Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-14
WAGE ARBITRATION
PLEA SENT GREEN
A. r. of l. Head Asked to Act
in Dispute by Contractors
and Builders.

| An urgent appeal for arbitration o.
the demands Of several building trades
unions for wage boosts, said to range
In some cases as high as 10 and 20 pei
cent above present scales. was carried
yesterday by local contractors anc
builders directly to william Green
president o. the American Federation o.
Labor.
Spokesman for the building trades
, employers section Of the Builders anC
| Manufacturers Exchange and thu
Washington Operative Builders Asso.
| citation, In q personal letter dispatched
to President Green, pointed out whai
they are convinced is situation Of rea
seriousness which they believe NIGH
even result In tying up the Federal
| municipal and private building pro.
grams, with loss. to the public. unior
workers and the contractors and build.
ers alike.
Mr.. Green was petitioned to use hi:
good of1ces to bring about arbitration
the builders and contractors, it was
stated, are willing to arbitrate, but
union leaders in the several building
trades have refused to submit the matter
to arbitration, it was added. Fears are
expressed that if'a peaceable means Of
settling differences are not provided
strike may result.
Cite Lack of Reasons.
Further, the contractors and build
ers declare, the several unions in de-
handing pay boosts have assigned nc
reason for high wages. And while II
, already Is declared to be IAN almost
! impossible thing" for a Government
worker In Washington to buy a house
on salary of about S. a day, a plumber
Is paid $11, hosting engineer, $12
and a Stonemason $13 for days work
Recently iron workers employed on
the new Internal Revenue Building
being erected to the south of the Post
Ohlce Building. won an increase in pay
and later formal demands for pay in
creaseS were reported to have been
filed with the contractors here by five
other building trades union workers
Also, 1t Is declared In the letter to Mr.
Green, some iron workers on other
jobs in Washington now are ION strike
to obtain pay increases. Where the
iron workers are idle, they lay the
trouble to a lockout" however.
The letter to Mr.. Green was signed
by w. B. Putnam, president OF the
Concrete Contractors Association; H
G. McKnew, vice president of the E.
]. Murphy Co.. paint dealers: F. r. Gillen
Of the Charles H. Tompkins Co., con-
tractors; Edwin H. Rosengarten, vice
president Of Davis, Wick & Rosen-
garten, contractors and builders; Rob-
ert w. McChesney, president Of the
Electrical Contractors Association, and
Rufus S. Lusk, executive secretary OF
the Operative Builders Association OF
Washington.
Last week. at mass meeting Of about
200 contractors and subcontracto-s, the
employers voted to resist pay increases
but the next day spokesman for build
ing trades unions professed to be un-
affected by this action and indicated
they felt the position taken by the locaI
contractors was of little Importance.
Local contractors and builders, how.
ever, declared that increases won BY
union workers on present operations
VIII have much more serious effect, in
increasing the cost of future operations
as well as threatening to tie up the ad-
ditional Federal and municipal opera
tons for which contracts as vet have
not been let. It Is pointed out that tbs
private construction operations along In
Washington amounts to about $50 ,0O0,-
600 year.
Text Of Petition.
The petition to President Green saw,
in relation to the Federal building pro-
gram that
AN increase in wages might Just be
the one thing that would cause this
program to be stopped. You know
full well how some determined members
OF Congress can stop almost anything
and II they believe that the Fedora
Government was building at the wrone
| time and that costs later may be lower
such Congressman might be able to stor
for the present the entire development
Of the Triangle and the new Municipal
Center.
However, as serious as that might
be-" 1t adds, consider what may hap
pen to our school building program
A. L. Harris. municipal architect, stat
ed at public meeting of employers or
April IL that because appropriations fol
schools are based on present labor costs
that some schools might not be bull
If these increases were granted. Anc
every one knows Of the pressing nee6
for more District schools.
even though this were not so, II
there are strikes the work on these
schools will stop and they may not be
ready on schedule time"
In conclusion, the petition says:
I'VE are perfectly willing and we de-
sire to arbitrate the questions in dispute
That is the reasonable, civilized manner
of settling any dispute, but your men
refuse to arbitrate. If there is no arbi-
tration, strikes may result with all the
Inconvenience and tremendous loss to
the community. and labor is the greatest
loser of ALL"
Representatives Of the Washington
Building Trades Council have indicated
that the councils executive board, al
at meeting tomorrow, may consider the
resolutions of the Builders and Manu-
facturers' Exchange, in which the ex.
change announced its members would
refuse the wage increase demands.
The resolutions were formally trans
mitted to the council, which repre-
sents 10 organizations of building
tradesmen.