The Key West Citizen Newspaper, February 4, 1950, Page 7

(#) Wirephoto TOMEPHONE LINES GAG TO THE GROUND uncer a hea: contieg of tee at Sherman. Tex. F. W. Gray. a resident of Mowe, (ert feel® of Gherman, surveys the damage. More than $6 fons © the Mormh Tewes area are without telephone communications © (thet of the lee storm. Officials of Southwest Bell Telephone sehd 747 civeults are out of service and some 455 poles we Power failure lett three towns without water: TRUMAN PROPOSAL Fiery Labor * i ler Wants | MAN WHO DEFIED JOHN | L, LEWIS SUSPENDED Neo Strangers | BY HIS LOCAL UNION Te Pie W ages | LIBRARY, Pa, Feb. 4—()- , The coal miner who called for a * ® . ‘ Po rebellion against John L. Lewis, : pressed J08eph Dickmon, He's been sus- o President 1 by his Union. + ree Library, Pa., Locale voted : pute imously today in secret ses- e Mr. Trumas _ suspend Dickmon for six months. : ae pee. Mf Dickshon faced the mesting bf 150 fellow miners and _was al- Genes mine evark wed to tell his story. Dickmon ‘ atemed the Preq.| 2&4 accused Lewis of "being a ee ot ain ant Gam ator in a letter to Pittsburgh m words. “Do spapers. ‘ary erable 3 - ~ eee eteateers to fix te meeting he had pleaded: not 2 cones «mon uit |Muilty to charges of iow 4 me false, statements about. unien o! a a ee Dmetdeee |b fieials . bs - " - vette After the meeting, members of a i RE te Locate said they wilt refise St ot eet cee Be could or t Work with Dickmon, as long-as Se bet geeent the Gute pro. be is on the bad books of thé he ehpdatinen: of 2 Unien. Dickmon surmised -he’s | How ght wat el ft of a job for six months. Raman PA Lord Norman, Famous , Bngtich Banking Figure. Died Today At 78 LONDON, Feb. 4.—().—One of id's most famous banking fue Lord Norman, died today me here. He was 78. i Norman was long gover- af the Bank of England. » Montaga Collett Tere oF 25 ‘ t vice of Winston lition government, Srmar he FNOED King George VI elevated Lord pera ON CE n t peerage in 1944 een . ‘ us head of the anages Britain’s + awened turd Norman headed the Bank Age t & stope of England from 1920 to 1944. : —_ th er to Ma seaside resort, where he. idering appointment of wher new cabinet. His ministers had gned, but he asked them to n office temporarily while ped th the strike situa- me De o werreenae’s AP88 FOR CAROL ANN (®) Wirephoto i | ‘he Southern Bell Telephone Company be- liévés its employees should Lé well paid arid that its wages should compere favorably with thosé paid by other concerns in the com- munity for work requiring similar skills and ex- perience. To pay anything less would not be fair to thé ettiployeés; to pay anything more would nét bé fair to sur Guistomers. Wages list- ed in the box at the right show how well our policy is being carried out. Cost Of Telephone Wage Increases Amount To $9,700,000 Annually In Florida Southern Bell employees had 8 general wage increases in the last 10 years. During the war and postwar years, the cost of: wage increases granted to Southern Bell employees alone,has anounted to $9,700,- “"000 annually in Florida. Money to pay wages and all other opérating costs comes from the rates we charge for service and these rates are set under govern- mental authority. The tclephone rate increases which have beer received to date fall far short of meetnig the cost of wage increases already granted, to say nothing of the gréatly increased cost of tele- phone equipment and materiais. Now, despite the fact that industry in general has not paid an- other round of wage increases, the Union leaders are asking for an- other increase. This demand would still further increase the cost to teelphone users who must pay the bill for wages as well as for all other costs. Telephone Wage Rates Have Increased 117% Since 1939 Telephone wage tates have more than kept pace with increases in the cost of living. Since 1939, wage rates for non-supervisory Southern Bell employees have been increased 117% compared with an increase of less than 70% in the cost of living. Telephone wages toffipare well with the wages paid and re- ceived by the customers who use our service. This is particularly true when wages are compared on an annual basis because the Tele- phone Company offers steady year-round employment with no sea- sonal layoffs such as occur in many other industries. More Than Two-Thirds Of Our Employes Will Receive A Raise Or Raises In The Next 12 Months Under wage scales now in effect, telephone people receive auto- matic raises in pay as they@gain experience. This is from the time How Do These Wages Look To You? average pay of $48.65 4 wéele ($211.63 a month), inchidirig differen- tials and overtime, In Flotida plant craftsmen, such as central office #epairmen, at the top rate for cities like Key West, now average $82.82 a week ($360.27 a month) it fofal pity. includitig differentials and ovér- timé. Statting ratés are good, too, A girl just out of school gets $30.00 a week ($190.50 a monih) from thé day she reports for train- ing a8 an opeFator. ,...A splicer or répairman, who sfatted with the Company with- Out expériéiice in 1941, is receiving, as a result of wage adjuttmetits and regular progression; more fart four times thé wages he earned when he joined the organization. Similarly. worhen who joined the Company im 1941 without felephorie experience, are fiow, after @ years, receiving a wage rate ovér threé timisé a3 lérge a3 they téceived when they started. they start work until they reaeh the top fo the scale. In fact, even with no fourth-round wage increase. iore than two-thirds of South- ern Bell employees ate scheduled to receive wage increases in the next 12 months. Many of these employees are scheduled to reeeive two increases and some of the younger employees, three increases, in this period. More Than Good Wages Employees of the Company get more than good wages. They get 6 holidays a year with pay, paid vacations up to three weeks, they get sickness benefits up to a year, they get accident benefits and death benefits up to a year’s pay, plus aservice pension. For all of this, the employee pays nothing—the company pays all. Every telephone employee with 20 or more vears of service can look forward to a pension of at least $100.00 per month at age 65, including social security. Many employees apply for retirement before age 65 and receive a guaranteed minimum pension of $75.00 amonth. Pensions of many non-supervisory employees will be sub- stantially higher than these minimums. The Company’s benefit and pension plan is at the forefront of all industry, having been in effect since 1913. Collective bargaitiiig between Southern Bell and the CWA-CIO begins on February 6. We are prepared t6 batgaiti fully with the Union at the bargain- ing table and it is the®é we Believe the issues can and should be settled. , 4BOUT THE THREATENED TELEPHONE STRIKE The public doesn’t want a telephone strike, the Compaity doesn’t want « strike and we do not believe telephone employees want a strike. | that a strike seems inevitable. The National CWA-CIO leaders int Washington have annowneéd, however, \ It is clear to us that a telephone sttike is inevitable ONLY if the wien lead. \ ers have decided in advance that they want a strike and come to the batgaining / table with closed minds. SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY | abeaseaNaicNiHE A DARE OO ARORA Doe RRR Rm, eS tbe a AEN EIEN it ON CESS NT. AER ARRAS NA