Evening star., 1935-08-11
STRIKE ORDER our,
UNIONS AND W.P.A.
|D|G IN FOR BATTLE
U. S. Officials Prepare to
Hire Others if New York
Workers Quit.
LABOR HEAD PROMISES
WALK0UT TOMORROW
Relief Wage Not Enough, Regu.
lar Scale Should Apply, He
Says, Defying Roosevelt.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, August 10.-Both sides
dug In tonight for showdown Mon
day in the wage dispute between labor
unions and the Federal Government.
Taking their cue from President
Roosevelt, works relief officials re-
fused to recognize the existence of a
strike, and prepared to hire replace
ments as rapidly as men walked out.
A large scale walk-out-aimed at
enforcing payment of the union scale
on work-relief jobs-was promised by
George Meany, president of the State
Federation of Labor. BY Monday. he
said, the city'S 36 building trade
unions will have stopped their work.
ers on all the jobs we haven't vet
reached" They were determined to
mold their ground, he declared, despite
Present Roosevelts warning that
those who turned down relief Jobs
would be cut of the dole.
That means the men would starye
Meany said. DO you think we are
going to bow to anything like that?"
Prevailing Wage" Held Preferred.
Mote: In Washington yesterday
Secretary Ickes asserted many
Western cities had rejected more
liberal terms from Harry Hopkins
In his w. P. A. projects because
they preferred to pay prevailing
wages" on P. W. A. projects. The
statement was interpreted as a bid
for the Ickes program over the
Hopkins program. now jeopardized
IN some degree by the w. P. A.
strike. Story on page 81
approximately 1000 of the 10 900 10
$4,000 union men employed on Works
Progress Administration projects had
answered the strike call up until last
night. Today was a holiday. but the
stage clearly was set for q test of
strength.
Administrator Hugh S. johnson or
dered all men 20 be back on the job
Monday. The Executive Strike Com
mittee of the Central Trades and Labor
Council ordered all members out Mon
day.
Work on Project to Go On.
Which order will be obeyed remained
to be seen, but Tenement House Com
missioner Langdon w. Post directed
that work be resumed on the only
project halted by the strike, regard
less Of whether the men returned or
not. II they do not, he said, their
places will be taken by workers re-
cruited from the National Re-employ-
ment Service.
The project. Slum clearance Job on
the lower East Side, employs 362 men.
of whom 40. including most of the
skilled workers. have walked out.
Commissioner Post, citing President
Roosevelt's assertion that refusal to
accept relief work could not be called
strike, said it followed, therefore.
that replacement of the men could not
be construed as strikebreaking.
The walkout was voted Thursday
night as a protest against the Gov
ernment's security wage scale, which
in New York ranges between SIS and
$3.50 month for 120 hours work.
Want Hourly Scale Used.
The unions seek substitution of the
prevailing hourly scale. which in the
case Of carpenters, for example, is $l.4O
an hour. Under the Government scale,
they contend, carpenters receive only
73 cents an hour, and they demand
that regardless of how many hours are
worked their union scale be adhered to.
Gen. johnson told them that they
could earn more under the security
wage over long period. since they
(See STRIKE, page 81