The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-07-01
STARVING. PAY
RATE CHARGED
ON ROAD JOBS
LaborerS Get Only IS Cents
an Hour on Bridge,
Says Union Chief.
COMPLAINTS POUR IN
Scale on Dunes Project Is
Attacked; Hit Wage on
Richmond Route.

New charges of starvation pay on
state road and bridge projects, de-
spite advocacy by the state high
way commission of saving wage"
for laborers, were hurled today.
Unfair and outrageous treatment
of laborers in the matter of pay bv
the Globe Construction Company
on the Indiana approach to the
Evansville Henderson bridge we're
made Wednesday by Frank Mary
nell, Central Labor Union president.
in Evansville.
Some laborers on that project are
being paid as low as Is cents an
hour, Marynell declared.
F. w. Mccoy, secretary of the
Hammond Iron Workers Union.
charged that laborers on one sec
ton of the Dunes relief road are
being paid but IS cents an hour.
with mechanics receiving only IS
cents an hour.
Accuses Bloomington Firm
He accused a Bloomington con-
tractor of pay slashing, though
highway department records show
no Bloomington employer on that
job.
Highway department officials also
revealed, under questioning, that a
contractor on the Anderson Rich
mond route had been called in re-
Gently to explain his wage scale. He
is said to have proved to the salts
faction" of officials that a wage
of 10 cents an hour was justified in
certain cases."
Frequent complaints also have
come to The Times in recent weeks
about low wage payments on the
North Meridian street bridge prof.
ect.
This is Fred Cunningham lob
and Cunningham declares that 20
cents an hour is the lowest paw
there, and that to only a few work
ers, with less arduous tasks.
Majority of the common labor is
paid Is and 30 cents and up. he
said.
Policy Is TOOthless
Reported saving wage" policy of
the highway commission was shown
as toothless by a Times survey, as
no minimum wage was named.
Both workers and contractors
questioned today agreed that. had
the department set at 25-cent bot
tom price for labor, much of the
deplorable conditions under which
men are working might have been
averted.
The department pays it's own
Workmen in the maintenance divi-
sion this minimum.
A department resolution, adopted
three weeks ago, set out that con-
tractors paying less than Saving
wage" would be barred from further
contracts on state projects. None
has been barred since that edict
was issued.
In the Evansville case, Marynell
said, committee will present the
matter to A. j.. Wedeking, highway
board chairman.
Figures Are Compiled
by compiling the amount of the
Globe Construction Company's con-
tract, the number of men employed,
the length of time required for the
project, and the various wage
scales, it will be possible to de-
termine the amount of profit de-
rived from each mans labors," said
Marynell today.
When bridge construction first
got under way, the union protested
the 25-cent wage scale and took the
matter to state highway officials.
We didn't have much success, be-
cause figures to support our con-
tentions were not available.
"A lucent wage scale is inhuman
and un-American. A laboring man
can not be expected to exist on such
earnings. The union will do everv-
thing possible to correct the situa-
ton"
The union will base its protests
on check for 1910 received bv
one laborer for f1fty-eight hours of
labor.
Depression has coWed the labor
err Marynell said. He is willing
to sell his soul for farthing. Some
concerns are taking advantage of
conditions to reduce laborers to a
state of slavery"