The labor world., 1922-04-01

state Commerce laid great stress on
the abolition Of piece-work during
Federal control Of, railroads. claim
ing that maintenance costs were
lergely increased thereby. @#
Testifying before the same COM
mittee. on February 2, 1922. William
Gibbs McAdoo, former director
general Of the Railroad Administra-
tiOn, said: ., \
"Piece-work was abolished only
after an extensive Investigation
covering "a period Of months, in
which a comparison Of the results
obtained in a region working day.
work with K region working piece
work had shown. =
"1) There was no advantage
from an efficiency standpoint in
piece-work over day-work in loco
motive repair shops. 49,,
"(2) That locomotive mainten-
ance costs per 1000 pounds of trac-
tive power mile were greater in the
region working piece-work than
they were In the region working
day-wOrk.:
"(3) That it was not possible
under the piece-work system to
avoid large payments to workmen
for work which was not performed.
In, fact, on the Pennsylvania Rail-
road 1t was found that the Officials
had voluntarily 'overpaid piece
workers to the extent of more than
$2.500,o 900. u.
"(4) No substantial difference in
the general condition OF equipment
was found in the piece-work resion
as compared with thesday-work re-
glon on roads where work was prop
erly supervised and high standard
or maintenance required" y,
Mr.. McAdoo testified that less
than 10 per cent of all employees in
the maintenance of equipment de-
partment were at any time, during
Federal control, working on the
plece-work system; therefore, auth
orizing it to be discontinued, he de-
clared, could not have seriously af-
fected maintenance costs either dur
Ing Or since Federal control.
For the information of Congress,
Mr.. McAdoo submitted the official
reports Of the investigations and re-
concentrations upon which he
authorized abolition CT piece-work.
Under date Of December Is, 1913,
Frank McManamy. assistant direc-
tor OF the Bureau of Operations of
the Railroad Administration report
ed that the Pennsylvania Railroad
was deliberately ovcrpaying their
piece-workers to the extent of MIL
lions Of dollars. ."eand that it was i'm
possible to persuade the. managers
of the road to discontinue this prac-
tice. II .
"The Pennsylvania Railroad offic-
ials," the report continues. ''were
evidently not satisfied with increases
granted to their mechanics of more
than SO per cent. above their aver
age rate on December 81, 1917,
therefore, without authorization,
they increased it to more than 100
per cent"
The report further declares that
we have. within the past few days,
obtained information which leads us
to. believe that other lines have
adopted the same method Of pay
ment. understand the Baltimore
and Ohio has oyerpaid their piece
workers. The Philadelphia and
Reading during the first two weeks
Of August overpaid their piece
workers to the amount Of $4,000"
In report dated December L..
1918. Mr.. McManamy. reported the
result of an investigation under
taken at the request Of the Board Of
Wages and Working Conditions into
the practices and results of piece
work.
In the Northwestern region, where
were paid 10 cents more
per hour. and where day-work pre-
vailed, the cost of maintenance was
materially lower than in the ALE
gheny region. where plece-work was
in effect.
From this" the report adds, 1T
would appear that so far as cost Of
maintenance is concerned, the ad-
vantage is with the day-work plan."
In a supplementary report on
piece-work overpayments, Mr.. Nc
Manamy said:
. 1T is a fact that at every shop
where we have conducted an investi-
cation or made a check we have
found that payment is regularly
made for large quantities of work
which has not been performed, also
that much Of the work is not well
performed. -.
ION the Boston and Albany We
found that some work was paid for
as high as four times. Particular
reference is made to one case where
the workers put in time slips and
received pay for removing and ap-
plying 900 flues In boiler which
only contained 202. Such practices
as this could not be overlooked by
the officials when they are so glar-
ingly wrong and apparently very lit
tie effort was made by the men TO
conceal their duplication Of charges,
because in numerous cases charges
similar to the above. were made for
removing and replacing parts which
did not exist" : : a l.. Il =, .
The evidence offered by Mr.. Nc
Adoo and by his assistant, Mr. Nc
Manamy, supports, the charges that
while the railroads were being oper-
ated by tho Government and the
owners were receiving q large rental,
the managers were employing the
piece-work system, among other de.
vices f0 nila I'm 7cnSfa q "a a,,vt * II, -