Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-03-08
121-2 PCT. WAGE
CUT ANNOUNCED
BY PACKING COS.
100000 Workers in Principal
Markets Of y. S.
Affected.
BY j. L. SULLIVAN.

United Press stan Correspondents
CHICAGO, March S.-wages Of 100000
employees OF packing companies were cut
approximately 1913 per cent today. The
basic eight-hOur day which was placed
in effect during the var was abolished.
The decision affects about 10000 en-
plOyes IN Chicago and the remainder are
in the other eleven principal market cen
tiers of the country.
Notice Of the reduction was posted at
all packing plants The men had not
been Informed Of the move previously
and there was considerable anxiety among
the packers as TO what the reaction
would be.
Union leaders IN the packing industry
are now meeting in Omaha to decide on
a course Of action. There was cOnsid-
cradle apprehension among the employ
ers that it might result in strike.
Outside Of Chicago, the cities where
large numbers Of workers will be affected
include Omaha, st. Louis, Kansas City,
Indianapolis. st. Paul, St Joseph, Mo,
Sioux City and FIT Worth, Texas.
The minimum wage guarantee for en-
ployes viii be kept at forty hours per
week, the announcement said. Time and
a half overtime viii be paid only for
work done after ten hours in any one
with the exception of double time on
Sundays and the six leading holidays.
j. OGDEN ARMOUR
MAKES STATEMENT.
In explaining the cut in hours OF work,
J. Ogden Armour, head Of the packing
company Of that name, in a statement to
the United Press, said:
This does not mean the elimination Of
the eight-hour day; the whistle will blow
IN the Armour plants at the end of eight
hours just as usual. The revision affects
chiefly the killing gangs, whose hours OF
labor are determined by live stock re-
ceipts, over which packers have no con-
troll These receipts vary from day to
day, providing much less than eight
hours work on some days and more than
eight hours on other days.
1.-The guarantee Of forty hours pay
per week frequently results IN employees
being paid for many hours Of work each
week for which they actually perform no
work When on top Of this is added the
penalty resulting from q basic eight
hour day the burden becomes greater
than the industry can bear and the public
has shown plainly in the last two years
that It will not carry it."
Armour said the 'employers desires
under the circumstances are not at issue.
Inc IacL Simply Is LnaL Lle business can
not exist IF its expenses are greater than
its margin"
CUT CONSIDERED
VERY SMALL ONE.
- in view of the fact that packing house
wages average three times as much to
day as they were before the war, the re-
duction of 1215 per cent is very small, &"
Armour said.
Despite the lower rate Of pay. Armour
said employees can probably earn as much
or more than under existing conditions.
1.-THE forty hour minimum wage. with
its basic eight-hour day has demonstrat-
ed positively during the two years it has
been in effect that it results in reduced
weekly earnings for employees" he stated.
THE adjustment should enable all
plant employees to average forty-eight
hours wages per week and their earn
ings viii compare favorably with the
earnings Of similar wOrkmen IN other
industries"
Armour declared the company was IN
complete sympathy with short work days
and fair wage theories and "our problem
IS to attune these theories as nearly as
possible to the actualities which we en-
counter in dealing with the producer and
consumer"