Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-08-03
CONTRACT LABOR
TERMS TO stand
Richberg Ruling Paves Way
to Large Employers Part
in Recovery Program.
Continued From First Page.)

! and vice president of the Standard Oil
/ Co. OF California, denouncing the pend
! Ing code as one not carrying out the
views Of the liberal administration :"
Like many other oil leaders he was de-
! handing that the Government approve
Of rules for fixing oil prices.
In ruling that the Recovery Admin
| istration could not attempt to abrogate
union contracts, Richberg pointed out
that the paragraph In President Roose-
| velt's blanket agreement proposing
| equitable readjustmentS," OF the
higher brackets Of pay and no reduc-
| lions applied to wages based upon days,
weeks or months and not hours.
Under the Interpretation, If an en-
ployer has q contract providing that he
| give a specific number of hours en-
| specified rate per hour, he would not be
| compelled to change It. However, II
the contract related merely to pay per
hour without specifying the number Of
hours Of employment to be given, Rich
berg said the employer would be ex-
pected to come within the maximum
hour provision as a means of spreading
employment.
Contracts Must Stand.
I'VE are faced with a fiat fact"
Richberg said. We can't abrogate
contracts. and we can't deny an en-
ployer who has a contract arrived by
collective bargaining the right to use
the blue eagle"
The paragraph to which the inter-
probation applies in the agreement with
| the employer, reads
Mot to reduce the compensation for
J employment now in excess Of the mini
mum wages hereby agreed to (notwith-
| standing that the hours work in such
employment may be hereby reduced)
| and to increase the pay for such en-
ployment by an equitable readjustment
| OF all pay schedules"
The Interpretation issued today reads !:
Paragraph Z prevents the reduction
OF compensation in excess OF the mini
mum, whether it Is paid by the hour,
day. week or month.
Therefore, an employe previously
| paid by the day, week or month, will
receive as much for the shorter day,
week or month.
An employe previously paid by the
hour will receive as much per hour. but
as shortening his hours will reduce his
actual earnings per day or week, his
compensation per hour is to be in
| creased by an equitable readtustment.
Formula Is Suggested
There Is no axed rule which can be
applied to determine what Is an equi-
table readjustment. In general, 1t will
be equitable to figure what the employe
would have earned at his previous rate
per hour In normal week in the In
| dustry, and then to increase the hourly
rate so as to give him substantially the
same compensation as he would have
gotten for that normal week.
But consideration must be given to
! other factors, including: Is the existing
rate high or low compared with the
-; average rate paid in the industry? Will
the resulting adjustment result IN an
unfair competitive advantage to other
employers or other trades or industries?
viii long standing wage difierentisl
| be lost II there Is no increase in the
existing rate?
Where an employer Is bound by the
| terms Of contract with labor or
ganization entered into as the result Of
! bonaflde collective bargaining and he
is unable to affect change in such
contract by agreement in order to COM
ply with the terms Of the President S
employment agreement. he may Ger
| tify his compliance with the Presidents
agreement with the following exception
! Except as required to comply with the
| terms Of agreements between the under
signed and name of labor organiZa-
tom.
Contract Must Be Filed.
TT should be understood that this ex-
| ception can be made only in the case
OF contract not subject to change at
| the discretion Of the employer and then
only after q certified copy Of the con-
tract has been filed with the National
Recovery Administration and its ap-
proval has been given to the exception
stated"
Gen Johnson's attempt to settle the
Pennsylvania coal strike was post
poned until late today after the In
dustrial administrator had called the
spokesman Of the conflicting interests
morning.
Thomas Moses. president of the
Prick Coke Co., the principal company
involved. sent counsel to request the
postponement, explaining he, was still
comforting with other representatives
of the operators.
As quietly as they had walked in,
John l. Lewis, president of the United
Mine Workers, Henry Warrum. counsel
for the union. and other spokesman
for the striking workers, walked out
of Johnson's Office. They declined to
discuss the negotiations.
Today's conference was called last
night after q meeting of several hours.
at the end Of which johnson expressed
the possibility of an agreement to-day.
Seeks Concessions
,L,,. ar.ro,a. ,,,ora ,,ittad IN the
task Of winning sufficient concessions.
both from mine operators and labor, to
end the strike and maintain peace until
the Recovery Administration can carve
out in public hearing a binding code
OF fair practice for the entire coal
For the time. the entire campaign
to blanket American business into
agreements to raise wages and create
new jobs was thrust upon Johnson'S
aides The program, which yesterday
leaped forward by the wholesale blank
citing Of banks and half a dozen in
dustries under temporary codes of their
own, continued to bring in thousands
of new signatures emitting employers
to display the Blue Eagle of N. R. A.
Because of the coal strike, the hear
ing on the bituminous code, or rather
the 10 separate ones that have been put
forward, has been moved up from Au-
gust IA to August 8. At that time, the
issue of company union versus labor
union will be threshed out to something
like determination of basis for future
industrial relations, though possibly not
final settlement.
Union Issue II Basic.
The union issue is at the bottom Of
the present strike, which spread from
the United States Steel subsidiary, H. C.
Prick Coke Co. mines In Fayette COun-
ty., Pa, to surrounding territory until
around IS, 900 miners now are out, de-
handing recognition for the United
, Mine Workers
johnson began this task yesterday,
flying to Harrisburg to address an in
dustrial gathering. When he few back.