Document kDDR4X8B59orj24GoNVappBQO

Illinois Central plans its new suburban service and explores the technology of high-speed ground transportation. Thompson's election as vice-president of the largest department on the railroad gives the company the full benefit of his outstanding background, which combines a thorough knowledge of railroad opera tions with an up-to-the-minute command of the computer as a wotking tool. As chairman of rhe railroad industry com mittee on automatic car identification, he represents the new type of officer that is evolving on our railroads. Wages Wage rates increased about six percent in 1968 for most railroad employes. The nation's railroads settled with all but three of rhe groups entitled to serve new wage proposals. The settlement, for most employes, includes two percent on January 1 and three percent on July 1, 1969. The shop crafts have not yet settled for 1969- The remaining groups that have not settled for 1968--engineers, conductors and signalmen--threatened to strike, and the President appointed emergency boards to study the issues and recommend settlements. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, by striking or threatening to strike a few railroads at a time, forced most railroads to restore the excess jobs that were removed in 1964. The Illinois Central and several other roads that have a large stake in the crew-size issue resisted restoring unneeded jobs that would require hiring new, un needed employes. These railroads offered to share gains in productivity by granting wage increases of up to $1,000 a year to employes working on smaller, more effi cient crews. The crew-size issue came to a bead in November when rhe President of the United States, following a strike at the Belt Railway of Chicago which lasted more than 100 days and one at the Louisville & Nashville which lasted but a few hours, ap pointed a fact-finding board as provided under Sectioa 10 of the Railway Labor Act. The President included the Belt, the L&N, and rhe IC in his order creating the fact finding board. Hearings before the board were held during the last two weeks of November. The railroads presented a great deal of factual evidence proving that small crews are as safe or safer than large crews and thac, on average, members of small crews, using radio, have no greater work burden than members of large crews. The fact-finding board, following a week-long attempt to mediate the dispute, made its report December 13. In essence, "Settle the issue yourselves, job by job." Employe Education The railroad stepped up its activities in training and development. Several hundred employes took part in programs ranging from pre-employment training to skill and technical training and to on-campus execu tive development. A program that will provide basic educa tion for disadvantaged employes to equip them for higher-level, better-paying jobs was worked out with several railroads and the Board for Fundamental Education. Plans were being made at year's end for using closed circuit television in the train ing of personnel who work with data proc essing equipment and systems. We stepped up our efforts to atcract young college graduates at approximately 30 colleges and universities. 36 SCI 01773