"That's Railroadin' "

Willie Glass, 60, a garbage man in Atlanta for many years and then unemployed for a spell, recently got a new job as a fireman on a Southern Railway diesel locomotive. On his first day at work, a supervisor showed him where to sit in the cab of the locomotive and where to find the toilet. Glass already feels confident he can perform a fireman's duties. "I don't do nothin'," he says. "I just set."

There are about 100 other such new "firemen" on the Southern, all aging or aged Negroes (60 to 80-odd). They get up to $25 a day, although none of them ever worked on a train before. They are pawns, lucky pawns, in a bitter chess game between the Southern and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen. Traveling an independent track, the Southern withdrew from the 195-company united front that U.S. railroads have presented in their work-rules battle with five railroad operating unions. Instead, the Southern has carried on its own fight in its own way against outmoded work rules, particularly the rule requiring a fireman in the cab of every diesel locomotive. Says an executive of the 100%-diesel Southern: "We need locomotive firemen about like we need camel watchers."

In 1959 the Southern Railway's management noted that in the company's contract with the firemen there was no clause saying that the Southern had to hire men to replace firemen who died, retired or quit. So, for more than three years, Southern hired no new firemen. The union, preoccupied with its national struggle, did not go to court about the Southern until last September. After an involved wrangle, the union obtained a federal court decision requiring the Southern to abide by the old rule--a fireman on every diesel--until the dispute is decided by the National Railroad Adjustment Board.

To comply with that ruling, the Southern had to hire about 100 men, and that is how Willie Glass and the other Negroes got their new jobs. Explains a Southern executive: "Since firemen have no duties at all to perform, no skills, training, physical standards or education are required. In the circumstances, it seemed reasonable to employ unskilled elderly people who are having a hard time finding jobs." The Southern's move was particularly galling to the Brotherhood because until four weeks ago its constitution prohibited Negroes from becoming members. The infuriated union accused Southern of "disrespectful contempt," planned to take its case to court again.

Meanwhile, Fireman Glass collected $197.97 for his first twelve days in the diesel cab. He paid his rent, bought a new watch for his wife, new shoes for himself. He has already experienced one brief layoff in his short railroad career, but it did not bother him. "That's railroadin', I guess," he says.

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