The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-03-07
S1.5O-S1.75 HOUR
BUILDING TRADES
RATE IN ST. LOUIS
Mechanics Wages Co.
ing Up This Year
By MARTIN DALMON
tStaR Correspondent Of The Federated Pre-

tStaR Correspondent Of The Federated PresD
ST. LOUIS, March 6.-Union ce-
ment finishers here have won their
demand for a wage increase of rs
cents an hour to $3.50, affecting more
than 400 workmen. Foremen are to
receive $1.621A instead Of $1.37h an
Che minimum daily wage Of $12 for
skilled labor, toward which the other
st. Louis building trades are stead
lily moving.
The cement finishers are the sec
cnd craft 70 win the new scale dur
ing the present year, Lathers won
the increase a month ago and signed
agreements for year.
Hosting Engineers Strike.
Hosting engineers are on strike
against employers who have refused
the new union scale. an increase to
S1.E0 an hour from SIPS. A few
building laborers are striking for an
increase Of 20 cents an hour, from
675k cents to s71a cents an hour.
Most of the employers, however,
have settled with the unions and only
about 100 of the two crafts, which
together have a membership of over
1900, are involved.
Brick and mortar hodcarriers ac-
cepted scale Of S1.15 an hour re-
Gently; the original demand was for
$1.2O an hour, the old rate being 81.
Union asbestos workers are on a
strike for S1.50 an hour instead of
the present scale Of $1.15. Their
contract expired the first of the year.
The employers are striving to oper-
ate with strikebreakers.
Painters Ask $3.50 an Hour.
Several other local building trades
are demanding $3.50 an hour, effec-
tive when present agreements expire
in March and April. The painters
! and paper hangers are demanding
$3.50 an hour, five-day week with
double time for all work done on
Saturdays. The present scale is
1925 an hour, with the 44-hour week
in force.
The newspapers and big business
are united against the painters de-
mand. In support of their position
the painters point to the heavy death
rate among their members from ocs
cupational diseases and cite the his
tory Of the Typographical union,
showing that the average life Of
printers has increased as working
time has been reduced by the union.
Tx rainteEs. feel, too, that the five
day week will help cove unempfHoy'
ment by a more equal distribution
of the work. A number of the paint
ing contractors are favorable to the
shorter week, while the more hard
boiled of them are expected to show
fight. The painters declare the new
conditions must go into effect Marcel
10, the expiration Of present agree
ments. or they will strike.
Carpenters, bricklaye-s and plas
terers are receiving $1.75 an hour
secured last year. Plumbers anC
electricians obtained the $3.50 al
hour last summer, signing agree
ments for a year.
The building trades request Their
fellow workers in other cities no
to be attracted to St. Louis by these
new wage rates. There is insult
cient work for the men already
here, and any considerable influx o.
workmen to the city would flood thu
labor market and aid the employ
ers in robbing the local trades 0.
their hard-won gains. The employ
ers have exhausted nearly every re
source to circumvent the unions, ans
a food of propaganda thruout thu
country advertising an alleged short
age Of labor at high wages in st
Louis is anticipated as their mex
move.