Trainman News

RAWB Reports
65% Decrease
In Back Cases

WASHINGTON -- Since mid-October of last year, the Railroad and Airline Wage Board, created Sept. 27, 1951 as a separate stabilization agency under the amended Defense Production Act of 1951, has decreased its backlog of cases 65 per cent.

It also has set up policies and procedures assuring an orderly and effective administration of wage and salary stabilization controls in the two transportation industries under its jurisdiction.

RAWB Chairman Nelson M. Bortz had that information in his recent report to Economic Stabilization Administrator Roger L. Putnam covering the board's activities during its first six months of operations.

Three hundred and seventy-eight applications were received by the board from October thru March and 555 were processed. By the end of March, the RAWB had reduced a backlog of 321 petitions, which it was handed when operations got under way, to 144.

Chairman Bortz said that on the average railroad applications have been approximately double those received from airlines. Due to the larger number of rail petitions on hand at the beginning, the ratio of cases processed has been approximately 4 to 1. He added, however, that currently proportionately as many airline cases as rail cases are being processed.

In addition to Chairman Bortz, members of the board are Francis A. O'Neill and Walter T. Nolte. H. Raymond Cluster is executive director.

The RAWB is a constituent agency of the Economic Stabilization Agency, reporting directly to the administrator, and was authorized by the amended Defense Production Act of 1951.

This law provided for the creation of "a separate board or panel" having jurisdiction only over railroad and airline carriers and employes subject to the Railway Labor Act as amended. The board's coverage includes approximately 1,100 railroad carriers employing about 1,500,000 workers and 125 air transport carriers employing about 100,000 workers.

Under terms of the amended Defense Production Act, the disputes procedures established by the Railway Labor Act remain unchanged. Any agency provided by the RLA, including boards of arbitration and emergency boards, continues to operate in its normal function. Such boards, however, are required by Section 502 of the amended Defense Production Act to make a specific finding and certification that their award, or recommended settlement, is consistent with such standards as may be in effect, established by or pursuant to law, for the purpose of controlling inflationary tendencies.

Two kinds of "decisions are rendered by the RAWB--actions on petitions for wage adjustments and rulings or interpretations of its regulations.