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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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anybody reckon travel time? Why, that's ridiculous. Why, if I were an operator, I wouldn't think of having a men paid for this. They work their stint and that's that. There's a tradition in the miner's union--you do your stint, and then you come off. It will make great trouble. The man who has to travel the farthest will get the most pay. That won't do. That isn't any good. The fellow who happens to have an assignment close by the skit, if he has to work eight hours digging out coal, he won't enjoy it if the other fellow has his travel time all accounted for and paid for.”

All the business of the washing of their work clothes: “How ridiculous!” he said. And blacksmithing their tools.

Interviewer:

Are you sure that those he included as also being ridiculous?

Perkins:

Yes, he did. Ridiculous for the War Labor Board to give him.

Interviewer:

He wanted them, all right. I don't know if he wanted portal-to-portal pay, but he wanted those other things.

Perkins:

No, he didn't want them. He wanted to keep those as talking points. He wanted to keep those as negotiating points. Don't you see, the way they always begin their negotiations--invariably, always--is by Lewis making great





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