Correspondence, 1958

The correspondence chiefly consists of grievance claims and discussions of the rules surrounding the claims. The major claims regard seniority, including seniority dating, rights, status, and rosters; claims for time- and-a-half; wage rates, including adjustments and wage differentials, apprentice rates, wage increases, and rates for various positions; claims for overtime; claims for back pay; time claims as a result of position abolishment, sickness, and injury; mileage claims; claims regarding reductions in the work force; displacement claims; and vacation claims.

Other claims regard working conditions, including the issues of inadequate facilities, sanitation, drinking water, lockers, and hazardous conditions; women workers, including the issues of dismissal for marrying, wages, and employment due to the labor shortage; and claims regarding the workweek and the workday, including the seven-to-six- day workweek, six-hour workday, and five-day work assignments. Finally, other grievance cases involve disciplinary actions and suspension; layoffs; transfers; dismissals; reclassifications; and posting of positions in accordance with local agreements.

Major correspondents include officers of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad, of the Great Northern Railway, and of the Chicago Great Western Railway. Other major correspondents include officers of the following unions: the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen [BRT], the Order of Railway Conductors [ORC], the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees [BRAC], the Order of Railway Conductors [ORC], and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees. Finally, there are numerous pieces of correspondence with officers of the Association of Western Railroads.

Individual correspondents include G.E. Leighty, (president of the Order of Railroad Telegraphers), E.C. Thompson (executive secretary, National Mediation Board), William M. Leiserson (chairman, National Railway Labor Panel), B.M. Jewell (president, Railway Employees Department, American Federation of Labor) and O.H. Braese (president, American Telegraph Dispatchers Association).

Additional pieces of correspondence are also found in the other series where indicated.