811.504 Mexico/10–1444
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Mexico (Bursley)
The Secretary of State refers to the Department’s instruction no. 6401 of October 14, 1944, regarding six questions raised by the Mexican Government in connection with the continued employment of Mexican nationals in the United States under the agreements of April 26 and 29, 1943. Question number 4 was the request of the Mexican Labor Office that railroad workers who are at present working only eight hours a day be employed for ten hours a day, and it was stated in the instruction under reference, at the suggestion of the War Manpower Commission, that plans were being completed for the railroads participating in the nonagricultural worker program to employ Mexican workers at least ten hours a day.
The Department has now received a further communication on this subject from the War Manpower Commission, dated October 14, 1944. [Page 1330] A copy thereof is attached hereto36 for the information of the Officer in Chargé. It will be noted that the two railroads which were mentioned in previous communications as giving Mexican national workers eight hours’ employment a day, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad, have informed the War Manpower Commission of their inability to comply with the Mexican request. They state that their contract to employ Mexican workers provides for eight hours a day; that this number of hours is the standard in the industry; that additional hours of daily employment for Mexican workers, which must be paid at time and one-half rates, would constitute discrimination against domestic workers; and that seasonal conditions, which have a direct bearing upon the length of working days, are such at this time of year that the majority of maintenance-of-way workers cannot be used for more than eight hours a day. They point out that overtime is governed entirely by the demands of the particular location where the men are working and that in many localities Mexican nationals are presently employed nine and, in some instances, ten hours a day.
The Department is of the opinion that the practices outlined above are within the terms of the international agreement and therefore trusts that the Mexican Government will raise no further objection in regard to the hours of employment of these railroads.
The Officer in Charge is authorized, in his discretion, to inform the Mexican Government of this additional reply to question number 4.
- Not printed.↩