◆ SpookStack

a ~ at cThus they ride in ‘spoon- fashion,’ with bodies contorted and heads drawn below the level of the Seletheeld le the following com-j{as indicative of onal .in- Ww. iment -he telephone: tent to ‘guarantee @ regular! “There tan de nd differentia-/OF overtime compe for all tion between work in an iron ore actual] work or employment.” Baying that the company's ob- mine and work in a coal mine. The/jections had relied on alleged “im- eT tit Dawes sha ees ee loan Law, Se ee pa the sae priicipies,|memorial custom and agreements; apply equally as regards traveljatrived at by the practice of col-. time constituting. work time and the work week, and in my opinion, the decision in the iron ore case wili apply as the law of the land governing the work week in coa) mines,” Today's case came before the court on & petition by the Sloss- Shefffield Steel and Iron Company, the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail- road Company and the Republic Steel Corporation, which sought Aldeclaratory judgments nst qthree iron ore iocalg of th / Mill and Melter Workers, ¢ ‘| deter: er € * {miners in traveling underground in ‘jmines to and from “the working face” conatituted work or employ- ment for which compensation must be paid under the Fair Labor |Stendards Act, The companies jown twelve underground iron ore mines in Jefferson County, Ala. #! Not Dealing With “Chattels” : In determining wehther under- ground travel constitutes compen- fsable work within the meaning of *\the act, Justice Murphy said, the x court Was “not guided by any pre- i tise statutory definition of work to or employment.” “We are not here dealing,” he went on, “with mere chattels or articles of trade, but with the Tights of those who toil, of those who sacrifice a full measure of their freedom and talents to the = use and profit of others,” | He said that the miners ride to - their places in “ore akips” or “reg- /ular man trips” and were forced to #jjump several feet into the skip qifrom a loading platform, with not infrequently, injuries to ankles, feet and hands. The heads of most of the men, tlhe added, were a foot or more glabove the tops of the skips and, since the akips usually clear the low mine ceilings by only a few inches, the miners are compelled te hend over skip top,” he continued. “Broken ribs, injured arms and legs and bloody heads often result; even fatalities are not unknown." . ‘Dark, Maledorous Shafts” The long rides tak “fn the dark loroug shafts," he declared, an exacting and dangerous conditions in the mine shafts stand as a mute, unanswer- able proof that the journey from and to t he portal involves continu- out physical and mental exertion es well as hazards to life and limb." “This oompulsory travel,” he “occurs entirely on peti- tloners’ property and is at all times under their strict control and a- the men Wagas—an: cording to Justice Murphy, must lective bargaining” to uphold pay-/ ment by the “face to face” meth- od, Justice Murphy asserted that: the District Court had been un-| able to find any such “immemo-' ral” custom or collective bargain- ing agreements. . Custom Held “Immstertar” | However, he held that {t was “immaterial” that “there may have been a proper custom” not to pay employes for some parts of their work, for the Fair Labor Stand-| ards Act “was not designed to! codify or perpetuate those customs! and contracts which allow an em- ployer to claim all of an employe's time while compensating him for only # part of it.” Justice Roberts opened his dis- sent by saying: “The question for deciston in this case should be approached not on the basis of any broad humanita- Tian preoposseasions we may all/ entertain, not with a desire to con- atrue legislation so ag to accom- Plish what we deem worthy ob- jects, but fn the traditional and, if we are to have « Government of laws, the easential attitude of ascertaining what Congress has enacted rather than what we wish it had enacted.” Taking ifasue with Justice Murphy's remarks on the alleged inability of the Federal District Court to find “immemorial” cus- tomer “collective bargaining agree-, ments” for pay on a “face-to-face” basis, Justice Roberta cited a pub- | Ne arbitration proceeding in Bir-(. mingham in 1803, a board of ar-; bitration ruling in 1817, approved. by the United States Fuel Admin-: istrator, language quoted by the’ Bituminous Coal Commission in 1920 and the 1923 Code of Fair Competition for the Bituminous Coal Industry. : Citea Roosevelt Approval ae He added that the Appalachian” agreement of 1933, approved by President Roosevelt, aald that eight hours shall constitute a day's work | and “this means work in the mines. at the usual working places for all classes of labor.” ; He asserted that the fair labor’ standards act “was not intended by Congress to turn into work that which was not work, or not s0 understood to be, at the time of its p _ nor was it intended to have the courts “designate as work some activity of an emplove Work Sst \emp:ove which neither employer nor em-' ploye had ever regarded as work} C merely because the court thought! that such activity imposed such— tions go deletericus to his heaith or welfare that he ought to be: con ted.” Tt wes common said, that the iasue of was first not be interpreted as applied “ininationally after the nation was at 8 narrow, erudving manner," Thisiawar and fr connection with “die ———EV7'7~ 1 wero: Lippirg from or the hardship on him or involved condi- Times for 4 Hours Act, ac-/portal” pe: in connection with the . y 4