Montana labor news., 1933-07-20

20
lumber and timber industrial code for
July 20, Administrator Hugh john
son declared July II that the hours
of work and the minimum rates of
pay proposed by the employers in
some regions were wholly unaccept-
able and will in no case be approved"
He predicted also that hearings on
codes for the iron and steel industry
and on bituminous coal would soon lie
started, since steel was at last "on
the verge of completion" and coal was
being shaken down into five or six
regional groups, each of which would
offer a code.
Johnson made public a list of 26
associations, claiming to represent So
per cent of the lumber and timber in
dustry, which eoncurred in the code
along with the wholesale and retail
dealers associations. Their good
faith as to labor conditions is illus
trated by the schedules of hours Of
work and Of minimum wages which
were attached to their fair-trade agree
ment, and by the list of exemptions
they demanded from even these poor
labor conditions.
They would make the maximum
work-week 48 hours in virtually the
entire industry, the exceptions being
40 hours in redwood lumber manufac-
ture, mahogany and Philippine ma
hogany manufacture, the Northern
zone veneer industry, and walnut in
dustry, with Al hours in the Southern
zone veneer industry.
Minimum wages in the cypress in
dustry were set at 22h cents an hour
or $1,000 a week; in Northern hem
lock at SIP a week in mills and only
$1,000 in logging camps; in Northern
pine at SIS a week in mills and $12
in logging; in the West coast logging
and lumber industry at $20.40 a week
in logging camps and SIT a week of
40 hours in lumber manufacture, with
SIG a week of 40 hours in factory la
Dor; in the Northeast softwood indus
try at $1,000 a week Of AZ hours in
camps and $12 in lumber manufac-
ture; the same rates in the North Cen
trail hardwood industry.
But exemptions were demanded for
regular employment reasonably in
excess of such standards for not more
than 10 per cent of the employees in
any operation where required by the
nature of their work; temporary en-
ployment in case of emergency; sea-
sonal employment not more than
6 months in any year."
The lumber and timber code en-
phasizes the ALLEGATION of production
quotas among the various subdivisions
of the industry, and provides for es-
tablishing minimum prices which the
lumber manufacturers claim to be
reasonably adapted to meet costs, in
GLIDING those resulting from the min
imum wages of labor" In view of the
fact that wages in the lumber indus
try have fallen to neal zero in the
past four years, the Recovery Adj
ministration faces the lumber barons
with misgivings as to the price-boost-
ing and price-fixing which they threat
en-, in return for paying a starvation
wage of $1,000 and $12 a week.
Meanwhile Johnson is trying to
come to a decision on the demand Of
members of the Labor Advisory
Board that he set a date as a deadline
for the submission of codes by all in
dustries that are now holding back.
He admitted in a press conference
July IL that some of the manufac-
turers' associations had issued circu-
lars almost amounting to propagan-
da" advising their members to delay
action on codes. johnson thought two
weeks notice of coercive action by the
administration would be too brief, but
he was wavering toward agreement
that pressure must be brought on the
bosses who have sabotaged his pro-
gram.
Gossip among coal miners and OPP
orators spokesman was that the BIZ
luminous code would provide for So
pay for 8 hours of work, whatever
length of workweek might be decided
upon.
Questioned as to a report that com