Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-15
Secretary Rules Contractors
on Revenue Building Must
Give Guild Wage.
NATIONAL POLICY SEEN
IN LABOR DECISION
Interpret Action as Indication
Prevailing Wages" in Dispute
Will Be Set by Trades.

Secretary of Labor Doak has ruled
that the prevailing wage" for painters
in the District OF Columbia. the union
scale of $ll for an eiEht-hour day. must
be paid BY the Alliance Construction
Co.. of New York to its men employed
in painting the. interior Of the Internal
Revenue Building.
The decision of the Labor Secretary
Is the first rendered under the new
Bacon-Davis act. which preScribes that
on Government building operations con-
tractors must pay their men the locally
prevailing wage rate. The Labor De-
partment's ruling. made after an investi-
cation OF the wage dispute instigated by
The local painters union was rendered
at the request Of the Treasury Depart
ment. where the decision was announced
today. and is regarded OF national I'M
portanee as indicating that union wages
VIII De interpreted by Secretary Doak as
prevailing wages" in all future protests
Under the act the decision Of the
Secretary of Labor is Conclusive on all
parties to the contract"
WIN Enforce Scale.
Treasury oficials have had the r..
port OF Secretary Doak for several days.
but held up the announcement OF his
decision in the matter. They said to-
day steps would be taken to have the
Sill rate enforced by the contracting
firm in accordance with Mr.. Doak's
/ ruling
While the controversy directly in
volved only this one painting Job, IL
was understood today that similar pro-
tests will be made by local unions in
connection with other kinds of work on
Government jobs which are paying
lower than the prevailing union scale.
Herman Morris, the contractor on the
Internal Revenue painting lob, claimed
he was paying his men anywhere from
SO up to $12" The lower scale. be
claimed, was above what he believed
was being paid In open shop for SIM
liar work
Few Men Get sic.
It was learned from authoritative
sources that the Investigation conducted
by the Labor Department Discovered
only a mere handful OF men being paid
as much as $40 or $ia. as Morris q al
legged to have claimed The great ma
lority were receiving what Is commonly
termed an open shop scale, between 81
and S.
Considerably over 500 iourneymen
painters in Washington are under con-
tract OF $ll day, 1t was learned. and
the additional fact that a majority Of
the responsible contracting firms in the
city pay Sill for firSt-elass painters was
the reason that Secretary Doak upheld
the union scale as the prevailing wage"
The Labor Department Investigation
further disclosed that the sill rate for
painting prevailed on three Jobs under
contract from the Commerce Depart
ment, and also on the Shakespearean
Library building. work at the Capitol
and other Government contract work
in Washington
The decision was hailed by the officers
OF the Building Trades Council and il
was indicated that further protests
would be made to the Labor Depart
ment involving work by other building
trades. F. L. Kidwell, business agent
OF the Painters Union, who obtained
the information on which the protest
against the Alliance company was
based, declared that he would file other
cases as fast as he was able to get the
information.
Profit Eject Unknown.
Just now far the decision will affect
the profits of contractors on Govern
ment jobs could not be learned today
although it was pointed out that many
OF the bids had been based on sliding
scale wages
LIZ SAAS AaoOA OcpdA bkIlc1lJ ulQ not
made public the survey 1t conducted, IL
was learned that the report bears out
the complaint made by the painters
union that men on the Job are being
worked far beyond eight hours a day at
times. Frequently they have been work.
ing Sundays in an effort to push the
job ahead
1t is understood that the Labor De-
partment feels that work is being
rushed entirely too quickly on this par
ticular job
The investigation furthermore re-
Continued on Page 2, Column II