The Connecticut labor news., 1921-07-22
Arbitrator in Building Trades Dispute Says Future Rests With Workers If Y h e y Would Abolish GOug- ing By Employers and Open Shoppers.

In scathing denunciation of em- ployers and profiteering jobbers in building lines, Samuel Untermeyer of New York, who was appointed as sole arbitrator of the wage controversy in WestChester county, which has a great effect on wage conditions ln western Connecticut, advises the unions to get after these profiteers and upon them alone does 1t depend whether these nefarious practices will be kept up by the profteers. In ad- dition MT. Untermeyer adds that un- less there is less exploitation between now and September I, when his de- cision will be effective, there will be no reduction of wages Of ST a day or anything else as now ordered.
 In substantiation of the prohteering charge MT. Untermeyer mentions sev- eral specific cases. One is of an cleo trical supply company which charged $I.75 an hour or $I4 a day for labor in addition to making an extortion- ate profit on the material used. An other case involves the furnishing of labor of a plumber at $14 day and a laborer at $I.o6 an hour. Still an- other instance of prohteering referred to was where $Io6.3o had been charged the. customer for labor cost ing only $50, and when the customer refused to pay the bill, was "graci- cusly reduced" to $I4o which still represented profit of 75 per cent.
 Mir. Untermeyer mentions 20 per cent. as a fair limit of profit and places upon the labor unions the re- sponsbility of regulating others by refusing to furnish labor to JobberS who charge in excess of that amount Il, ity to perform a signal public service that should have a substantial effect on the cost of living and that would be generally appreciated by the sut- fering public," the arbitrator adds.
 In addition to stipulating the dollar a day reduction of wages, MT. Unter- meyer recommends that in future the unions show no preference to mem bers of the Westchester County Elm ployers' Association in the matter ot supplying labor, explaining that such a practice is Liable to great abuse and tends to discredit the cause ot organized labor"
 The decision in full follows:
 As I construe the agreement ot ar bitration, the question submitted to me is not as to whether the artisans shall receive $8 or $o per day. The question IS as lO Wlldl lS d 1dll "oS> for the classes of artisans in West chester county. The fact that the parties have stipulated that the min imum the employers shall pay, name ly $8 per day, without regard to the decision, supports this construction of the agreement
 Inasmuch as the differences and the resulting strike of the men on April I, were caused by the demand of the employers that the men must accept a reduction in wages of $I per day, I have ruled that the burden of proof rests upon the employers to estab- fish that the proposed reduced wage is reasonable.
 Hifh Cost Question.
 II the determination of the queS- ton were to be governed solely by the difference between the cost of liv- ing in Westchester county in August, 1920, when the increased wage was agreed to, or on October I, 1920, when it went into effect, and the present cost of living, 1 would find no diff culty in deciding-that there should be a wage reduction of $I per day, as claimed by the employers. Although
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