correspondence with our membership throughout the country, and eventually formulated a uniform proposal to be presented simultaneously by our general committees upon practically all railroads in the United States. On January 6, 1950, the wagerules movement was formally commenced by service upon individual carriers of a proposal pursuant to section 6 of the Railway Labor Act. With your permission I will not read that, Mr. Chairman, unless you think it advisable.

The CHAIRMAN. It will be considered as read. It will appear in the record.

(The matter referred to follows:)

PROPOSITION-BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers desires to change and/or amend the existing agreements governing rates of pay, rules, and working conditions of the classes of employees represented by that organization, herein indicated, by the adoption of the following:

YARD SERVICE

(1) The basic daily wage rates for engineers on all classes of engines or other power used shall be increased 20 percent. All differentials, arbitraries, and special allowances shall be 20 percent.

(2) All service performed by yard engineers, except extra engine shifts and the filling of vanacies in assigned service, shall be incorporated into workweek or work-period assignments consisting of consecutive days and bulletined for choice of engineers. Engineers bidding in such assignments shall be guaranteed not less than one basic day at rate applicable to engines or other power used for each day assignment is bulletined to operate. No assignment shall consist of less than five consecutive days.

(3) Engineers shall be paid time and one-half for all service performed on the following holidays: New Year's Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas.

(4) Engineers assigned to extra board shall be guaranteed not less than the equivalent of one basic day's pay for each day assigned to the extra list, exclusive of arbitraries.

(5) Existing basic day, overtime, and other rules shall remain unchanged, except as herein provided. Existing rules considered more favorable by the committee on each individual road shall be preserved.

NOTE.-Items 1 to 5, inclusive, apply to firemen and items 1, 2, 3, and 5 apply to hostlers and hostler helpers on carriers where these crafts are represented by the B. of L. E.

ROAD SERVICE

(1) Engineers assigned in classes of road service paying through freight and/or local freight rates shall be guaranteed monthly earnings of not less than 3,200 miles at the rate applicable to engines or other power used, exclusive of arbitraries and/or special allowances.

(2) Engineers assigned to freight extra board will be guaranteed not less than the equivalent of one basic day's pay for each day assigned to the extra list, exclusive of arbitraries.

(3) Engineers in assigned passenger service and those assigned to extra passenger lists shall be guaranteed monthly earnings of not less than 4,000 miles at the rate applicable to engines or other power used, exclusive of arbitraries and/or special allowances.

(4) Engineers in all classes of road freight and/or passenger service (as clas sified under existing agreements) shall be paid an allowance of 25 cents per hour for away-from-home expenses. Time to be computed continuously from the time of going on duty at the home terminal on the out-bound trip until finally relieved from duty at the home terminal on the in-bound trip. This hourly rate to be paid in addition to all other allowances.

NOTE. The phrase "relieved from duty," as used in this rule, includes time required to make inspection, complete all necessary reports, and/or register off duty.

(5) Existing basic day, overtime, and other rules shall remain unchanged, except as herein provided. Existing rules considered more favorable by the committee on each individual road shall be preserved.

NOTE.-Road-service proposals applicable to firemen on carriers where that class of employees is represented by the B. of L. E.

A. JOHNSTON,

Grand Chief Engineer, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

Mr. SHIELDS. A brief explanation of the B. of L. E. proposal is in order. It is to be understood that our schedule agreements, the products of three-quarters of a century of struggle and bargaining with the railroads, are complex and specialized and that this explanation is definitely generalized and streamlined for brevity and simplicity.

In yard service, overtime is paid for work in excess of 8 hours in a 24-hour period, but each day of the week and of the year is a straighttime day for our engineers. Our proposal was in large part designed to take account of the reduction in straight-time work-days per week made effective for nonoperating employees in September 1949, along with the maintenance of 48 hours' take-home pay for 40 straight-time hours of work. This had resulted in an increase in basic hourly and daily rates of 20 percent. The conductors and trainmen were pressing in conference for an identical adjustment, and the firemen's brotherhood had announced a similar proposal. We felt, and still feel, that our engineers in yard service were well entitled to the same consideration in basic wage rates as had already resulted for employees in outside industry and for most railroad employees from maintenance of take-home pay consequent upon reduction in the

straight-time hours of work per week; that is, to a 20-percent upward adjustment in rates.

Similarly, we also proposed that we be granted the overtime rate when required to perform service on a modest list of five recognized holidays.

Our guaranty proposal for yard engineers was designed to assure the engineer who exercises his seniority by bidding for an assignment bulletined by the carrier that he would enjoy the opportunity to perform the service impliedly promised by the carrier's advertisement of the job and to receive the indicated pay therefor.

Perhaps the most important of our road-service proposals related to payment of expenses away from home. Contrary to the practice in most other industry and to the treatment given by the railroads to their own officials and to many of the nonoperating employees, practically all road engineers do incur expenses away from home and are not reimbursed by the railroads. Our request, the details of which were certainly subject to negotiation and reasonable modification, would have established a fixed allowance of 25 cents per hour away from home to offset out-of-pocket costs of meal, lodging, and incidentals occasioned by the requirements of the job-costs which have been increasing rapidly in the past few years.

Other road-service proposals were designed to insure adequate earnings opportunities to those engineers who make themselves available to protect the carriers' freight and passenger service.

In response to our proposals nearly all railroads served the socalled attachment A which, with minor variations, was uniform and as follows:

And with your permission, I will refrain from reading that also. The CHAIRMAN. Any part that you skip will be printed in the record.

Mr. SHIELDS. Thank you.

(The matter referred to follows:)

ATTACHMENT A-PROPOSED RULES CHANGES

Establish new rules or modify or eliminate existing rules, regulations, agreements, interpretations, or practices, however established, as indicated herein, and any others which are affected by or inconsistent with your proposal: 1. Eliminate those which fix the starting time for employees.

2. Eliminate those which provide penalty pay for a second tour of duty within a 24-hour period.

3. Eliminate the 5 cents per hour now included in the basic rates of pay, which was granted under the agreement of December 27, 1943, "in lieu of claims for time and half pay for time over 40 hours and for expenses while away from home."

4. Eliminate those which provide payment for time held at other than home terminal.

5. Establish rules providing that the carrier shall have the right to establish interdivisional, interseniority district, intradivisional and intradistrict runs in assigned and unassigned service without penalty and with provision for prorating the mileage.

6. Eliminate those which provide for daily, weekly, or monthly earnings guaranties.

7. Establish rules which permit a combination of road and yard service.

8. Change present rules to permit the performance of more than one class of road service in a tour of duty at the highest rate applicable to any class of service performed within such tour.

9. Eliminate rules restricting the use of yard crews in road service beyond switching limits.