The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-09-22


P. A. projects. In supporting the ad-
ditional appropriation of $25O,OOO,OOO
for the balance of the fiscal year
1937-3S the Building and Construction
Trades Department focused the atten-
tion of Congress on certain abuses
which had become widespread on w.
P. A. projects.
Labor pointed out that during the
preceding year w. P. A. had for the
first time extended it's activity to in
clude in it's projects the construction
of buildings which calls for the work
of al arge number of building mechan-
les, helpers and laborers. These prof.
ects included the building of school
houses, fire stations, libraries and
other public buildings which until then
had been constructed by building la
Dor through regular employment under
contract.
1t was emphasized that this practice
tended to displace skilled mechanics
regularly employed by contractors, by
unskilled and semi-skilled workers. 1t
was also pointed out that on these
projects w. P. A. maintained no rules,
standards or requirements which would
insure sufficient skill and training on
thepart of the worker to qualify him
for the proper performance of the job.
Abolition of WPA "Training On The
Job" Demanded
Labor also assailed the centralized
program of so-called training on the
job carried out by the terms of Fed
eral Bulletin No. 19. In a statement
presented at the hearing our Depart
ment said:
eve want to go on record as sup
Iporting a government program of edu-
cation and training of the unskilled,
and of rehabilitation of persons who
have long been unemployed. But we
do not believe it wise or desirable to
undertake such a training program,
when it will increase the number Of
persons attached to an industry in
which such serious unemployment al
ready exists, as exists in the construc-
: tion industry.
, "a further objection to this method
| of training is, that persons SO trained
cannot be considered qualified building
; construction mechanics. Yet they are
: partially trained, and thus put in a
) position where they become danger
both to the standards of work and to
the wages and working conditions OF
fully qualified building trades mechan-
: les"
: WPA Administrator Ordered Abuses
Corrected
At the hearings in support of the
Work Relief Appropriation Act OF
1888 Labor gave it's unqualified back
ing to the appropriation of 81 ,425 ,OOO,-
: 600 for the emergency w. P. A. pro-
gram, but stressed that this appropri-
: alton must be conditioned on the elm
ination of the existing abuses. Repre-
} sentatives of the American Federation
of Labor reported to Congress at the
hearing that they had reached al
agreement with the WPA Administra
tor, Harry l.. Hopkins, in which hi
assured Labor that the existing prac
: tices will be corrected.
: AS result of this agreement, Gen
t eral Letter No. 1873 was issued by thu
! w. p. A. Administrator. The lette1
|, called upon all State Administrators tt
n review and correct all occupationa
classifications and rates Of pay O
= mason tenders, plasterer tenders, con
e crete workers, caisson workers, tend
S ing carpenters, building and con
+ struction laborers and laborers OF
u bridges, viaducts, streets and tunnels
y Prevailing "OccupatiOnal Rates o
It Pay" Secured For WPA Projects
II In the General Letter No. 1874 Ad
e ministrator Hopkins called the atten
IS ton of State Administrators to tn
l. fact that sponsors on some project
l. have maintained rates of pay lowe
than the occupational rates prevailin
s. in the locality.
II In conformity with Labor's demand
q the letter reiterated that it was tn
% policy of w. p. A. "that the rates o
a pay for all persons engaged upo
" projects, whether paid from Fedora
J. funds or paid directly by the sponsor
y should be not less than the occupation
e al rates of pay prevailing in the lc
a cality." To carry out this policy Ad
J. ministrator Hopkins instructed a
n State Administrators to make arrange
IL ments with sponsors to the end tina
J. prevailing wages be maintained on a
projects.
'r $500, 600, coo Fund Obtained For Low
Cost Housing and Slum Clearance
t. One Of the outstanding achievement
st of the Building Trades has been thei
t. successful effort to secure the enact
is ment of low-rent housing and slul
d. clearance legislation. When the Unite
d. States Housing Act, originally spor
IS sored by the Building Trades Depar
J. ment, went into operation on Noven
4 Der !, 1887, it made available $500
100000 for loans to local housing al
ic thorities for low-rent housing project
a Through the efforts of organized LabC
t. the passage of an amendment was 81
le cured in Congress increasing the loa
1T authorization of the United State
is Housing Authority to $S00,O0O,OC0.
le Local Labor Housing Boards Forme
g Under the general direction of tf