railways and in other industries; but the changes in hours were not reductions in the basic workweek. Total earnings were in some instances maintained, in others reduced, in still others increased. There was no reduction in the basic workweek; that is to say, in the great bulk of American industry. Reductions were still going on in isolated and scattered places. There was a reduction of overtime and a return to the prewar work assignments. The other major error of the McDonough Board, shown on page 2 of its report which I have offered as exhibit No. 10, was in its drawing a distinction between yard service and the so-called nonoperating employees, on the basis of the necessity for maintaining continous railway service. In the hearing before the Leiserson Board, there was a witness for the carriers named Greer, who was chief examiner of the Western Railways, with headquarters in Chicago. An exhibit was introduced through Mr. Greer, and Mr. Greer testified to the effect that the use of the term "nonoperating employees" was inaccurate, since there was a very large proportion of those employees who were doing work intimately related to train movement. The exhibit which he offered, which was carriers' exhibit No. 11, listed those employees by individual class, giving their numbers. The summary of that total,. which appears on page 16 of that exhibit, shows that, of 947,000 employees in this whole group, 248,000 were in the class assigned to 7-day positions, in the group which he had testified to earlier. He made it very clear that those were different from the rest of the employees here, because, he said, they couldn't become pressed. You couldn't save the labor time involved there. If the 40-hour week were put into effect, you would have to add just as many men as were necessary to take care of the 4 hours' reduction. They were not compressible. Now, exactly that same argument was made with respect to these yard-service men before the McDonough Board, and the McDonough Board accepted that statement as being an accurate part of the situation. In fact, this 248,000 men on operating work in the non-operating group is twice as great as the total number of yard-service employees. The fact was made very clear to that Leiserson Board. I have put it differently in the statement: In fact, there are more continuous operation jobs among the nonoperating men than among the yard-service employees-more than twice as many. The large proportion of 7-day positions in the nonoperating group was clearly brought out before the Leiserson Board in the carriers' evidence, but that Board made no distinction between the 7-day, 6-day, and 5-day jobs, in the maintenance of 48-hour pay. Moreover, the results of introducing the 40-hour week have not been different on these continuous jobs from what they have been on other nonoperating jobs. The 7-day work has proven to be just as compressible as the other railway work. That expression "compressible" appeared in the carriers' evidence, and it appeared in the McDonough report also. I have prepared a statistical table which has been marked "Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Exhibit No. 17," which I should like to have accepted by the committee. The CHAIRMAN. It will be marked as an exhibit and put in the record. (The document referred to was marked "Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Exhibit 17," and is as follows:) Railway occupational groups operating predominantly on a 7-day week in May 1948 Number of employees (midmonth count) August 1949 March 1950 August 1950 Ticket agents and assistant ticket agents. Janitors and cleaners.. 87 Baggage, parcel-room and station attendants. 5,909 94 Common laborers (stations, warehouses, platforms 9,777 and grain elevators).. Dining-car employees: Chefs and cooks (restaurants or dining cars). 4,731 103 Waiters, camp cooks, kitchen helpers, etc.. Maintenance-of-way employees: Pumping-equipment operators.. Bridge operators and helpers. Crossing and bridge flagmen and gatemen. Telegraphers: Station agents, telegraphers, telephoners, Shop-craft employees: Coach cleaners. Firemen and oilers, roundhouse and shop laborers: Gang foremen (shops, enginehouses, and power 11,729 9, 601 11,043 Classified and general laborers (shops engine houses Stationary engineers (steam). 1,656 1,955 1,890 Stationary firemen oilers coal passers and water Floating equipment (marine) employees: Officers, work- Total number of nonoperating employees in Freight-revenue ton-miles (000). Revenue passenger-miles (000). Traffic units 2 (000).. Employees per million traffic units.. 1 Midmonth employment count. 2 Freight-revenue ton-miles plus twice revenue passenger-miles. Source: Interstate Commerce Commission Statements M-300 and M-220; Carriers' Exhibit II Leiserson board hearings. Mr. OLIVER. In this exhibit, which Mr. Greer offered to the Leiserson Board, he divided these employees according to ICC reporting divisions. Now, in each of these reporting divisions there are mixtures. There would be some men on 7-day jobs and some on 5-day or 6-day jobs; the distinction as to the 7-day job being that it was alleged to be necessary to maintain this work force continually. They were not compressible. I have taken all of those reporting divisions in which more than 50 percent of the employees were alleged to be on these noncompressible jobs, and have prepared this table to show what has happened on these noncompressible jobs. If you will refer to that exhibit, you will see that the information there is for the months of August 1949, March 1950, and August 1950. Mr. MURDOCK. This is your exhibit No. what? The Interstate Commerce Commission Reporting Division is shown at the left. The general classification and occupation is shown in the next column. The numbers of employees in each of these groups in August 1949, before the change to the 40-hour week, and August 1950, after the change had been completely effected, is shown. If you will refer to the second page of that exhibit, you will see the totals, the total number of nonoperating employees in the groups that were predominantly these 7-day jobs. There is a reference to May 1948, which was the basis on which Mr. Greer's study was made. There were 142,000 such employees in August of 1949, you will see, and 153,000 in August of 1950, after the 40-hour week. Now, during that same period, the traffic of the railways had increased very substantially. The number of traffic units had gone from 51 billion to 62 billion. The number of employees had increased by only 11,000. So that actually the number of employees per million traffic units had declined from 2.73 to 2.44. There was a reduction in the number of employees per million traffic units even though the workweek had been reduced from 48 to 40. And these were the noncompressible jobs. It was that statement which the McDonough Board accepted, that because they were noncompressible they were different from the nonoperating men; when, as a matter of fact, a very large proportion of the so-called nonoperating men were claimed by the carriers to be noncompressible, and actually by experience were compressed as much as the other employees. They actually increased the man-efficiency more than the amount necessary to compensate for the reduction of the workweek from 48 to 40 hours. The distinction drawn by the carriers between yard engine crews and all nonoperating men would assuredly have been unconvincing to the members of the Leiserson Board. That distinction, wholly without merit, was obviously a major factor in bringing the McDonough Board to the conclusion it reached. The committee may be interested to know, as a concluding sidelight on this whole situation, that the railways of New Zealand introduced the 40-hour week with 48 hours' pay in 1936; in Australia, railway hours were reduced from 48 to 44 in 1927, and from 44 to 40 in 1948, both steps being taken with maintenance of weekly earnings, and without excepting yard-service employees. American nonoperating railway employees did not come up to the New Zealand and Australian standard until 1949-and the yard-service men are still far below that standard. The CHAIRMAN. Any questions, Senator? Mr. MURDOCK. Mr. Chairman, Committee Exhibit No. 11 is a statement regarding wage statistics in railroad transportation and other selected industries, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor. In connection with that committee exhibit, I would like to offer in evidence as Committee Exhibit No. 16 a table showing and ranking 124 individual industries in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing as to average hourly earnings, which is simply a ranking of industries as maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with an interpolation of the railroad figures. And by way of summary, this exhibit shows that in 1939, out of 124 industries class I railroads, nonsupervisory employees ranked thirty-seventh; in 1945 they ranked seventy-third, and in 1949 they ranked sixty-fourth. The CHAIRMAN. It will be marked "Committee Exhibit 16" and received in evidence. (The document referred to was marked "Committee Exhibit 16," received in evidence, and is as follows:) COMMITTEE EXHIBIT NO. 16 Rank of 124 individual industries in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing, in May 1949-Average hourly earnings1 9 Cash registers; adding and calculating machines. 1.683 10 Printing, book and job. 1.667 Forgings, iron and steel.. 1.664 Malt liquors... 1.662 Blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills. 1.635 Engines and turbines. 1.610 Shipbuilding and boatbuilding. 1.608 Chemicals, not elsewhere classified. 1.602 Aircraft engines.. 1.592 Firearms. 1.581 Machine-tool accessories. 1.574 1.570 1.564 Agricultural machinery, excluding tractors. 1.562 1.562 Electric light and power. 1.557 Cars, electric and steam railroad 1.557 31 Alloying and rolling and drawing of nonferrous metals, except aluminum.. Textile machinery. 1.530 1.520 1. 514 1.513 1.507 1.507 55 Stoves, oil burners, and heating equipment, not elsewhere classified. 1.419 1.416 57 Stamped and enameled ware and galvanizing. 1.416 Paper and pulp.. 1.404 59 Slaughtering and meat packing. 1.401 Asbestos products. 1.400 61 Cement.. 1.380 62 Leather. 63 Tin cans and other tinware.. a Basic wage data supplied by BLS. 1.379 1.370 COMMITTEE EXHIBIT No. 16-Continued Rank of 124 individual industries in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing, in May 1949-Average hourly earnings-Continued The averages are based upon reports summarized in the M-300 report by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and relate to all hourly rated employees who received pay during the month. Most executive, professional, and supervisory personnel are excluded. Switching and terminal companies are excluded. Gross average hourly earnings are computed by dividing total compensation by total hours paid for. Average weekly hours are obtained by dividing the total number of hours paid for, reduced to a weekly basis, by the number of hourly rated employees who received pay during the month. Gross average weekly earnings are derived by multiplying average weekly hours by average hourly earnings. The annual averages include retroactive pay when such retroactive payments have been made. Monthly data do not include retroactive payments. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. |