The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-08
PACKERS MAKE
new WAGE CUT
Labor Crisis Precipitated by
1875 Per Cent Slash.
Basic Eight Hour Day Is Elim-
mated Now.
ALL ARE READY FOR TEST
Union Leaders Surprised, Hurry
Into Conference.
Are 100000 Employees Affected
by the Cut.
ALL ARE READY FOR TEST

Chicago, March S.-Wages of 200,-
1000 employees of packing companies
were cut approximately 121a per cent
today.
placed in effect during the war, was
abolished.
The decision affects about 1000
Iemployes in Chicago and the remainder
are in the other eleven principal mar
ket centers of the country.
Was Surprise to Employees.
Notice of the reduction was posted
at all packing plants today. 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 indus
try are now meeting in Omaha to de-
eide on their course of action. There
was considerable apprehension among
1.-THE employers that it might result in
istrike.
Leading packing executives inter-
Viewed differed in their belief on the
outcome of the order. Some believed
there would be a strike, while others
said they did not believe the union
strike because of the unemployment
situation.
Ready for the Test.
The packers have prepared for the
ltest and now believe they are ready.
Their forces are about one-half the
size as during the war. If a strike is
called, they believe that some of the
men laid off would be anxious to come
back.
| Outside of Chicago, the cities where
large numbers of workers will be af-
lfected include Omaha, st. Louis, Kan
sepI, Sioux City and Fort Worth.
! The minimum wage guarantee for
employees will be kept at forty hours
! per week. the announcement said.
Time and a half overtime will be paid
only for work done after ten hours in
any one day, or after fifty-four hours
| in any week with the exception OF
double time on Sundays and the six
leading holidays.
| Eight Hour Day Retained.
In explaining the cut in hours of
work, J. Ogden Armour, head of the
packing company of that name, said
| in statement:
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 re
vision affects chiefly the killing gangs
whose hours of labor are determined
by livestock receipts over which pack
ers have no control. These receipts
vary from day to day, providing much
| less Chdn GlSnC nOurS "OTk on SOI1e
days and more than eight hours on
/ other days.
1.-The guarantee Of forty hours pay
per week frequently results in en-
ployes being paid for many hours of
work each week for which they actual
| 1y perform no work. When on top OF
this is added the penalty resulting
from a basic eight hour day, the bur-
den becomes greater than the indus
try can bear and the public has shown
/ plainly in the last two years that it
will not carry it,
Must Cut Expenses.
| Armour said that the employers
desires under the circumstances are
not at the issue: the fact is simply
( that the business cannot exist if its
expenses are greater than its margins. u
| In view of the fact that packing
| house wages average three times as
much today as they were before the
war" the reduction of 121z per cent
| is "very SMALL" Armour said.
| Despite the lower rate of pay. Ar
mour said that employees can probably
earn as much or more than under
existing conditions.
| 5000 Affected in Kansas City.
Kansas City, Mo-, March S.-Ap-
proximately $500 men here were af-
facted by the wage cut announced by
| tie big Packers in Chicago today. Ac-
ton of the wol kers in plants here was
/ md at an rJv hour