Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-11-21
ACCEPTABLE CODE
FOR BUILDING SEEN
JOhnso Hopes for Agreement
in Construction Indus
try by Monday.

By the Associated Press.
Give-snd-tske compromise, Hugh s.
Johnson hoped today, will put before
him by Monday an acceptable recovery
code for the basic construction in
dustry
liable to get an agreement by various
interests in public hearings on the gen.
ersl code now pending, he turned the
matter over to a special committee
comprising two representative for abor
and six for the various industrial
groups involved Two N. K. A. officials
will sit IN.
Hours Primary Point
The primary point at issue Is that
OF hours of work Workers +bronc h
President Willis m Green OF ihe Amer
icsn FEDERATION OF LABOR enc others.
/ oems nd 70-nour week. holding hist
ma simum necessary % employ Inc I'M
employed. Builders snd engineers on
the ofhAr osno. moo out for 40 hours.
win extension 10 as sitter Time hso
oeen lost because OF bao weather.
10 &c Quoted, too, Is lator's fear
that workers In the highly organized
buildings trades might be forced to take
lower wages II one code Is applied to
all construction.
Johnson put the committee TO work
last night. Two of the highe d ranking
men IN the N. r. A. organization
Robert w. Lea assistant administrator
and Donald r. Richberg. general coun-
sci. were assigned to sit in on the
conferences.
The industrial side, with an array of
important witnesses. insisted upon one
master code administered by the Con-
stfuction League of the United States
with supplemental codes for many d.
visions of the industry.
Labor led by Green and M. ]. Nc
Donough of the Federation of Labor
demanded that the master code be
strapped and entirely new compacts be
written
Equal wages Asked.
A general labor demand was for
wages equalling those set by the Public
Works Administration on Govern
ment projects. This, industrial spokes-
men said, would lift building costs 10
per cent and paralyze the already de-
pressed trade.
Behind the labor demands was the
deep-seated fear that provisions of the
Construction League code would break
down existing union wage scales for
skilled workers. who predominant in
structural building and are less num-
erous In heavy construction such as
dams, tunnels, highways. Under the
code as now drawn. contra ctors and
engineers handling all these types of
work would be tied in together
Gen. r. e. Wood OF the N. r. A..
Ind toI Ause
approval by that agency of individual
codes co-ofdinated In basic code, and
held that that code would give the
building industry opportunity to act as
a unit for the first time
MeDonough opposed the proposed 40
cent-an-hour minimum for unskilled
labor and asserted that unless labor
was given better terms the unions
would have to appeal TO higher per-
sons"
The Accent wage would with the
chiseling contractors we have been
dealing with become the legal wage"
McDonough said. adding that IS per
cent of the workers in the building
trades were skilled.
Il request that the deputy admins
traitor adjourn this hearing at once and
let representatives Of the construction
contractors and OF the American Fed
Grafton of Labor negotiate minimum
wage agreements" McDonough said.
When they have concluded, they (the
agreements) shall become the labor sec
lions of the code"
Green contended the building and
open construction divisions should be
treated separately, and OF the proposed
codes labor sections, said:
THE los IN
and more open to abuse and less fla
jority of codes. Where the hours OF
labor have been materially reduced IN
other codes, the present code envisages
no reduction In hours The wage pro-
visions are characterized by vsgueness
and uncertainty
Green said the exemptions destroyed
the effectiveness OF the labor sections,
and added that only a complete re-
drafting of the code. in our opinion. can
bring it in line with the purposes of
the administration.
One Code Held Impractical
One code for the construction indus
try as whole, Green said, would be
entirely impractical for many rea-
sons, including profound differences
in the types of labor, entirely different
methods OF employment and differ
ence in the degree Of labor organiSa-
ton"
open construction relies very largely
on unskilled labor" he said while
building labor Is largely skilled The
proposed code ignores these facts. 1t
proposes minimum for unskilled la
Dor, but hxes no wages for skilled labor
and this will tend to degrade the
skilled, which Is msnifestly unjust"
A long work week, he continued
would be 'of no value whatever in this
industry, In which some 80 per cent
of its workers are unemployed" He
held that efficient" machinery for col
lective bargaining was denied and that
the workers would lose their identity.
Green proposed joint industrial re-
lations board, composed equally of labor
and employer memberships, with an
impartial chairman" to deal with labor
matters.
For the construction industry as a
whole, he recommended establishment
of two planning boards. one for the
open and one for the building division
each to be composed of representatives
Of all types of work contained in each.
These organizations. he said woulo
urge increasing the volume of building
and could correct abuses In the in
dustry"
James j. Ryan, who identified himself
as president of the Amalgamsted As
ISOLATION of Bridge, Structural and Or
namental Iron and Bronze Workers
which he said was not affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor ap-
pesred briefly.
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