Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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/ ' / iiajMr -/ l ilffilHli- NJMBHBlSy THE CLINTQN CHRONICLE / Thursdoy, April 3, 1947 1 H f Negotiations with the Union have been going on since February 17. They are still proceeding and your Telephone Company has hopes that an agreement can be reached that will be fair to everybody. ■ The Southern ^ell Telephone Company believes that its employees shuold be well paid, and that their wages should compare favorably with those paid by other concerns in the community for work requiring similar skill and equivalent training. To make sure that this policy is carried out, we are continuously comparing our wages with other wages. In the present negotiations with the Union, we have offered a renewal of our present liberal contract, but the Union insists upon unreasonably large wage increases. WAGE RATE INCREASES IN 1945 AND 1946 AMOUNTED TO APPROXIMATELY 26 MILLION DOLLARS Telephone employees wage rates are now the highest in history. They have been increased 75 per cent since January 1941. The largest jiflcreases have been in recent years, and only last year and in 1945, wage increases granted added approximately 26 million dollars to the annual pay of our employees. These are increases ifi wage rates and are in addition to millions of dollars in regularly scheduled raises given our employees. This is an important point to remember in any discussion of telephone wages. * These regular raises have been an advantage to telephone employees for many years. Under our present contract, thousands ,o| our employees receive wage increases as often as every three months. Other thousands receive in creases every six months or every year. -fl HERR ARE SOME TYPICAL RATES OF PAY A five-day, 40-hour week is the basic work period. Non-supervisory employees, such as operators, linemen, installers and repairmen receive overtime pay for work beyond eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, and also .receive premium pay for Sunday, holiday and evening and night work. The following table shows some of the present wages paid, according to the* size of the telephone exchange— — r * . , * "--s. \ • LARGE EXCHANGES y ^ Starting Rate Top Rate Operator $ 27 to $ 39 per week Installer-repairman $ 28 to $ 62 per week Stenographer A $125 to $190 per month MEDIUM EXCHANGES Operator .'...*.^$25 to $ 35 per week Installer-repairman 27 to- $ 58 per week Stenographer $120 to. $180 per month SMALL EXCHANGES Operator $ 22 / to $ 31 per week * Installer-repairman $ 27 to $ 56 per week -Stenographer Not usually needed ' - ' ' ~v * .it , *• *?- * ' These rates do not include premium pay mentioned above. We believe most people would agree that these are good wages. There are, in addition to good wages, many other advantages in woriring for the Telephone Company, including pensions (with full cost paid by the Company), sickness and death benefits, attractive woricing conditions, holidays with pay, and vacations with pay of one, two or three weeks, depending on length of service. i 1 , : *r r 1 UNION DEMANDS TOTAL $69,000,000 A YEAR THIS IS EQUAL TO AN INCREASE OF $3.30 A MONTH in THE AVERAGE TELEPHONE BILL The demands of the Union on wages and other matters would increase the cost of providing telephone service by about $69,000,000 a year. Thte comes to 70 per cent of the company’s wage payments m 1946. It is more than 6 times our net income in 1946. It would make our payroll alone over 2 million dollars more than the total of all the money we took in last year. ' ■ *< • ' ' C In terms of the average telephone bill, it amounts to about $3.30 per month for every one of a little more than 1,731,000 telephone subscrib ers, and it iJ^the telephone user, after all, wTio pays us the money that we pay out in wages. Wages that are too low are not fair to the em- ployees—who do the work. Wages that are too high are not fair to the public—who buy the service. ■i ‘V +• FURTHER INCREASES IN WAGES WOULD NECESSITATE - ADDITIONAL INCREASES IN OUR RATES We earnestly desire to .go as far as possible in meeting the wishes of our employees and the Union. But their demands must be practical and realistic. The earnihgs of the Company are such that we are now appearing before the Public Service Commissions throughout the South- . j 1 - » east asking for increases m rates to help meet the cost of wage increases granted last year. Should present negotiations result in large wage in creases, we must immediately seek additional telephone rate increases to meet the increase in expenses. It is with this in mind thatiwe are proceeding in our present negotiations with the Union. 4 " AN OBLIGATION TO THE PUBLIC The Telephone Company is asking Union leadership to recognize the obligation of all of us to you — the public. ‘ *• V . .r-i- • A v. , ' - ; We are pointing out to the Union in our meetings that only by ren- dering a constantly improved service in the most efficient manner pos sible can the employees, the Union, and the management continue to ft deserve your good will. We must not disregard the welfare of the public, Either in our charge for service or the quality and continuity; of the service we render. -r ) - . ' • / ' ' \ - In view of the facts presented here, there does not seem to be justi fication for a complete revision of our working practices as requested by the Union, nor for such large wage d*|pands. Consequently, we have offered the Union a year’s renewal of the present liberal contract, but with the right to re-open the matter of wages, at a time wjen changes In conditions may justify. We sincerely hope the Union will accept thie offer. We want to keep our employees happy about'their wages and their jobs. We want to keep you pleased with your telephone* rates and service. And, we want to keep our investors satisfied about the money they have put in the telephone business. For it takes all three — telephone user, , worker and investor — to keep this^ business going. y ~"X A TELEPHONE STRIKE WOULD BE SUCH A SERIOUS THING FOR YOU, FOR TELEPHONE EMPLOYEES, AND FOR THE TELEPHONE COMPANY THAT EVERY THING POSSIBLE IS BEING DONE TO PREVENT IT. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR A TELEPHONE STRIKE. ' " *1 v . : SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE AND T E L EG R A P H~~C O Mf A N Y, INCORPORATED J *-*■’ . «r ■ J 1 a & Ti ■4. V •/ -‘ ■ . V , \ .