New Britain herald., 1925-02-27
|. s. STEEL POLICY
 DETERMINES WAGE
Entire Steel Industry Governed
 by Gary's Attitude

Now York, Feb. 2l'-lhe '"' .o,on,rr extent to which the labor pollcy of the United SlteS "'''' rorporatlon determines the "us' sco,c of steel workers throughout Inc industry and thereby ihaN'' m.,,o,,, ,he development of the en- 'n".os, representation movement is Iou,r in 4 report issued today py .'H si'oT Imdnstrial studies Department ol ,he % uussell Sage Foundauon' n(. lmo rcnort Is the result ol II n'y.|l@. ,,,.,,,a ,nrestratton of the indus'rla, ''r'~ ,,., aartatlon plan of the Coiorado ! "r, sen'', ,I ,ron Co. one of which the 1,u %na,,o ,ofoller family is principa' owner. ,,,o+ through tba Rockefeller employees reple9,', tatlon plan, the men Tn hlo % 1ron r.orrs of the Colorado Fuel ana lroi, co were able to secure the a0'"aI .|a eirbt. .bur day five years before Ino steel Corporation and the rest o' slnt .,t industry adopted it, but po'nt9 ," o'' thot because this company leels l'll uaIlod to follow the wage scal9 U, ita competitors, chief among ,!l,o', M!r'o, ,s .be steel Corporation. it's WorNllleii nave no real share in the deVeIli lilin' tion of their wages. ms, ''o nort says, limits seriously the So1ps ~ Inc empIoyes' representation p'a' which in other respects has aCo'''i plished much good. r
 "Ip an industry so devoid or any ,roSition concerning represehta',on of the workers as the steel lhu U'y,' ,." declared Mary Van hieecN' u' -o.,or of the Foundation depart ment of industrial studies tn9 i,' a,str,a, representation plan or the roIorado Fuel and Iron Co. marNs . distinct step in advance TOT "nuSl the plan the men in the steer "o.N' ., this company secured such l'it- ,ortont gains as the actual elght- hour day, an opportunity to par'ici- nota in revising wage scales method of presenting and dlscuSsins grievances, and a greater degree VI security in their jobs througn ti,e right to appeal to higher ohicIaI9 against the decisions Of foremen anu .unerintendents. Nevertheless' uH- t,l tbe men throughout the industry as a whole secure adequate anu effective representation in determh- ing wage standards. those elhpLoEe0 ,n any one plant such as the Colo rado Fuel and Iron Company 6 stee. works. are bound to be dlssaushea.
 Tbe lack of this representation III the determination of wage scales ac- cording to the report, was one ot the principal reasons why the steel rorkers of this company walked out practically in a body when the national steel strike of 1913 was called. .,,..oa
 Ben NJ. selekman, who conducted the investigation for the Foundauoh and prepared the report, found tIaU in the opinion of the workmeh the most serious obstacle to the success of the plan is the minor local ofll- clsl not the higher official. AS long as the functions of hiring and ir- ing'' are in the hands of superln- tendents and foremen, MT. selekman says. dissatisfaction will exist among the employees. Workmen repeatedly accused foremen of favoritlsm and of being arbitrary, The fact that the company did not promote em- ployes according to seniority was an- other common and deeply felt grieV- ance, which though not olways re- ported to the company was respon- sible for much dissatisfaction. MT. Selekman found the men were re- luctant to make complaints because 1t meant antagonizing officials under whom they had to do their daily work.
 "These grievances" says the re- mort. point to the fundamental need of a personnel department with a specialIy trained staff to deal with the problems of human relations and to leave the superintendents free for the tasks for which they are pri- marily fitted-that of directing pro- duction."
 Following the preliminary field work of the Foundations investi- gators, 6 number of changes were made in the plan by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The re- port makes a note of these changes, but shows that the fundamental difficulties found in the plan and in ! its administration, both in the coal