past past by the chairman and the members of this committee in our problems. As you well realize, ours is one of the smaller associations, but our 26,000 members constitute the great majority of the 28,000 super

visors.

We feel that our relatively small size will not be a factor in the deliberations of this committee when you meet in executive session to decide on a final form for proposed salary legislation. We have tried to present facts, and facts only. Our objective has been to point out both the good and bad features of all salary bills introduced. We hope that you will agree upon a bill that will not discriminate against any postal employee.

We remember only too well how the Congress, in 1958, passed a bill increasing all postal salaries by 72 percent, with an additional temporary increase of 22 percent. However, the additional 22 percent was denied most supervisors and other postal employees in the upper levels. We appreciate the interest of Chairman Murray and some of the other members of this committee who took the lead in extending the same benefits to us by including the additional 21⁄2 percent for us in a bill increasing the salaries of employees under the Classification Act. For this action, we are all deeply grateful.

Our legislative representative has pointed out how H.R. 10480, in its present form, will add and compound inequities unless there are a few amendments. We urge this committee to study the suggested amendments seriously and we hope that you will agree that what we are asking is not unreasonable. We know that the Post Office Department would have drawn up a bill without the inequitable treatment to supervisors and others if there had not been a money limitation to their allocated section of H.R. 10480. We are certain that, in the interest of fair play and good personnel policy, the Post Office Department will agree to our proposed changes if they are assured that the dollar limitation can be increased.

Please accept our thanks for letting us present our case and we will be looking forward to favorable consideration of our testimony. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions?

Thank you very much.

The next witness is Mr. Harold McAvoy, president of the National Association of Post Office and Postal Transportation Service Mail Handlers, Watchmen, Messengers and Group Leaders. He is accompanied by Mr. Andrew W. Carniato, chairman of the executive board. STATEMENT OF HAROLD MCAVOY, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POST OFFICE AND POSTAL TRANSPORTATION SERVICE MAIL HANDLERS, WATCHMEN, MESSENGERS, AND GROUP LEADERS; ACCOMPANIED BY ANDREW W. CARNIATO, CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE BOARD

Mr. McAvoy. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for the record my name is Harold McAvoy. I am national president of the National Association of Post Office Mail Handlers, Messengers, Watchmen, and Group Leaders. We are part of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations and the Gov

ernment Employee's Council. Our national office is located at 900 F Street NW., Washington, D.C.

At this time, I would like to say thank you to you and the members of your committee, for the privilege of appearing before you in support of H.R. 9531, introduced by Representative James H. Morrison of Louisiana.

I believe that 11 members of this committee have introduced pay bills which include H.R. 10480, introduced by the chairman of this committee, Representative Tom Murray.

To all the members of this committee, who have introduced pay bills, our people are indeed grateful, for it shows the deep interest and concern you have for postal employees, plus, these pay hearings allow the postal labor organizations to voice our thinking, pertaining to a decent pay adjustment for our people.

In President Kennedy's special message on Federal pay reform to the Congress of the United States on February 19, 1962, he stated*** that it establishes a realistic and appropriate salary relationship, both within and among the several statutory salary systems, and each of their grade levels by following the principle of equal pay for equal work distinctions in pay, consistent with distinctions in responsibility and performance.

Adoption of the principle of comparability will assure equity for the Federal employee with his equals throughout the national economy, enable the Federal Government to compete fairly with private firms for qualified personnel, and provide, at last, a logical and factual standard for setting Federal salaries. Reflected in this single standard are such legitimate private enterprise pay considerations as cost of living, standard of living, and productivity to the same extent that these factors are resolved into the going rate over the bargaining tables, and other salary-determining processes in private enterprise throughout the country.

President George Meany of our AFL-CIO has stated several times, in recent months, that it is difficult to find a job in outside industry to compare with the job our Post Office employees do. At the recent AFL-CIO executive council meeting, President Meany in talking to the press, and referring to the council members, stated:

** We disagree with the administration's pay proposal to concentrate the heaviest salary increase among the highest pay levels in Government, while denving any pay raise to talk about to those in the lowest pay brackets.

He further stated:

*** the lowest paid employees need substantial economic assistance immediately and cannot wait for this assistance to trickle down from the top gradually.

For your information, the executive council, AFL-CIO, has adopted a resolution which endorses the Morrison bill, H.R. 9531, and has urged the labor movement to give all-out support to this worthy

measure.

Getting back to the word "comparability," about the only comparisons I can make, that is even close to our peoples' duties, at this time, are the longshoremen, the teamsters, the department of sanitation employees in New York City, watchmen, truckers (forklift) laborers, material handling (loader and unloader).

Before I list the duties and pay rate of these employees in private industry, I would like to bring to your attention the duties our people

perform under Public Law 68, and let you, the committee members, judge for yourselves.

Basic function: Loads, unloads, and moves bulk mail, and performs other duties incidental to the movement and processing of mail.

Duties and responsibilities: (a) Unloads mail received by trucks. Separates all mail received by trucks and conveyors for subsequent dispatch to other conveying units, and separates and delivers working mails for delivery to distribution areas.

(b) Places empty sacks or pouches on racks, labels them where labels are prearranged or racks are plainly marked, dumps mail from sacks, cuts ties, faces letter mail, carries mail to distributors for processing, places processed mail into sacks, removes filled sacks and pouches from racks, closes and locks same. Picks up sacks, pouches, and outside pieces, separates outgoing bulk mails for dispatch and loads mail onto trucks.

(c) Handles and sacks empty equipment, inspects empty equipment for mail content, restrings sacks.

(d) Cancels stamps on parcel post, operates canceling machines, carries mail from canceling machine to distribution cases.

(e) Assists in supply and slip rooms and operates addressograph, mimeograph, and similar machines.

(f) In addition, may perform any of the following duties:

(i) Acts as armed guard for valuable registry shipments and as watchman and guard around post office building.

(ii) Makes occasional simple distribution of parcel post mail requiring no scheme knowledge.

(iii) Operates electric forklift trucks.

(iv) Rewraps soiled or broken parcels.

(v) Performs other miscellaneous duties, such as stamping tickets and weighing incoming sacks.

Now, I would like to say, and I am using the figures of the occupational wage survey made by the U.S. Department of Labor, April 1961, Bulletin No. 1285-65 under the signatures of Arthur J. Goldberg, Secretary, Ewan Clague, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Laborers, material handling: Start at $2.23 per hour and go on to $3.50 per hour. He usually is employed in a warehouse, manufacturing plant, and so forth. His duties involve one or more of the following: Loading and unloading various materials and merchandise on or from freight cars, trucks, or other transporting devices.

Longshoremen: As a rule do the same work as the material-handling laborers. The longshoremen and teamsters are over the $3 per hour mark, and the department of sanitation employees in New York City, I was informed, are over $1,000 per year ahead of our people.

It is our honest opinion that the job our people do, in the postal service, goes far beyond the duties of the above-mentioned employees. To go on, it is difficult for our mail handlers, watchmen, group leaders, and messengers, and our people in the bag equipment shops to understand the President, and his pay proposal, when he stated that his pay adjustment should be made over a 3-year period. We sincerely believe the crying need for pay adjustments is now.

Surveys made by our people in our large cities brought out that our people must work at two jobs, or their wives must work to get by on a fairly decent standard of living.

I would like to point out, at this time, that our people, the mail handlers, watchmen, messengers, group leaders, and bag equipment employees are only assigned to first- and second-class post offices; in other words, the larger cities of our country.

As the postal labor leaders, who have testified before your writer brought out, the clerk and letter carrier, and so forth, are all having a hard time getting by on their present salary, which is pay level 4, and have urged you, the committee members, to give immediate favorable consideration to H.R. 9531, and the companion pay bills before you. Again for your information, our people are in pay level 3-not pay level 4. We start at $1.96 per hour, and after 7 years, as a regular, they receive $2.39 per hour.

Our starting salary as a regular is: step 1, $3.955, to step 7, $4.825. He reaches step 7, salary $4,825, after 7 years.

In conclusion, we are grateful to this administration for bringing to the attention of Congress the need for a postal salary increase.

When you close public hearings on the pay bills before your committee, our national organization strongly urges you and the members of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee to give every consideration to our request to amend H.R. 9531, and place our mail handlers, watchmen, messengers, and mail equipment employees in pay level 4.

We sincerely believe that this request is justified after comparing the duties of our people with employees in outside industry who are far ahead in salaries and yet just cover some of our duties in their given workday.

In behalf of our people, I would like to say that they are extremely grateful to Representative James C. Davis for introducing H.R. 10908. which provides for periodical procedures in determining the need for pay adjustments; Mrs. St. George for establishing the escalator setup in the bill; and Chairman Tom Murray for introducing the administration's pay bill.

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman and members of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, for the privilege of appearing before you, which gave me the chance to voice the sincere and honest thinking of our national organization.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions of Mr. McAvoy?

Mr. CUNNINGHAM. I have known Mr. McAvoy for some years. He is certainly devoted to the people he represents. I think they are very fortunate to have a man like Mr. McAvoy here.

I think there is a legitimate basis for considering the advancement of their people from level 3 to level 4, and I have thought so for a long time. I hope some day we can consider that problem here in the committee.

I did not want this opportunity to pass without saying what I feel, and I am sure many Members of Congress feel that Mr. McAvoy certainly is a hard working and devoted servant to the people he represents.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any further questions?

(No response.)

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. McAvoy.

Mr. McAvoy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. The next witness will be Mr. Tommy M. Martin, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association. He is accompanied by Max Jordan, vice president, and John Emeigh, secretary.

Mr. MARTIN. We also have with us Mr. Hilliard, of our executive committee, from the State of Georgia.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF TOMMY M. MARTIN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RURAL LETTER CARRIERS ASSOCIATION; ACCOMPANIED BY MAX JORDAN, VICE PRESIDENT; JOHN EMEIGH, SECRETARY; AND CAREY W. HILLIARD, MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Tommy M. Martin. I am president of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, an organization composed of 39,500 regular, retired, and substitute rural carriers. I am accompanied by Max H. Jordan, vice president; John W. Emeigh, secretary; and Carey W. Hilliard, member of the executive committee.

Mr. Chairman, we are pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you to testify on the salary bills pending before this committee. This association gives its full endorsement and support to H.R. 9531, the bill introduced by Representative James H. Morrison, Democrat, of Louisiana, and to the many companion bills introduced by other Members of the House, including Mrs. Kathryn E. Granahan, of Pennsylvania; Thaddeus J. Dulski, of New York; Arnold Olsen, of Montana; Joseph P. Addabbo, of New York; Dominick V. Daniels, of New Jersey; and Joel T. Broyhill, of Virginia; members of this committee.

We endorse the Morrison bill because, first, it does provide an adequate increase, and secondly, because it continues the present basis of pay for the rural delivery service. We desire to offer three amendments to H.R. 9531.

Amendment (1): Revise the rural carrier schedule to eliminate the pay factor entitled "Compensation per mile per annum for each mile up to 30 miles," and add the dollar amount of that factor for 30 miles to the pay factor titled "Fixed Compensation per annum.”

This amendment would be a change in present law. It would establish a base salary for all rural carriers equal to the salary payable on a 30-mile route. The pay factor which provides a rate per mile for miles over 30 would be retained as in present law and as is also provided in the Morrison bill.

Amendment (2): Amend existing law to increase the maximum amount payable for carriers serving heavily patronized routes from "the basic salary for the maximum step in the rural carrier schedule for a route 61 miles in length" to "the basic salary for the maximum step in the rural carrier schedule for a route 101 miles in length." This amendment would increase the present maximum amount which the Postmaster General could pay to rural carriers serving heavily patronized routes. It would permit establishment of a schedule of allowances for this limited number of carriers (presently 2,500 in number) which would compensate them at overtime rates for hours