Evening star., 1934-06-21
.k|CK-BACK PROBE
0PENEDBY WALSH
GotWals, First Witness,
Urges Employment of
Local Mechanics.

A plea for employment Of Wash
ington mechanics on construction
projects here was made to a Senate
subcommittee today by Engineer
Commissioner Gotwals, who testified
that one Of the results Of enforcing
prevailing wage rates Is a tendency
among contractors to bring here work.
men who are "pushers," or quantitf
producers.
Mai. Gotwals said while the pre-
vailing wage rates here are high, the
hourly rates mean little If the men
work at fast tempo.
The Engineer Commissioner was
the first witness called by Senator
Walsh, Democrat, Of Massachusetts,,
in opening the hearings in the Sen
ate investigation into labor conditions
on Government building projects both
here and throughout the country.
key" Men Numerous.
"The contractors say they only
bring in the key men from other
cities, but they have q fearful number
Of keys" Maj. Gotwals testified.
The morning session was taken I'D
almost entirely with a detailed des-
cription by District officials of the
provisions they have written into local
contracts regarding compliance with
the Bacon-Davis law, which requires
payment Of prevailing wage scales in
each community on Government Jobs
in that community.
Walsh brought out by questions put
to Commissioner Gotwals that So
construction contracts have been let
by the District government since the
Bacon-Davis law passed, and that
complaints Of various kinds relating
to wage questions were received in
regard to II of these contracts. Mai.
Gotwals also said 81 Of these con-
tracts went to out-of-town bidders
and 81 to local contractors.
Up to noon Maj. Gotwals had re-
cited the history Of two of the COM
plants, indicating complete data on
all Of them would be put in the
record later.
Meanwhile negotiations are being
resumed to settle the plasterers' strike,
but conference scheduled for today
was postponed until tomorrow morn
ing. Several conferences have been
held in the past between representa-
tives of the unions and the Employing
Plasterers' Association without results.
The plastererS are asking for a six
hour day and an increase from 81 so
to SITS an hour.
Several Public Works Administra-
ton jobs were still held up today, as
contractors offered only the Sl.10
P. w. A. rate, and carpenters refused
to work for less than the new scale
Of SIPS.
P. w. A. contractors renewed their
apepals today to the Board of Labor
Review to take up the petitions prev
iously presented by some of these con-
tractors, but up to early afternoon the
board had scheduled no further hear
ings.
A preliminary hearing was held
about 10 days ago, during the car
penters' strike, but only the contrac-
tors showed up, while carpenters were
absent.
Previous Work Is Cited.
The contractors are asking that
the Doaro eStabllSh the rate OF Sl.1O
for carpenters to work on P. w. A.
jobs, and contend that this a bona
f1de agreement. They point out that
the contractors paid $1.10 when the
regular carpenters scale here was
only 81 an hour, but now that the
prevailing wage rate for carpenters
is SIPS an hour the carpenters refuse
to work for Sl.10.
Four of the P. W. A. contractors
are affiliated in this move to get
action from the board They are
John McShain, Inc; Walter Kidde
Constructors. Inc; Consolidated En-
gineering Co., and Ralph Herzog.
The Charles H. Tompkins Co.,
which has three P. w. A. Jobs,
belongs to the Master Builders Asso-
citation, and continued the silence
today with which it met inquiries
yesterday into the situation.