Evening star., 1934-05-24
BUILDING STRIKE
PEACE PUSHED BY
ALLEN At PARLEYS
Commissioner Sees Basis
of Settlement Laid at
Sessions With Parties.
FURTHER CONFERENCES
SCHEDULED FOR TODAY
Official Plays Conciliator's Role
in Deadlock Begun on
May l.
With District Commissioner George

With District Commissioner George
E. Allen in the role of conciliator,
efforts went forward today to settle
the strike of union carpenters which
has tied up large part of public
and private construction in Wash
ington since May /.
Allen is holding series of confer
ences with both labor and contrac-
tors. These conferences opened last
night when the Commissioner saw the
two groups separately, committee
from the Master Builders Association
and a wage committee from the Car
penterS' Union.
Following another conference late
this morning with the Master Build
ers. Allen said he felt some progress
had been made, but he was not over
confident as to the prospects of sue
cess for the negotiations. He said he
would do the best he could in his
new role. but explained that if an
agreement were reached, it would be
largely to the credit of the two repre-
sentative groups.
StateS fOSltiOn Fiaty.
II told both Sides" said Allen, "that
was in favor of organized labor and
that I was in favor of good business
management"
With this basis, the Commissioner
said he entered his new responsibilities
as conciliator. knowing virtually moth
ing of the merits of the controversy.
He felt the groundwork had been laid
in the three conferences held so far.
Another session was to be held by Allen
with the organized labor group at l
o'clock and another with the builders
at 2;30.
II will be glad to meet with these
groups, day or night, in an effort to
settle these differences" said the
Commissioner.
The Wage Committee for the car
penterS Is headed by o. C. Rickard,
and the Master Builders Association
Committee is headed by ]. R.
Skinker. Other members of the
builders committee are c. Wohlge-
muth, jr.; E. H. Rosengarten, E. R.
Boyle and F. j. Sheehan.
The issue in the carpenters strike
involves both shorter work week
and higher hourly wage. The car
penters are demanding an increase
from 81 to $l.37l2 per hour and a
reduction Of the work week from 40
to 80 hours. The proposal of the
Master Builders Association to in
crease the old scale from 81 to S110
an hour has been rejected by the
To- p,,;1
have been insisting on an eight-hour
day.
Plasterers Also Out.
Meantime, two other crafts in the
building trades, the plasterers and
plasterers' tenders, are on strike for
the 30hour week and higher hourly
wage. In the ice cream industry, en-
gineers, oilers and firemen still are
on strike for an increase in pay.
Howard T. Colvin, conciliator of
the Labor Department, commended
Commissioner Allen for attempting to
bring about a settlement of the car
penters' strike. Colvin, who has held
several conferences in the contro-
versy, said the Labor Department
NoAASAAoCoAo III L4oliy CAI1Co 41CQuCliCly
call upon mayors to cooperate in ef-
forts to end strikes.
Commissioner Allen said his inter-
est in bringing about an agreement
was based not only upon his desire
to push forward District projects
which have been held up. but to
improve employment and to help pre-
vent the further spread of any kind
of labor trouble here.