Evening star., 1933-10-15
WORK INSURANCE
FEES INVESTIGATED
$4,000 a Week Collected
From Construction Employees
in Racket.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, October IA (N.AN.A).
To-day is pay day on many OF the
large construction jobs in this city.
long line of men-carpenters, plaster
ers, bricklayers, hodcarriers, masons,
1ronworkers, riveterS, drillers-shufheS
forward past the paymaster's shack.
A plaster's assistant gets $3.50 a day,
according to the prevailing scale. He
has worked six full days and $51 Is
counted out to him. He walks slowly
to another shack, counts out SIS and
goes home. He has paid his tribute for
q weeks work. On this job there are
100 plasterers' assistants. They pay ST.
500 for the privilege of working.
A carpenter gets Sl2 day. The pay
master hands out $72 and the carpenter
pays out $24. There are so carpenters
and they pay s1,440 to insure the next
weeks work.
The scale is hard and fast. Every
man pays approximately one-third OF
his days wage for the privilege Of keep
ing the remaining two-thirds.
Dismissed After Protest.
A plasterer's assistant. some months
ago, protested at this practice. He was
not the first. but he was the first to
carry it as far as he did.
II can't pay it, boss" he insisted
'I've just come from six months on the
relief. I'm four months behind in my
rent. I've got three kids to feed. The
whole neighborhood knows I'm work
ing now and if don't start paying of
my debts they'll close down on my
credit. And then where will be when
this Job is over? How can I AFFORD to
give you $15?"
He was fired and he went back on
the city relief rolls. He had plenty OF
leisure time now to kick. He took his
case to the union local Of which he was
a member. He was put of on one eX-
cuse or another. Finally when he de-
manded a showdown. they asked for
written proof, something We can go
into court with"
The man then turned to the Anti
Racketeering Committee of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor Building
Trades Unions, which assigned q young
and obscure labor lawyer, Adolph DIX,
to yet proof. He succeeded so well that
there is a chance that some OF the
biggest building contractors In the
country will be involved.
$4,000 = Week Paid.
The racket. pared of protecting lay
ers of acrobatic bookkeeping, IS revealed
as simple extortion practiced by Ger
>tEm Builders who themselves have had
to pay heavy tribute to racketeers In
the past and who now seem to be try
ing variations on familiar theme to
get back some of their money. Ac-
cording to A. F. Of L. estimates. they
are getting it back in large chunks.
building laborers paying an average OF
$4,000 week to keep their jobs.
What We wanted to know" explained
Mr.. DIX, "is who got the money.
We know to whom it was paid, but
these men are all small frysempoyed
as minor bosses on the job. Every one
of them was investigated. Some had
criminal records. But none OF them
was living beyond his income. They
couldn't be keeping any such sums as
they were getting. Well. we traced the
money. 1t followed devious path, but
we went along with it step by step un-
til we got into big company. Now We
are going after one of the biggest men
in the business. There are hundred
afidavitS to prove case against him
and several witnesses to swear that he
insisted on receiving the money in cash
personally and with no other member
Of the firm present"
The Anti-Racketeering Committee
did not stop with this one constructor.
1t investigated numerous others, all in
volving sums Of $1,O00,000 or more
Each revealed approximately the same
rigid scale of tribute.
Shifted to Another Job.
In one instance, where 100 carpenters
started protest that promised trouble,
the union local, according to the COM
mittee, shifted the group en- masse to
another job and put in 100 new men
who made no protest at the eXtortion
when apprised of it.
A careful study of the bids for con-
= struction jobs led the committee to the
conclusion the sums the contractors
expected to receive from their laborers
were included partially in their esti-
mates. Since some of these contracts
were awarded by city, State or Federal
ofdcials it is argued that local poll
ticians must be aware of the racket
and there is substantial reason for
their silence. United States District
Attorney George z. Medalie is work
ing on this angle of the case
Assistant District Attorney Edwin B
MCGUIRE has already obtained indict-
ments of five men on charges of ex-
tortion in various buildings now in the
course of construction. But these,
according to the committee, are Just
the beginning.
We're after some of their bosses"
said Mr.. DIX. Sure they're hard to
get. They're shrewd and they're care
full. In some cases their foremen do
the collecting. Where their close rela-
tives are employed on the job, they do
the extorttng, even when not foremen
But these foremen with criminal rec
Ords are the weak spots in their armor
and we'll crack through there"
Believed Nation Wide.
According to the committees infor-
nation, the extent Of the racket can
not be underestimated 1t is thought
to be Nationwide, representing huge,