Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-03
UNION HEADS HIT
WAGES AND HOURS
|. IN US. WORK HERE
Contractor Denies Pay Scale
Not Maintained for
Painters.
GOVERNMENT ORDERS
PROBE OF PROTESTS
Complaint Says Outside Men Get
So to 81 Per Day-0rganized
Workers Given Sill.

Complaints from union leaders against
the rates Of wages and the number of
hours Of work per day in the painting
OF the interior Of the huge Internal
Revenue Building has precipitated an
investigation by the Labor Department
under authority Of the Bacon-Davis
prevailing wage" law, 1t developed TO-
day.
This IL one Of the first major con-
struction jobs Of the Federal Govern
rnent in Washington on which the Labor
Department has been asked to render
q decision as to compliance with the
new wage law enacted by the last Con-
gress, prescribing that on Government
Jobs the contractors must pay the pre-
vailing scale Of wages.
IS TO 81 Per Day Paid.
: The complaint filed with the once Of
the Secretary of Labor by union leaders
charges that the painting OF the In
ternal Revenue Building Is being done
by men brought here from out of town
who are being paid from IS to 81 pei
day, and that these men are being
worked as much as IL hours per day
and sometimes on Sundays, 1t was re-
ported today at the Labor Department
Investigation by other sources pro-
duced information purporting to show
that the men engaged on the job, OF
some of them, are being paid So pei
day. The union painters in Washing
ton have an established rate OF Sill
dav.
Following receipt Of the complaint
from the union painters organization,
the Labor Department started an In
vestigation Of the wages being paid on
the Internal Revenue Building job
Under the Bacon-Davis act the Secre-
tary Of Labor is the judge Of such dis
putes as to what Is the prevailing rate
of wages" on Government building oper-
atoms.
Law Aimed at Abuses.
The law was enacted, for one thing
to stop alleged abuses said to have re-
suited from "cut-rate" contractors
gaining low bids on Federal jobs ano
then employing bands OF unemployed
workmen from other cites than the one
In which the project was to be erected
at much lower rates OF wage than those
existing at the site of the jobs.
The contract for the paint work or
the Internal Revenue Building was
awarded to, and Is being carried out by
the Alliance Construction Co., New York
City, which Is non-union. Herman
Morris is the head Of the organization
The contract provides for payment
Of AIS. S96 for the work. 1t specifies
that the 1880, 900 square feet Of plaster
walls in the building be given flve coats
Of paint.
IL was said today at the ONCE OF the
supervising architect, indicate that the
work generally has proved "satis-
factory"
It was added, however, that on Thu
lob, as on other Government projects
work here and there has had to b
ordered done over.
The District of Columbia COMMITTEES
on Employment, as well as leaders o.
union painters, has been investigating
complaints that Washington painter
have been Disseminated against in thu
employment Of men on the job and thai
the prevailing wage scale Is net being
raid. George j. Adams, secretary Of tht
committee, said today he had been un'
able to date to verify complaints re-
csived.
Hinges on Sill Rate.
Action by the Department of Labol
is expected to hinge on the question o.
whether the union scale of $11 per da!
1Continlied On PAre 2. Column IL