Evening star., 1942-02-15
Prevailing Wage as Procticed
Adds Millions to Housing Cost
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
r. H. A. developments are not COM
parable with those Of the A. D. A.
or other Government defense hous-
ing. The official questioned was a
bit vague, but held A. D. A. jobs are
Of better construction. An Authority
official said their projects are erected
under minimum requirements of
the D. C. building code. The Dis
trict F. H. A. Office believed their
projects compare very favorably'
with A. D. A. work.
Scale Surprises Official.
The A. D. A. official was surprised
when shown the F. H. A. scale, esti-
mating his agency, by employing
such a wage rate, could make an
overall saving on a job of from to
8 per cent.
Prevailing wages on F. H. A. rental
housing were provided for in an
amendment OF the National Hous-
ing Act In June, 1899. Since then
the Labor Department has deter
mined for the builders what the
wages shall be. 1t must be remem-
bered, F. H. A. does not make build
ing loans. it merely insures mort
cages and sets regulations and
specifications as to how the build
ings are to be erected.
Preambles which accompany de-
partment wage scale lists for public
and private housing projects bear
virtually the same wording. Both
state that studies have been made
OF wage conditions in the locality
from data submitted by the sponsor
land other information assembled
by the Department of Labor" and
"the following are found to be the
prevailing rates Of wages" for the
various crafts. Although both are
held prevailing" they are quite
different, as attested by the table
above. The A. D. A. official said
they submitted no data" to the
Labor Department other than lists
Of trades to be used.
Organized labor has recognized
Its wage scales must be adjusted
lower for private residential work.
Separate unions have been estab-
lished at lower scales in manv
crafts. These workers are tagged
Tor residential or speculative"
building. but not for Government
housing. The old-line unions are
designated for Government or
commercial' projects. Both sets of
unions are under the American Fed
Grafton OF Labor and work together
closely. In fact, in some instances
men are transferred back and forth,
dependent on the demand for work.
ers in the two classes.
Not Bound by Theory.
Men In the lower scale unions not
only work on small private jobs, but
are employed on almost all of the
city's de luxe apartments. There
they work side by side with nom
union employees. That is in direct
violation of a long-standing union
argument that "a bricklayer Is a
bricklayer" no matter what class of
work he may be engaged in.
The Labor Department admits
that it is not bound by the brick
layer is bricklayer" theory in de-
termining wages for Government
projects. Yet by setting wages for
low-cost Government housing Jobs
at the highest union scale it has &C
cepted that theory, even though the
unions by their own actions have
exploded it.
In fairness to all, it is highly
questionable now whether the Gov
ernment could provide needed hous-
ing here by paying any but the
highest wages. The Labor Depart
ment has established a scale for
public housing. A large number of
the big contractors and subcon-
tractors who do Government work
are bound tightly by agreements
with unions. and those do not call
Tor the lower scale. 1t is true that
very few of the union bound firms
nave had any wide experience in
residential work. Whether the
Government would be paying such
nigh wages now if its earlier ap-
proach to the problem had been
ol11erent is open to debate.
The Labor Department was oues-
tloned as to its procedure in estab-
uSnlng wage rates here for public
housing. The result was an official
admission there had been made mo
exhaustive study" to determine pre-
valling wages for residential work.
1t was believed" the rates paid by
the A. D. A. or by P. w. A. at
1Angston terrace NE. or the Re-
settlement Administration at Green
belt, Md, had been accepted as
prevailing" and those had called
for the union scale.
Eighteen Garages Constructed.
Investigation showed that neither
Langston terrace nor Greenbelt, two
of the earlier public housing prof.
ects, was started until some time
after, the amended Bacon-Davis law
became effective. The A. D. A. had
no project under way until after
that date and an official there said
they had set no scales. He exhibited
Q letter written by Executive Direc-
tor John Ihlder in November, 1885,
to the Secretary Of Labor, request
ing q determination of wages for
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