Alaska Railroad Officials Give
Point - By - Point Rebuttal To
Charges Voiced In Legislature
ANCHORAGE, WV—Alaska Rail-'
road officials have replied, in a
seven-page, point-by-point rebut
tal, to charges voiced against the
line on the floor of the Alaska
Legislature Tuesday.
In its long statement the rail
road said investigation with re
sponsibile union officers showed
that Richard Shake, a steam shov
el operator who made some of the
charges, did not represent any of
the railroad brotherhoods.
In his testimony, Shake said he
represented all the line’s em
ployes.
The general manager, Frank E.
Kalbaugh, who was appointed to
his post from an executive post
on a stateside railroad in the sum
mer of 1953, was in Washington,
D.C., yesterday.
These are some of the points
made before the legislators and
the line’s replies:
1. Operation of the railroad has
become unsafe because of cut
backs in employment, especially
of line crews.
Answer: The maintenance prac
tices are standard as on stateside
railroads. Modern machinery
makes it possible to perform bet
ter maintenance work with fewer
men. Each of the tie-tampers, for
example, replaces 30 to 40 labor
ers.
2. Living conditions are unsani
tary at old.facilities along the line
A: It has recognized for years
that much of the housing, partic
ularly on the Seward - Portage
section, is rundown and dilapi
dated. In each budget request to
Congress the past three years the
appropriation of sufficient money
to replace it has been urged.
3. Cooks are pulled away from
most work gangs, forcirkg the men
to come back from their jobs and
try to do their own cooking, with
the food probably frozen.
A: The only traveling gangs
where this happened were the
ditcher gangs.
4. Oleomai'gerine is served at
section hands’ camps.
A: Of 52 section gangs, at all
but four points the men make out
their own orders for food and
their orders are filled just as sub
mitted.
* 5. Mr. Benson said he had writ
ten to the railroad without “re
sults.”
A: On Aug. 8, 1954, the general
manager received a letter from
Benson containing a number of
complaints of very general nature
about railroad housing. On Aug.
19, the general manager, in a let
ter, advised him of the railroad’s
willingness to cooperate with the
territorial agencies and asked him
to call at his earliest opportunity.
On Aug. 30, Benson replied he
would be in Anchoi'age Sept. 5-11.
Kalbaugh postponed a Washing
ton trip until the 11th to keep the
appointment. The latter did not
keep the appointment. To date
there has been no further coi'res
pondence fioin Benson.
6. Mr. Kalbaugh has a railroad
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employe shovel the snow from his
sidewalk on winter mornings.
A: Mr. Kalbaugh rents a rail
j road-owned house. It is the prac- 1
i tice on all railroads to keep the
| walks and drives around all rail- :
l road buildings free of ice, snow
and other obstructions.
7. Bensen declared that if the
Alaska Railroad were operated by |
a private concern, he would “shut
it down.”
A: It is inconceivable that the
labor commissioner would arbi
trarily “shut down” any business
without first discussing his com
plaints with management. To date
there have been no such discus
! sions with Mr. Benson.
Bronson Introduces Bill
To Appropriate $10,000
For Mines Assay Bldg.
JUNEAU, OP—Several new bills
were introduced in the House on
Wednesday to run the 10-day
total to 51.
Rep. Lester Bronson (D-Nome)
dropped in a bill, by request, to
appropriate $10,000 to complete
the Department of Mines assay
building at Nome.
Rep. E. G. Bailey <D-Anchor
age) introduced one to provide for
display of the flag of Alaska on
holidays and daily at every terri
torial institution.
Rep. Hubert Gilbert (D-Fair
banks) introduced one to restrict
municipally-owned public utilities
in their service outside cities
where another service already is
provided.
Fine Job Printing at The Nugget
Labor Bill To Boost Jobless Fund Asks
Contributions By Workers, Employers
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, (J*t—Labor’s views on
Alaska’s dwindling Unemploy
ment Security Compensation Fund
and how to replenish and revise it
have been given to the Territorial
House of Representatives.
One of its seven sponsors, Rep.
Russell Young, Anchorage Demo
crat and a labor leader there, told
newsmen that the bill introduced
Wednesday is backed by union
leaders at the international level.
The measure would, among oth
er things:
Call for contributions by work
ers for the first time; increase the
amount employers would pay into
the fund; and eliminate depen
dents’ allowances but raise the
amount of weekly payments an
unemployed person could draw.
The sponsors said their proposal
would tighten payments in some
respects, but would also make it
possible for an unemployed per
son to get as much as $70 a week
in benefits if he had an income
averaging $560 a month during
his highest three-month period.
The weekly benefit would be
I l/24th of a person’s total earnings
: in his highest quarter, but not
| over $70.
Existing law provides a maxi
mum benefit of $35 weekly to an
individual, but it can run up to
$70 with dependency allowances.
It proposes to boost the amount
of workers’ wages on which em
ployers pay 2.7 percent into the
fund from $3,000 to 4,800. That
would mean an employer would
pay $129.60 into the fund for a
regular employe, Young said,
compared with the present $81.
The worker’s contribution of
one percent would add another
$48. That would make a total em
ployer-employe contribution into
the fund of $177.60, compared
with the present payment of $81
by employers.
Young pointed out that one re
vision in the bill would cut down
on benefits, to some workers who
come to Alaska for only the peak
summer season work. To draw
benefits, a worker would have to
have worked more than one quar
ter to establish his credits. He
would have to have earnings in a
second quarter equalling 25 per
cent of what he made in his high
three-month period.
The bill also would require
higher earnings before a person
could start drawing benefits. He
can get them now after earning
$299. The new bill proposes $450
for a starting point.
As in the present law, the new
version would provide for pay
ments for a maximum 26 weeks.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance
Committee is still studying a res
olution calling upon the governor
to apply immediately for a feder
al loan to keep the territorial fund
solvent. A similar resolution was
approved in the House and sent to
the governor.
High schools in the United
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clothing for a football player.
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SAN FRANCISCO, tfP!—A third
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“People out here are entitled to
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gether a third major league will
be the eventual result.”
Goodwin made the statement in
a telegram to Will Harridge, pres
ident of the American League.
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