Montana labor news., 1937-03-25

Flathead, providing for minimum
wage for women employees in the
state. Fought bitterly by corpora
ton controlled members who sought
to nullify bill by amendments.
Passed House by a vote of 81 to 26.
Killed in the Senate.
House Bill No. SO, by Spiegel, Fin
negan, Burns, Mackie, Bjorneby,
Stortz and Brennan, providing that
silicosis be made an occupational
disease and be compensated for the
same as any other injury received
during the course of employment.
Public hearing held lasting hours
and attended by all the big officials
of the A. c. M. Co. and all small
mining operators who were in Hell
ena on that date to attend their an
nual convention. The proponents of
the bill at this hearing were Spiegel,
Brown of the Butte Miners Union,
Murray of the Anaconda Mill and
Smelter Workers and Mcleod of
Cascade, also a member of the Great
Falls Mill and Smelter Workers. The
Workmen's Compensation Commit
tee reported the bill favorable and it
was placed on general orders but
through parliamentary chicanery
was re-referred to judiciary commit
tee on plea that the bill needed re-
wording with legal phrases. Fear
ing for the life of the bill at the
hands of the unfriendly committee,
we were successful in blasting it out
of committe and after a bitter fight
during which all parliamentary
tricks were resorted to, the bill
passed the House by a vote of 81
to II. A similar bill two years ago
died on the board on the fiftieth
night. 1t was the first time this bill
had ever reached the Senate, where
it was killed.
House Bill No. 65, by the Judiciary
Committee, providing for the re-
moval of employees by the Governor
(the infamous Hitler BilD. A bitter
fight was made on this bill, but the
Governor had sufficient influence to
put this bill over. Passed the House
66 to 80.
House Bill No. 72, by Mcleod and
Spiegel, the 8 hour collar to- collar
bill When this bill was considered
on general orders in the House, Rep.
Cohen of Silver Bow moved that its
enacting clause be stricken and he
was supported in his motion by Rep.
Chatham of Silver Bow. Seeing
split in the Silver Bow delegation,
many of the representatives did not
know just how to vote and the mo-
ton of Cohen prevailed. A motion
to segregate this bill from the COM
mittee's report lost on roll call by
vote of As to So. Six of the Silver
Bow delegation voted against the
bill
House Bill No. 81, by Mackie,
Bloom, Mcleod, Spiegel, and Burns,
levying tax of $10O per ton on all
coal mines using stripping methods.
This bill would have meant revenue
to the state of from $1,OOO,OOO to ST.
100000 and if applied to old age Sc
curity, would have raised the pres
ent starvation amount to one which
would have enabled the unfortunates
to live with a semblance of decency.
The bill passed the House 70 to 6
but was killed by the reactionary
Senate.
House Bill No. 1870, by Mitchell of
Silver Bow, preference of Montana
labor in public works at prevailing
union wage scale. Passed House IS
to l. Killed in Senate.
House Bill No. 159, by Spiegel,
raising the gross tax on electrical
energy from Is of one per cent to 2
per cent. House committee cut rate
to one per cent but we were success
full in putting the per cent back in
the bill and sent it to the Senate.
The Senate cut it to l per cent and
a conference committe was request
ed. Bill was held to last day and
rather than lose the raise of three
eighths, we accepted the Senate
which meant approx
mately an additional revenue of $780,
10000. The original per cent would
have meant approximately $225, ,000
House Bill No. 164, by Committee
on Labor, providing for wash houses
for quartz mining companies en-
ploying 10 or more men. Passed
House 72 to 8. Killed in Senate.
House Bill No. 174 by Committee
on Labor. Minimum wages for
women. Passed House 70 to 13. |
Killed in the Senate.
House Bill No. 176, by Committee
on Labor, providing for security for
payment of wages to workers by |
corporations or persons engaged in
mining operations. Passed House rs |
to IL. Killed in the Senate.
House Bill No. 1879, by Metcalf, |
levying a tax on natural gas. Passed |
House 64 to 81. Killed in the Senate.