Green States Labor Case For Prevailing Wages
Green, William
Green States Labor Case For Prevailing Wages More Than Mere Wages Are Involved, Declares Labor President in Vigorous Speech. •y William Green President of the A.F.ofL. This is the first of a...
...In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Appropriations a few days ago Mr...
...The principal spokesman of the employers who sought to block a favorable report on the bill was Bainbridge Colby, once Secretary of State...
...The issue is a civic ami social one with its roots iu economic status...
...Waldman Fights for Jobless Insurance in Albany Faces Bainbridge Colby in Exciting Legislature Hear., ing on Byrne-Killgrew Bill...
...For three years our unemployed ranks have not fallen below ten millions and in 1933 rose to over thirteen millions...
...Waldman-Colby Debate The hearing developed into a virtual debate between Colby and Waldman, who ^appeared for a number of unions in addition to the Socialist Party...
...Hopkin stated: "We now pay the prevailing hourly rate of wages...
...All business seeks," he declared, "is to be a going concern," and he pleaded with the legislators to con-, sider the labor of human beings on at least as high a place as employ, ers consider their machinery...
...Does the government so much as suggest that materials shall be paid for at less than the prevailing prices...
...It would be madness now to abandon our principles of recovery and to throw away our gains by again giving the signal for widespread wage cutting...
...Pat Quinlan, veteran Socialist and textile strike organizer, was in Jthjrge_ of thjf silk workers in this region in the strikeT~»nd~dfa~ remarkable work...
...Protests have come from nearly all walks in life...
...of the dignity of labor or human dignity...
...The principle of payment of the benefits is identical with the principle of the payment of compensation...
...Employers, said Waldman, pay interest on the bonds with which machinery was bought even though that machinery might be standing idle...
...Not at all.- But Labor is asked to agree to less than a sub istence wage...
...Not a single dollar need be added to the appropriation in order to carry into effect the prevailing rate principle...
...Abraham Epstein...
...To folds US UUt uf those depths we undertook to reduce the number of unemployed and to increase the buying power of wage earners through maximum hour.} and minimum wages...
...Funds to appeal the recent conviction of Patrick L. Quinlan, convicted for activities in connection with the recent textile strike, are solicited in an appeal sent out by the Textile Workers' Defense Fund with headquarters in this city...
...Bainbridge Colby's appearance was something in the nature of a surprise, the employers' trump card in facing the workers with a big shot lawyer and statesman...
...To be eligible for benefits the worker, must have been employed 90 days in the preceding yefctMir 130 day* in' the next preceding two yearly Benefits are to begin two yeaity after contributions begin...
...This, board also provided that whenever the prevailing hourly rate rises above the minimum set for any district within the zone, such prevailing rate is to be paid on federal construction projects...
...experts...
...Among the other speakers on behalf of the bill were George Meany, President of the State Federation of Labor...
...smashing reply to the four argnJ ments of "the distinguished cm Secretary of State who was willing*' to lend his eloquence to the cause of the industrialists...
...without once speaking or thinking...
...We know the chaos that was brought by wage cuts which began in 1931 and 1932, when the railway cut and the steel cut led the -Way,, down J«_the economic wreckage of 1033...
...An agreement was reached in which each side got two hours...
...Howard W. Cullman and Justine Wise Tulin...
...it is not a charity but a need...
...The National Farmers' Union filed an emphatic protest I printed in another column of this issue...
...It is a term which has been incorporated in Federal legislation for a number of years...
...We do not want to tempt you to lefuse jobs in private industry so we pay 'relief wages for 'relief work...
...Comrade Waldman faced tW committee, the massed industrlfM ists and the vast audience with...
...wages is to be paid on construction work in all CCC camps...
...We now have over ten million persons for whom industry has not supplied jobs for years...
...Thi.;>rineiple which has been impressed by every agency of the federal government concerned with the payment of wages has been and must remain fundamental...
...The country is aroused over this...
...We have made progress and strengthened the structure of industry...
...Shall we say to them that to the extent of our ability we as a nation shall provide public works through which you may have jobs at the customary prevailing rates of pay and so we shall stand by each other until business takes up its responsibility...
...On October 30, 1933, Mr...
...PACING a former Secretary of I State of the United States [who appeared for the Industrial 6enferenee fti-New...York..representing all the big manufacturers of the state, Louis Waldman, State Chairman of the Socialist Party, electrified a gathering that jammed every comer of the Assembly Chamber in Albany with a stirring plea for the enactment of an unemployment insurance law...
...Industry must bear the cost of unemployment," he declared, as thf' chamber rang with applause, "as industry cares for machinery...
...What shall we say to these victims of an unprecedented economic cataclysm...
...Before the packed chamber, filled with representatives of various labor organizations and of employers he impressively asked for five hours in which to present his case...
...Aoolications of Rule The Tennessee Valley Act approved May 18, 1933, also requires all contracts to contain a provision that not less than the prevailing rate of wages for work of a similar nature in a given community is to be paid to...
...The bill is backed by organized labor in the state, and the whole labor movement was' represented by spokesmen at the hearing...
...They, are to be 50 per cent of wages from ?5 to $15 per week...
...It is foolish and childish," the great statesman said, for New York to feel that it must be a leader in "legislation of destruction...
...An amusing sidelight was the fact that a spokesman of the Communist party joined the employers in opposing the bill...
...Conqrets Accepts Principle At present the^e is not an activity of the government that does not provide for the payment of the prevailing rate of wages within the meaning of the definition I have given...
...Industry, said Waldman, has failed to provide for the worker...
...Upon you rests defense of foundations of national prosperity., FOR QUINLAN APPEAL LANCASTER, Pa...
...To labor it stands for recovery through strengthening of normal production channels and maintaining normal standards of, work and pay...
...His appeal for an unfavorable report on the biH was based on four counts: - "IrThat the bill is a deterrent to recoverv because what he called the "dignity of business" must be preserved and safeguarded from the interference of compulsory legislation . 2. That the State should not act until atfer Federal legislation tyis been enacted...
...Provisions of Bill • The bill covers all employes in establishments employing four or more persons, except non-manuals earning more than $50 a week...
...Labor is fully in accord with the principle that monthly wages shall be limited to provide a reemployment for the largest possible number of wage earners...
...But we join labor in sup port of the bill," Waldman declared, "because its principle is sound and the bill is capable of quick changes...
...All contributions are to be made by employers...
...issue...
...The acceptance of the prevailing rate, principle would not re-1 quire the expenditure of billions of dollars as has been falsely alleged...
...Unemployment, he declared, is % casualty of modern industry, and workers are victims of a system over which they have no control...
...The choice is between pulling the unemployed up to normal work and conditions or holding them down to relief status and pauperising wages for them with the inevitable consequence of undermining wages in private industry...
...Fund for appealing the rase should be sent to William R. Brocius, Treasurer of the Defense Fund, 22 South Queen Street, Lancaster, Pa...
...Workers Approve Principle Labor unreservedly endorses the prevailing rate principle and proposes a program of unemployment relief through public works designed to create future new wealth for the nation...
...Or shall we say to them, "We will give you some kind of relief work at wages less than the prevailing rate in private industry...
...Reemployment and relief for the unemployed can be achieved on this basis without jeopardizing' the wage structure in the communities where public works will be located...
...3. That iM bill was not drafted by competent...
...Shortly after the National Industrial Recovery Act became effective, the Federal Board of Public Works, created under the Act, prescribed certain hourly wage rates to be paid on construction projects in established geographical zones...
...What is meant by the term Prevailing Wage Rate...
...Your pay envelope con litotes the major part of the national income...
...After the settlement many of the leaders were arrested and tried...
...Waldman made it clear that the b;ill is far from perfect and that many of its features are inadequate...
...workers...
...On March C, 1934, Administrator Harry L. Hopkins of the Federal | Emergency Relief Administration issued the following order: "Wages will be at the prevailing rate for the occupation and the locality in which work is dene, and in no case will the pay be less than will yield thirty cents per hour, provided, however, that the hours shall be limited so that the maximum weekly earnings shall not in any case exceed the amount necessary to meet budgetary requirements...
...James J. McEntee, Assistant Director of Emergency Conservation Work, issued a statement that the prevailing rate of...
...This is the first of a series of addresses on vital labor problems to be given over Station WEVD...
...up to 3 per cent of payrolls...
...Its repudiation at this time would mean the destruction of the very cornerstone of recovery,' The unfairness of this attack on Labor is doubly objectionable clue to the fact that almost half of this appropriation will be u ed for buying materials...
...The occasion was the hearing before the joint Assejnbly and Senate Committee on Labor on the ByrneKillgrew bill providing a system of unemployment insurance...
...He lashed;' out at the arrogance of those whospeak of the "dignity of business...
...The payment of such wages was accepted as a basic principle by Congress in the Davis-Bacon I Bill which became law in March, 1931, providing that every contract to which the United States is a party and,which requires the employment of laborers and mechanics in the construction of public buildings should contain a provision that the rate of wages for all laborers and mechanics employed by a contractor or sub-contractor shall be not less than the prevailing rate of wages for work of a similar nature in the locality in which the public buildings are located...
...4. That the bill involves] such perplexities that we cannot proeeed-ta «aact legislation without proper experience...
...Every clerk, mechanic, office worker, laborer, has a stake in thi i issue...
...This testimony brings out a significant fact—that in all the work which is being done under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the prevailing wage is being paid...
...Colby is an impressive man, a remarkable speaker and fully aware of his dignity "as a former Secretary of State...
...The term refers to the hourly or daily rate of wages tvhich prevails in similar occupations or on similar operations in any given community in the country...
...1*HE McCarran amendment has taken on a symlxdic meaning which explains the intense legislative hattle that has been waged for the prevailing rate of wages principle...
...America, declared Waldman, is 30 years behind the rest of the world in such legislation...
...The waiting period for benefit»,is too long, and the three per cent contributions should at least be doubled...
...A Vicious Attack Thi-i order gives full recognition to the prevailing wage principle which has been closely adhered to by Congress and the government at every step taken to build up the national recovery program...
...Quinlan was found guilty, and is now out on appeal...
...The remainder of Colby's arguments were as easily disposed of, and then Waldman turned to a consideration of the positive merits of the bill, after asserting that it is far from perfect...
...The vast chamber rang with* cheers as Waldman made the plea for human welfare...
Vol. 18 • March 1935 • No. 11
