New-York tribune., 1921-12-21
BuildilngUnions
Told to Reform
By Unterlnyer
tcen.lruad tspm pass ons>

committee OH demand.
Filming employers because members
OF q union worked overtime without &C.
curing express permits from tho cx-
ecutive committee.
Filming employers for permitting
painters to I'LL plaster cracks when at
work on walls and ceilings.
Filming employers for poor work done
by members Of the union and COM
polling employers 10 have such work
done over at their own expense.
Z. All provisions contained in exist
ing contracts between unions or asso-
Citations of the same, on one hand, and
employers or associations of employers,
on the other. giving preferential treat
ment in supply of labor over and above
employers who are not members OF such
associations, arc to Do forthwith can
celed. All future contracts OF such
character arc forbidden. No employer
of union labor is to be discriminated
against because he is not a member OF
the employers association.
In some Of the contracts exposed be-
fore the committee the unions have
agreed not to furnish labor to an en-
ployer not member of the association
and have permitted members TO charge
exorbitant profits on labor such as IN
the case of the marble industry, Ill
which employers agreed to pay Sl5.25
agreements and practices must be ter
minated.
Would Forbid Art Censorship
s. The constitution should be amend
cd to preclude any union from intrud-
ing into the business affairs OF the
employer and in such manner as to
limit jurisdiction and activity of
unions to matters legitimately concern
ing the welfare and betterMent OF men,
bers.
In this connection Mr.. Untermyer
cites the case of the new Ambassador
Hotel, whose proprietor was compelled
by plasterers to tear down a wall be-
cause the delegate, a plasterer, reached
the conclusion that he did not like the
color and style of the work, though
this was entirely satisfactory to the
owner and architect.
8. Where necessary there should
be amendment of bylaws to prevent
union officials and executive commit
tees from imposing unjust and cXtor
tionate penalties on employers. An
illustration of this is the compelling Of
wages to men kept waiting in line more
than ten minutes for their pay.
l0~~All regulations and practices
that restrict freedom of the owner or
builder in the use Of appliances ap-
proved by the public authorities or that
require parts of work to be done at a
building which can be more economi-
cally done at the shop, should be
rendered impossible in future by prop
er regulation. Existing provisions
should be repealed and unions and
their delegates forbidden hereafter to
enact regulations that permit them to
so-called offense Of rushing" or "driv-
ing" The aim should be for efficiency.
Such regulations put premium on in
efficiency.
Opposes Five Days Week Limit
11--Thc unions should be deprived bv
amendment of the power to prohibit
their members from working more
than five days week and of the power
to fine or discipline them for working
on any day other than Sunday or a
legal holiday
l2-Any delegate or business agent
who has been CONVICTED and served Il
prison term for extorting money or Of
using his position as n means to cocr-
cion should be made ineligible to
Iutufe appointment.
13-- Regulations should be adoptcd
prohibiting any union or business agent
from enforcing a scale OF daily work
such as is done by local 314 of the
Plasterers' Union in Long Island City.
14-With respect to plumbers unions,
the following regulations in force must
bo abated: Providing that only one
helper may be employed to two plumb
ers and that the helper cannot use tools
if the plumbers are using tools on the
job. lnsistence in the cement masons
union that where two men are en-
ployed on q job one must be paid a
foremans wages and that where four
are employed one Of them shall handle
no tools.
Calls Foreman Rule Unnecessary
15--With regard to metal fathers,
the rule requiring employment of lath-
ers on job wherever concrete is be-
ing poured by common laborcrs and that
man look on while the work is being
done by the laborers, though there are
lathers on the job, is unreasonable and
should be abolished.
16--Painters' unions have q rule
throughout the United States thai
where the Office of an employer is To-
Gated in a city other than that in which
the work is being done the rate Of
wages that prevails in the city of the
employers residence must be paid.
There is no reason in such regulation.
17---Under Section 19 Of Article
painters unions allow only one ap-
prentice for every ten men or under,