REMOVE INEQUITIES IN THE LAW GOVERNING ELIGI- MAY 10 (calendar day, MAY 24), 1934.—Ordered to be printed Mr. MCKELLAR, from the Committee on Post Offices and Post REPORT [To accompany H.R. 7343] The Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads of the Senate, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 7343) to remove the inequities in the law governing eligibility for promotion to the position of chief clerk in the Railway Mail Service, beg leave to report the same back to the Senate with the recommendation that the bill do pass. Under the legislation carried in the Appropriation Act of August 24, 1912, paragraph 13, section 2013, Postal Laws and Regulations of 1932, railway postal clerks of grade 6 who are assigned offices are ineligible for the position of chief clerk, but in some instances they have superior qualifications for promotion on account of experience in the offices, and as they are equal to clerks in charge in grade it would be for the best interests of the service to modify the law so as to make them eligible. Many of the best clerks in charge now decline to take office positions and become understudies for the position of chief clerk as such service renders them ineligible for promotion to the very position for which they would be training. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate by Mr. McKellar, and was referred to your committee, numbered S. 2868, and a favorable report from the Post Office Department was made on this bill. Your committee recommends that H.R. 7343, be substituted for the bill now before the Senate, and that the same do pass. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Hon. KENNETH MCKELLAR, Chairman Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR MCKELLAR: In reply to your inquiry of the 17th instant, I have to advise you that the Department approves of the provisions of S. 2868 being a bill to remove inequities in the law governing eligibility for promotion to the position of chief clerk in the Railway Mail Service and accordingly recommends its passage. Very truly yours, KARL A. CROWLEY, Solicitor. O MAY 10 (calendar day, MAY 24), 1934.—Ordered to be printed Mr. MCKELLAR, from the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H.R. 9392] The Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads of the Senate, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 9392) to reclassify terminal railway post offices, respectfully report the same back to the Senate with the recommendation that the bill do pass. The committee adopts the report of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads of the House of Representatives, as a part of their report, which is as follows: [H.Rept. No. 1430, 73d Cong., 2d sess.] The Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 9392) to reclassify terminal railway post offices, report the same back to the House with the following amendments: At the end of line 4 and the beginning of line 5, on page 1, strike out the words "all transit". In line 6, on page 1, after the word "lines" insert or post offices". So amended, the committee recommend that the bill do pass. Representatives of the Post Office Department appearing before the committee in connection with this proposed legislation expressed their approval of the bill as amended. PROVISIONS OF THE BILL The bill (H.R. 9392) establishes the terminal railway post-office system and defines its functions. The clerks assigned to these terminal railway post offices are classified as railway postal clerks and will progress successively to grade 4. (These clerks now progress under present law to grade 5.) This bill would eventually limit the successive promotions to grade 4, thereby reducing the cost of operation in the future, without reducing the clerks now assigned to these terminal railway post offices in rank or salary; those now in grade 5 will be transferred to grade 5 positions in road service, as vacancies occur, and replacements in the terminals will limit advancement to grade 4. The effect upon clerks in charge is the same as present law. The bill provides that when a terminal railway post office is operated in three tours there shall be a relief clerk in charge. This provides for a uniform number of clerks in charge in all terminals where conditions are similar. The relief clerk in charge relieves the other three clerks in charge 11⁄2 days per week and receives the same salary as the clerk in charge whom he relieves. The bill also provides that the clerk in charge of terminals having 75 or more employees shall be of grade 7. There are at present 14 such terminals, and there will therefore be 14 grade 7 clerks in charge. The bill further provides that no employee in the Postal Service shall be reduced in rank or salary as a result of the provisions of this measure. Salaries of railway postal clerks are as follows: "39 UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 610 "Railway postal clerks shall be divided into two classes, class A and class B, and into seven grades with annual salaries as follows: Grade 1, salary $1,900; grade 2, salary $2,000; grade 3, salary $2,150; grade 4, salary $2,300; grade 5, salary $2,450; grade 6, salary $2,600; grade 7, salary $2,700." A comparison of the bill with existing law is shown below: "PRESENT LAW (39 U.S.C. 618) "Terminal railway post offices shall be divided into two classes, class A and class B; those having less than twenty employees shall be assigned to class A, and those having twenty or more employees shall be assigned to class B. Clerks in class A terminals shall be promoted successively to grade 4, and clerks in charge of tours to grade 5. Clerks in class B terminals shall be promoted successively to grade 5, and clerks in charge of tours to grade 6." "PROPOSED LEGISLATION (H.R. 9392) (Committee amendments shown inside of black brackets; deleted matter in stricken-through type; new matter in italics) "The terminal railway post office system shall be maintained for the purpose of handling and distributing all transit mail not handled or distributed in railway post office lines [or post offices], and the clerks in said terminal railway post offices shall be classified as railway postal clerks and progress successively to grade 4. Clerks in charge of terminals, tours, or crews consisting of less than twenty employees shall be of grade 5. Clerks in charge of terminals, tours, or crews consisting of twenty or more employees shall be of grade 6. When a terminal railway post office is operated in three tours there shall be a relief clerk in charge: Provided, That the clerk in charge of terminals having seventy-five or more employees shall be of grade 7: Provided further, That no employee in the Postal Service shall be reduced in rank or salary as a result of the provisions of this Act." Terminal railway post offices were first established because of the great savings which could be effected by them in the pay of railway-post-office cars. At the beginning the terminals, which were sometimes called "blue-tag stations", were designed for the distribution only of certain classes of periodicals of secondary importance which took up considerable space in mail cars and interfered with the distribution of first-class mail and newspapers. Soon after the Parcel Post System went into effect on January 1, 1913, these terminals admirably met the problem which this new and bulky class of mail presented, and were consequently expanded to provide distributing units for parcel post as well as other mail. Later on, as fast as the need for them developed, new terminals were set up at strategic points. At the beginning the terminals were manned by clerks transferred from road service. Now the road service is manned by clerks transferred from the terminals. The terminals have become the training ground for the road. Almost every substitute appointed to a regular position must pass through the terminal before he acquires sufficient seniority to get an assignment on the road. The terminal clerk and terminal railway post offices are an important part of the Railway Mail Service. In fact, according to the policy and statements of the Department, the terminal clerk is regarded as a railway postal clerk in every sense. The same entrance examination is required of him as of the road clerk. After being certified, no differential in study requirements and examinations is recognized between the substitute clerk assigned to the terminal or the substitute The following information has been furnished by the Post Office Department |