The Washington times., 1936-11-12
STEEL WAGES
ROW BROUGHT
TO PERKINS
T W o Representatives
Backed BY Lewis
Charge Coercion

Employe representatives of Car
negie-Illinois Steel Company to-
day appealed to John l.. Lewis,
chairman of the Committee for
Industrial Organization, to sup
port steel workers in their fight
to stop the yellow dog wage in
crease contracts" being offered by
the company allegedly as means
of offsetting the @. I. O.'s drive
for industrial unionization.
With the approval of Lewis, FL
mer j. Maloy, chairman Of the
Pittsburgh district of employe rep
resentativeS, and George A. Pat
terson, chairman of the South
Chicago Carnegie-Illinois plant,
forwarded a telegram to Myron c.
Taylor, chairman of the board Of
the United States Steel Corpora
ton, asking for a statement of
policy regarding the wage in
creaSes.
See Perkins
Lewis obtained an audience for
the two representatives with Sec
retary of Labor Frances Perkins
shortly before noon.
The telegram to Taylor said:
"The undersigned accredited
emplOye representatives Of the
Carnegie-IllinOiS Steel Corpora.
tiOn demand to know your pol
icy toward a wage increase. Do
you intend to deprive the men
of the plants whose representa-
tiveS do not sign the agreement
of their rightful share in this
proposed increase or will you
hold it as club over the heads
of the workers by pretending to
withhold such proposed in.
crease? Will you telegraph reply
m m lately care of Hon.
Frances Perkins, Secretary of
Labor.
Charge Coercion
Charging that employees are be.
ing coerced into signing the wage
agreement, Patterson and Maloy
will present to Secretary Perkins
or the President a request that
a Government agency intervene.
The request is part of a reSolu-
ton adopted by the "a delegates
of the Pittsburgh district council.
It reads:
I'VE request an appropriate
governmental agency to review
the entire empIOye representa-
tiOn plan Of the United States
Steel Corporation and its sub.
sidiarieS in the light of existing
Federal legislation, safeguard
ing the right of the workers
to organize into associations of
their own selection for cOlIec-
tive bargaining purposes and
that pending such review no
empIOYe representative sign any
such proposed agreement bind.
ing his fellow workers to its pro
visions"
Lewis Backs Them
Lewis, backing the two repre-
sentatives, said:
"The steel workers are not
disposed to accept such agree
mentS. They want the wage in
creaSeS but not the conditions
under which they are offered.
"The C. /. o. is in accord, and
organized labor reSentS this type
of proposal"
Maloy and Patterson charged
that employees who do not sign
the sliding scale wage agreement
based on the cost of living are
being Disseminated against in the
Carnegie-Ill Illinois plants.
Maloy said that at conference
with Benjamin Fairless, president
of Carnegie-Illinois, Pittsburgh, he
received no answer to his queS-
tions asking if plants not signing
the agreement would be granted
an increase. Maloy said:
"The president said that he
did not know, but pointed out
that plants that have signed
for the increase will receive it
November 16, leaving US to as
sumo that plants that have not
signed will not be granted the
increase"
CITES DURESS
Patterson said:
"ThOse who have signed have
done so under dureSS. They are
forced to do it or come out
against the company"
He said further that "of the
$4,000 workers in the Sou / Chi
cago district not one has signed
the agreement. Maloy, however,
said that many thousands of
Carnegie-Illinois employees in the
Pittsburgh area have been forced
into putting their names on the
line"