The San Francisco call., 1897-03-26
CONTRACTS
IN DANGER
Labor Laws Applied to
the Affiliated Col
leges.
FERRY DEPOT WORK TO
BE LOOKED INTO.
Statutes State That the Work
Must Be Done Only
by the Day.
THE SECTION PROHIBITS LABOR
ON CONTRACTS.
The Attorney. General and the Labor
Com missioner Are Making Careful
Investigation.
THE SECTION PROHIBITS LABOR
ON CONTRACTS.
The Acknowledgement and the Labor
Com missioner Are Making Careful
Investigation,

Sec. 1898. All work done upon pub
lie buildings of this State must be done
under the supervision of a superintend-
ent or State officer or officers having
charge of the WORK, and all labor en-
pIoyed on such buildings, whether
skilled or unskiiIed, must be employed
by the day, and no work upon any such
buildings must be done by contract
Political Code of California.
The foregoing section of the Political
Code of California is found on page Ats OF
behring's Codes and Statutes of 1885, and
it has not been amended or repealed so Tar
as can be learned, for it is quoted on page
III in the second special report of the
Commissioner of Labor at Washington,
D. c., in 1896. In this report 1t Is under
the caption, Labor Laws-California-
Contract Work on Public Buildings Pro-
hibited."
The foregoing statute is the basis OF
movement instituted in labor union circles
to nullify several important contracts for
the construction of State buildings in this
City. Not only are the labor unions in
terested in this matter, but several State
officers have taken it up and are making a
careful investigation to learn if the State
laws have been violated.
The buildings specially referred to are
the Affiliated Colleges and the new ferry
depot. The Rae Building and Construc-
ton Company has a contract from the
Board of Regents for the construction OF
the colleges, and the Harbor Com mission
ers let the contract for the ferry depot to
the San Francisco Bridge Company.
This agitation grew out of the fact that
the contractors of both hired a lot of non
un ion men, who are worked more than
the eight hours prescribed by the State
law and who are paid less than the rate
of wages adopted by the labor unions.
This set on foot an inquiry to see If the
law could be used to the advantage of the
interested unions, most of which are
affiliated with the Building Trades Coun-
ell of San Francisco. The council ap-
pointed committee of energetic workers
w. NJ. Page, John McCann and ]. II.
Jorgensen-who did not let the grass grow
under their feet. They first called upon
Labor Commissioner E. L. Fitzgerald, who
looked into the labor laws, in which he
found the foregoing section.
The matter by this time had taken such
a serious turn that he felt the need of
legal advice, and in turn he submitted the
matter to Attorney-General Fitzgerald.
The latter is looking into the law on
this point and he may give an opinion
most any day. If he finds that the law
quoted has not been repealed or materially
amended the letting of the contracts by
. ba 70 md ha Tor
ers may cause serious com piications, for
both contractors are under heavy bonds
and both have performed considerable
work on the two structures.
Not only has the Building Trades Coun-
cil's committee applied to the Labor Com
missioner, and through the latter to the
AttorneyGeneral, but it sent long letter
TO Governor Budd upon the subject last
evening. In the letter all the foregoing
facts were set forth. together with several
other features. The letter recited that
the Affiliated Colleges are being built
with the States money derived by taxa
ton from the property holders, many of
whom are union men who by their labor
are supporting and rearing families. They
believe that the work upon this building
should therefore be performed by union
men, who shall receive a full days pay
for their labor, and that the State law
of eight hours day shall be enforced and
the system OF paying by the hour, ten
hours day, be abolished.
The committee requests the privilege of
presenting their views to the Board of
Regents at its next meeting, and asks that
the Governor use his best efforts to grant
such an audience. The m after of the
ferry depot is not so fully gone into, as the
COMMITTEES is waiting for the Attorney
Generals opinion.
However, at the meeting of the Council
last evening several interesting statements
were made. One was that the sub-con-
tractors who are getting out the stone
work for the ferry building are doing a
great injury to the working people.
Committeeman Page asserted that the
situation at the quarry at Sites, Colusa
County, is worse than a Mendocino
County lumber camp. inexperienced
men," he said, "are taken up and worked
for 20 cents an hour ten hours day. They
are compelled to purchase all of their
supplies from the contracting company's
store at exorbitant prices and are not
even furnished with blankets. None of
the regular union stonecutters will accept
work at the terms and conditions
offered"
The committee asserted that the cause
of the delay on the stone work on the
ferry building is owing to the fact that
tho contractors are not hiring competent
stonecutters to get out the rock. This,
the committee asserts. makes the con-
tractors responsible on their bonds pro-
viding that the contract is of itself legal,
which is a matter of doubt in their::minds.
At any rate, between organized labor
and the investigations of the several State
officers the legality of these two big con-
tracts will be seriously questioned, and
those who claim to nave some knowledge
of State labor laws assert tina. before The
inquiry is over it will be necessary to
nulIify both contracts, even at a great
loss to the State, and have the work done
by days labor. This is what the labor
unions want.