The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-03-21
A. F. Of L. Supports
Cannon Changes
Would Extend Public Con.
trdcts Act To Federal
HighwuY Work

Grafton of Labor amendments to the
Walsh Healey Act, relating to fair
labor standards in public contracts as
embodied in Senate Bill 1892 intro
duced by Senator Walsh of Massachu-
sets, were explained at public hear
ing before the House Judiciary Com
mittee.
The Walsh-Healey Act provides that
all Federal specifications and con-
tracts coming under it's jurisdiction in
volving $4,000 or more shall contain
provisions that the prevailing rate of
wages must be paid, that employees
must not work more than eight hours
in any day or 40 hours in any week,
with provision for emergency overtime
work at extra wage rates, that boys
under 16 years of age and girls under
1S years of age or convict labor must
not be employed, that all work must
be done in sanitary buildings and de-
cent surroundings, and that payments
on contracts can be withheld when con-
tractors engage in "kick-back" prac-
tices or other violations of the law.
One Of the principle A. F. of L..
amendments provides that all public
contracts in excess of $4,000 shall be
subject to the act, replacing the pres
ent minimum of $4,000.
Significant and conclusive evidence
was submitted showing that the Army
and Navy had established the prac-
tice of giving out orders which per-
nit the lowest bid to fall short of
$4,000 by only few dollars. The
Navy even repeatedly circumvented
the law by dividing larger orders be-
tween two bidders so that the single
contracts were slightly under $4,000.
Another American Federation of
Labor amendment to the Walsh-Hea-
ley Act is embodied in H. r. 6395
sponsored by Representative Cannon
of Florida.
This amendment provides that the
requirements of the Walsh-Healey
Act shall be applicable to all con-
or repair Of Federal-aid highways. 1t
is estimated that total of 243,0O0
workers are employed under such con-
tracts throughout the United States.
American Federation of Labor Leg
islative Representative Paul Schar-
renberg in addressing the Committee
on the Cannon amendment said, in
part, as follows:
Labor -Displacing Machinery
"Work on highways has been one
of the last strongholds of low wages,
and it has been particularly hard to
improve this condition. We have no
adequate information to show the sit
uation in road work over the country
generally, but such as we do have
shows an amazing contrast between
wages in road work and standard
wages under union conditions in the
same localities.
awe are no longer living in the
days when road work was done by
gangs of unskilled workers, using pick
and shovel, wheelbarrow and hammer.
'n Federal-aid highways these
have been replaced by huge excavat-
ing machines which do the work Of
scores of men, by giant concrete mix
ers which take the gravel, sand and
cement from trucks, mix them and
spread the finished mixture on the
road all in one operation. Stone is no
longer pounded into place by hand but
rolled in with steam roller.
Productivity has made enormous
strides with the introduction of these
modern machines, the quality of labor
required has changed from the most
unskilled to very highly skilled, but
wages received by the workers have
by no means kept pace. Skilled labor
on road work is often paid at rate
only slightly above unskilled labor in
the same localities.
"In 1886 the u. S. Department of
Labor made study of work on roads
and streets in Al representative cities
scattered over the entire country.
This study does not show the wages
paid for road work in the open coun-
try, where they are very much lower,
and it combines road work with work
on street paving. Therefore the wages
| am going to quote you are higher
tilttil IIlOSC NllSIl ChloI oNSI Vic CIOuo-
ands of miles of Federal-aid roads be-
ing built across the open country For
in the cities, wages on road work have
been lifted somewhat by the generally
higher standards in other industries
established by union agreement.
Nevertheless, even in cities the
wages paid for road and street work
show a striking contrast to standard
rates. For instance, the Labor De-
partment study shows an average of
4S cents an hour paid to common la
Dor on roads (where there is no union
contract), as against the union wage
of rs cents an hour for the same work.
"The contrast in skilled work is
even more striking. Bricklayers, do
ing work around manholes, received
so cents an hour which compares with
the union wage at SLIT for the same
work in road construction. Asphalt
heaters receive 61 cents when the
union wage is $1.35 for this work.
Other rates also show very great dis
crepancy:
| "Roller onerators S5 cents. union