The Indianapolis times., 1930-08-06
ROAD CHIEFS
DELAY decent
WAGE DEMAND
State Board Fails to Meet
to Insist Contractors
Pay Fair Scale.
PROMISES ARE IGNORED
Cuts to 20 Cents an Hour
Without Justification,
Survey Shows.


The sweating" of labor on state
road paving jobs continued today
without official censure of the state
highway commission when the cons
missions meeting, scheduled for to-
day, and at which remedial steps
were to be taken, failed to mate
rialize.
1--WE couldn't meet today because
I have not received some material
from Kentucky regarding the bond
sale on the Evansville bridge prof.
ect," Highway Director John j.
Brown explained. IF I get this, we
will meet at the end of the week
or the first of next, possibly at
Louisville, KY"
The Indianapolis Times has dis
closed that native Hoosiers are be-
ing hired by contractors to labor on
state road jobs for as low as 20
cents an hour while the state let
the contracts, in many instances to
firms from other states, based on a
40 cents minimum for labor.
Facts Are Presented
Early in the week it was an
nounced commissioners would con-
vene today. Chairman Albert j.
Wedeking stated something will be
done" if facts are presented show
ing that labor is receiving as low
as 20 cents on the jobs.
Although these facts have been
gathered by The Times and Secre-
tary Aloph Fritz of the Indiana
State Federation of Labor, it ap-
peared from the commissions fail
ure to meet today that the group
does not regard the matter as Of
sufficient Importance to cause a
special meeting to be called.
Asked about the labor situation,
Brown said some lawyers told him
nothing could be done since the
contracts have been signed. He did
not know whether wage cutting
contractors might be barred from
state work in the future unless they
restored decent wage scale, under
which estimates we're made and
contracts let.
Contracts Sub-Let
Lowest wage figured by state high
way department engineers on any
paving work was 40 cents. Contracts
were taken with this in mind and
then sub-let, or carried out, en-
hancing profits by cutting the labor
costs in two, it was disclosed.
That such cut is without justi-
f1cation is revealed by study of the
methods of figuring estimates en1-
ployed by the department. A 40
cent allowance is made for each man
on the job doing the most unSkilled
labor For semi-skilled this is raised
to so cents and for machinery and
truck men the scale is figured at rs
cents.
Every possible item of expense is
put into the estimates and labor
usually figures only about II to Is
per cent of the total.
Among the items included are in-
terest on investment, depreciation
of machinery, material costs, trans
portation and the like Then a
profit, never lower than 10 per cent,
is added on the cost-plus basis.
Foreign Labor Shipped Out
All items are figured in a "gen.
erous manner" highway engineers
admit. Where contracts we're
signed, many last year, the cut be-
low the estimate was not based on
decreasing labor costs and this is
merely an additional profit, they
assert.
Mass meetings were held at Lin
ton, Ind, when contractors on paw
ing of state Road 81 imported
laborers from Michigan to work on
the road job, The Times has been
informed.
Labor union officials at Linton,
describing the meeting of two
months ago, before the slashing OF
wages on state road contra acts came
to attention of the public through
investigation by The Times, said
contractors, evidently fearing COM
plant to state authorities, agreed
to use labor from the district trav-
ersed by the road.
Cut HOosiers' Pay
The Michigan foreign labor was
shipped out and labor from Linton,
Bloomfield and other small towns
near by was employed.
But, according to r. H. Tanner,
secretary Of the Central Labor
Union at Linton, and workmen on
the highway, the contractors, who
had been paying 35 to As cents
hourly to the imported" labors
slashed the wages for Indiana resi-
dents to 20 to 30 cents an hour.
Several worknen told represerta-
tives of The Times that they went
to work on the highway project
after being told they would be paid
what you are worth"
When they drew pay checks they
found their wages were only 20 :
cents an hour, they declared. One
workman Immediately quit his job.
He was rehired later at a wage OF
Is cents an hour.
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