Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1915-09-23
U. S. Department of Labor
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Washington.
Union Scale of Wages and Hours of
Labor, May I, 1914.

The union scale of wages and hours
of labor for SO of the principal trades
in Al of the leading cities of the Uni
led States prevailing in May, 1914, are
published in Bulletin No. I'll, just is
sued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U. S. Department of Labor.
The scales shown are those of the
baking, brewing and beer bottling,
building freight handling, granite and
stone, metal, mill work, printing, soft
drink and teaming trades.
The average rate of wages per week
for all cites taken collectively was
higher on May 1, 1914, than on May
/, 1918, for rs of the trades reported
in II trades there was no change, and
in only one trade was it~lower.
Considering someLof the more i'm
portant trades. the following increases
in weekly rates Of pay between May,
1913, and May, 1914, may be noted:
Bakers 2 per cent, beer bottlers per
cent, bricklayers 2 per cent, carpen-
tiers per cent hod carriers per cent,
hod carriers / per cent, inside wire
men per cent, fathers 2 per cent,
parquetry floor layers 6 per cent,
plumbers and gas filters per cent,
sheet metal workers 8 per cent, stone
masons per cent, stonecutters per
cent, structural iron workers 2 per
cent, freight handlers 8 PEI cent,
blacksmiths per cent, painters (hard
wood flnishers) 4 per cent, electrotyp-
ers (battery men and builders) per.
cent, electrotypers (fnishers and
molders) 4 per cent, compositors,
book and job, per cent.
i Considering rates of wages per hour
as distinguished from rates per week,
Is trades showed an increase, 10 no
change. and for none was the rate
i lower.
The highest scales per hour paid in
May, 1914, in few of the principal
trades were as follows: Brfcklayers
S7.5 cents in Dallas and San Francisco
carpenters 65 cents in Chicago; hod
carriers so cents, in Portland, st.
Louis, Salt Lake City and San Fran
cisco; painters 70 cents in Chicago;
plasterers 87.5 cents, in Dallas and
| San Francisco; plumbers and gas fit
tiers rs. cents, in Chicago, Dallas, Port
land. st. Louis, Salt Lake City, San
| Francisco and Seattle; sheetmetal
n workers 6S.S cents, in Chicago and
4 San Francisco; stonecutters 70 cents,
nPortland and San Francisco; struc-
tural iron workesr 10 cents, in Cleve-
land; freight handlers 6O.6 cents, in
New Orleans; granite cutters 6S.S
cents, in New York; iron molders so
cents, in San Francisco; linotype
operators (FTebrew, book and job 1873
cents, in New York; compositors eng
ilish newspaper), day work, Is cents,
in Seattle.
H AS to changes in hours Of labor, 10
trades showed reduction Of hours
| between May, 1918, and May, 1914, "
reported no change, and reported an
increase.
i In 1914 the union scales In the
baking trade show hours in some 10
n calities as low as 48 per week, but
generally they are higher. The build
| ing trades in a majorit yof the cities
covered have an S-hour day and most
| building trades also have a Saturday
half holiday either for the whole veal
or part of the year. Inside wiremen
! fathers, marble settlers, fresco painters
Bisign painters, structural ironworkers
and the granite and stone trades al
have an S-hour day in the cities re
ported; and nearly all have Saturda,
half holiday the year round.
Teh hours of labor in the meta
trades range from A to so per week
81 being the predominant hours. Tn
printing trades in book and job office
Ilhave an S-hour day in nearly all tn,
Ieities covered, and in the newspape
ofhces all trades have an s-hour da,
Or less