The CHAIRMAN. Is there anybody appearing with reference to this bill?

Mr. COLLINS. I would like to be heard, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be very glad to hear from you, Mr. Collins.

STATEMENT OF W. M. COLLINS, PRESIDENT OF THE RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION

Mr. COLLINS. This bill, Mr. Chairman, proposes to change the rate of pay for substitute railway postal clerks. The present law provides that they are paid at the rate of $1,850 per annum for service actually performed.

On account of changed conditions in recent years in our service these substitutes are required to perform service as substitutes for a much longer period than prevailed in former years, so that now they may serve anywhere from four to eight years as substitutes. They therefore receive no recognition in the matter of pay for their experience that they have gained in active service, and we feel that it would be proper to provide that they receive more recognition in the matter of a slight increase in rate of pay, that is, for service actually performed.

This bill proposes that they be advanced in rate of pay for each year of service up to what is grade 3, remaining in that grade until they are appointed regular clerks. Then, of course, they will come under the laws governing the regular clerks' pay.

I have a brief statement that I would like to have inserted in the record, covering the present law, and some data as to the earnings of these substitutes and their length of service. I think the information would be of benefit to the committee.

Outside of that I have nothing more to offer unless you have some questions that you care to ask.

(The statement referred to and submitted by the witness is as follows:)

STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY THE RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION IN CONNECTION WITH S. 2106

(By W. M. Collins, president, April 19, 1928)

Senate bill 2106 proposes to amend part of section 7 of the act of February 28, 1925. That part of the present law which this bill would amend reads as follows: "Substitute railway postal clerks shall be paid for services actually performed at the rate of $1,850 per annum, the first year of service to constitute a probationary period, and when appointed regular clerks shall receive credit on the basis of one year of actual service performed as a stustitute and be appointed to the grade to which such clerk would have progressed had his original appointment as a substitute been to grade 1. Any fractional part of a year's substitute service as a substitute been to grade 1. Any fractional part of a year's substitute will be included with his service as a regular clerk in determining eligibility for promotion to the next higher grade following appointment to a regular position. "All original appointments shall be made to the rank of substitute railway postal clerk, and promotions shall be made successively at the beginning of the quarter following a total satisfactory service of 306 days in the next lower grade." This bill proposes only to change the present law in the matter of the rate of pay which a substitute is to receive during his period of substitute service. Under the present law the substitute continues to be paid at the rate of $1,850 per annum for services actually performed as long as he continues in a substitute

status. In recent years all conditions affecting substitutes have changed materially. This has been brought about by changed conditions in the Railway Mail Service, so that a substitute is now required to serve as a substitute from five to eight years before opportunity arises to appoint him to a regular position. During this period of substitute service, he attains considerable knowledge and proficiency as a clerk, though such is not recognized in his rate of pay. In former years the substitute was more what the name implies-that is, an employee used in lieu of a regular employee who was absent from duty.

This situation prevailed until after the establishment of the terminal railway post office service in the Railway Mail Service. Prior to that time, more mail was distributed en route and therefore the time for distribution was more limited. Under the terminal railway post office system mails are handled in stationary distributing stations and distribution can therefore be spread over a little longer period of time. The volume of mail fluctuates from day to day and during different periods of the day, therefore necessitating a flexible auxiliary force in these terminal railway post offices. This requires a larger substitute force, with the result that these substitutes really act as a regular auxiliary force though they may not, and usually do not, work full time.

The work of substitute railway postal clerks is primarily terminal service, with only a small part of their work upon the trains. Vacancies in the road service are filled by transfer of regular clerks from the terminals and then the substitutes are appointed to fill the vacancy in the terminal. As the road service has not been expanding in recent years, little opportunity prevails for appointment to road service and we must consider these substitute clerks in connection with the terminal service, and also consider them in reality as a regular auxiliary force instead of a substitute froce similar to their status of years ago.

Under the present law the department can not give any recognition to the efficiency of the substitute who has been an employee for several years and therefore is of much greater value to the department than the substitute who has just been appointed. Under the present law the substitute who performs his first day of service is paid at the same rate as the substitute who has been performing service for five or six years, and of course there is no comparison as to the value of the service performed by such employees. We therefore believe that the law should be changed so that recognition can be given to the experienced substitute, in that he will receive a higher rate of pay after he becomes experienced, though such rate will still be below the rate paid the regular employee. We propose in this bill that during the first year of service, the substitute shall be paid the salary of grade 1, which is $1,900 per annum, for service actually performed; and for the second year of service he hsall be paid at the rate of grade 2, which is $2,000 per annum, for service actually performed; and for the third year he shall be paid the salary of grade 3, which is $2,150 per annum, for service actually performed, and continue to be paid at the rate of grade 3 for service actually performed until he is appointed a regular clerk. After regular appointment he would come under the laws governing the salaries for regular appointees.

As evidence of the length of service and earnings of substitute railway postal clerks, I submit the following data taken from the records of the Post Office Department. The earnings for the present fiscal year are not yet available, but it is quite certain that they will not vary much from the earnings of these other years.

100168-28- -2

Average entire service.

41

1,637. 64

We trust that your committee will give favorable consideration to the provisions of this bill. It is conceded by those who have to do with this service that there is merit in giving consideration to this group of employees.

Senator BROOKHART. These tables show that their employment is only part time in the service?

Mr. COLLINS. Yes, Senator. They are employed when they are needed. They have no assurance of continuous employment.

Senator BROOKHART. And they have to go when they are called for? Mr. COLLINS. Yes, sir.

Senator BROOKHART. If they did not they would be dropped from the list?

Mr. COLLINS. Unless they had some good reasons. But they are subject to call.

Senator BROOKHART. What would be good reasons?

Mr. COLLINS. We will assume that a man continually refuses to report for duty when he is ordered, and he would be considered

Senator BROOKHART. He would have to make a living in some other business and might be unable to leave that. Would a case like that be recognized?

Mr. COLLINS. It would. They usually give such an employee a furlough for a certain length of time. We have no trouble in that regard.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anybody else who wishes to be heard? (No response.)

If not, I have a letter here from Mr. John H. Bartlett, Acting Postmaster General, in which he states that this matter has been submitted to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget who informs the department that the proposed legislation is in conflict with the financial program of the President.

(The letter referred to and submitted by the chairman is as follows:)

Hon. GEORGE H. MOSES,

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., February 14, 1928.

Chairman Committec on Post Offices and Post Roads,

United States Senate.

MY DEAR SENATOR MOSES: In connection with S. 2106, a bill to classify certain positions in the Railway Mail Service and copy of which you referred to this office, you are advised that the matter has been taken up with the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, and in a letter dated February 10 he states that the proposed legislation is in conflict with the financial program of the President. I can not therefore recommend the enactment of the proposed bill.

Very truly yours,

JOHN H. BARTLETT, Acting Postmaster General.

STATEMENT OF H. W. STRICKLAND, INDUSTRIAL SECRETARY OF THE RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION, IN SUPPORT OF S. 2106

An unfortunate situation exists to-day relative to substitutes in the Railway Mail Service, in contrast with former conditions when the service was expanding; and substitutes received appointment as regular clerks within a reasonable time. During the last 10 or 12 years before 1926 there had been an almost continual curtailment of the Railway Mail Service, with the result that many regular clerks were placed on the surplus list. As surplus clerks are given work and appointed to vacancies in preference to substitutes, the lot of the substitutes during that period was a hard one. During the past two years, under Second Assistant Postmaster General Glover, conditions in the Railway Mail Service have greatly improved, and while there has not been much expansion of service, the curtail

16

ments have been few. This has resulted in eliminating the surplus list of regular clerks; and in giving regular appointment to quite a number of substitutes within the past year. Quite a number of the substitutes appointed during 1927 had been on the substitute list more than five years.

But condi

With the development of the Air Mail Service and the reduction of train service that is constantly going on, there is no question that a changed condition has arisen regarding the employment of substitutes in the Railway Mail Service; and one there is every reason to believe, that will continue. Formerly the substitute was what the word implies, an apprentice working for a regular clerk absent from duty because of sickness, on vacation, or for some other reason. tions have changed, and the substitute of to-day is not in the same status he occupied several years ago, when he merely served a brief probationary period, followed by regular appointment. There is no particular hardship or objection to serving an apprenticeship of a year or so in the Railway Mail Service, but after that time of experience, study, and practical training there should be a greater reward for the effort and qualifications required than are given in the present law. While some of the work done by substitutes in the Railway Mail Service is actually that of substituting for regular clerks who are absent from duty for some reason or other, yet for the greater part the substitutes are really and actually an auxiliary force of clerks, utilized when occasion demands in addition to regular clerks. In truth, the greater part of substitutes who would be benefited by this bill are experienced railway postal clerks, with anywhere from three to eight years experience. They are required to take the same examinations as regular clerks, to maintain the same standards of efficiency, to do exactly the same work. Not only does the substitute fail to receive any regular salary, but he does not even receive pay for the time he works at the rate of the grade to which he would have progressed had he been promoted upon the basis of time in the service the same as regular employees, after receiving appointment. It is obviously unfair that two men should stand side by side doing exactly the same kind of work, year after year, and one of them receive $50 a month more than the other, simply because of an arbitrary line, drawn by the law, between the regular clerk and the so-called substitute clerk.

It is, therefore, only reasonable that some consideration should be given to the actual status they occupy in the service, rather than to continue regarding them He is not certain in the theoretical status of being substitutes for some regular employee absent from duty. At the best, the lot of a substitute is a hard one.

of regular employment; and, of course, receives no salary when he does not work. While the rate of pay is $1,850 per annum, only a small per cent of the substitutes receive that amount due to the fact that there are periods in the year when there As a matter of fact, under a decision of Comptroller is no work for them to do. General, the substitute is not even regarded as an employee of the Post Office Department, even though he may be performing regular service in distributing mail when it is heavier than usual and when the regular force of clerks can not handle it. In other words, he is in fact, an auxiliary employee, doing his work just as efficiently as the regular clerk who has been in the service the same length of time, yet receiving for such services several hundred dollars per annum less than the regular clerk who was fortunate in getting an early appointment. It must be remembered, too, that because of this decision of the Comptroller denying substitutes the status of employees, they receive no allowance for vacation nor no sick leave when they are ill.

There would be little or no complaint over the rate of pay for substitutes, which is $1,850 per annum, even though the average compensation actually Now he must wait until received is much below that rate, if the substitute could receive a regular appointment after a year or less of apprenticeship, as formerly.

some regular employee resigns, retires, or dies in his division before he can expect
a regular appointment, with a regular salary and promotions to the higher grades.
There is now no service expansion calling for a greater number of employees.
When the Post Office Committees were considering postal salaries and reclassifica-
tion in 1924-25, a proposal was presented by the Railway Mail Association that
substitute railway postal clerks be paid at the rate of a certain salary for actual
service performed until they had passed a preliminary examination on the Postal
Laws and Regulations and a satisfactory examination on a distribution of not
After six month's service as a
more than 800 post offices, after which they were to be rated as qualified sub-
stitutes and receive a certain regular salary.
qualified substitute, they were to be promoted to the rank of railway postal clerk
of grade 1 and be promoted thereafter under the same provisions as other regular
clerks.