Evening star., 1942-03-11
Building Wage
Decision Seen
Within ; Weeks
Hearings Completed
In Effort to Set
War Housing Scale
BY JAMES Y. NEWTON.


of wages to be paid in erecting
Government war housing here may
be expected in two or three weeks"
the Labor Department said today,
following completion of long hear
ings to gather evidence on wage
rates which are in use on com
parable" residential construction in
the Washington area
Ben GrodSky, department referee,
said he probably would be given ad-
dltlonal written evidence by both
union leaders and private builders.
His recommendation as to the wage
prevailing" will be reviewed within
the Labor Department before the
Secretary's decision is made public.
Union leaders late in the hearing
submitted data showing that SAL
6l6,47l in housing is being provided
by labor receiving the full A. F. of L.
scale. Some of the projects were
completed in the last year, others
are just getting under way. Most
of this evidence is represented by
Government housing Jobs. Private
projects mentioned included the
s. 100000 Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Co. development. Just being
started in Alexandra, and some one
family residences.
Flfty-one spTojectS were included
IN the union housing evidence. of
which AZ are Government Jobs and 9
private. TIE work is about equally
distributed between the District and
nearby sections of Maryland and
Virginia.
Both Sides Dispute Evidence.
good portion OF the union evi-
dence was disputed by James
Wilkes. counsel for the Washington :.
Home Builders Association, repre-
senling private operators Like
wise, a major portion of the build
ers' evidence. tending to show a
majority of private housing is pro-
vided at wage rates lower than
union, was disputed by union lead
erS. Mr. Wilkes contended the
Metropolitan project and the So
100000 Friendship development on
Wisconsin avenue NV, also in
cluded in union evidence. had not
progressed sufficiently for consider.
alton.
The unions were represented o
the htaring yesterday principally
by c. F Preller. and John Locher.
president and secretary of the Wash
ington Building Trades Council;
, Frank Howard, of the carpenters,
and Willy Arnheim. representing
tie building laborers.
In presenting his evidence. Mr..
Arnheim pointed out that his union
has working agreements with sew
era hundred contracting firms
which call for full union scale pay
on their jobs. If the minimum
wage rate Is set lower, he said he
did not see how these contractors
could compete in bidding for de-
fense housing jobs.
Pointing out that the building
trades have agreed to carry on de-
fense work without strike, Mr.. Arm
helm added that he thought union
members would be very disturbed"
if the rate were lowered and would
be unable to carry on at current
speed
Says Many Workers Required.
In general, union leaders con-
tended that defense housing prof.
ectS require large numbers of work
men to insure speed, and that il
would be impossible to erect needed
housing at wages lower than their
full scale. Private housing projects.
leaders said. usually are smaller
and employ far less men.
Builders attempted to prove that
vast majority of housing, includ-
ing Government projects. so far
completed here has been erected by
lower scale workmen. Builders con-
tended that private Jobs have pro-
greSSed faster than those of the
Government
SubStantiating cont tention Of
builders that crafts affiliated with
the A F of L. have two scales,
Charles Willis. an official of the
lower-scale bricklayers union, Local
No. 4. testified he believed his or
ganization had larger member
ship than the higher scale brick
layers union, Local No. l. whose
members do Government work.
Cites Scales of Pay.
Mr.. Willis said the scale for men
in No. is S1.37ls an hour. as COM
pared to SITS an hour for No. l
men. He said his organization is
sanctioned by the bricklayers inter
national union and the agreement
under which they work was drawn
up by the international. He added
No. 4 is authorized to do work of a
residential type when built for
sale or operation by the builder"
He said No. is authorized to work
on Government housing projects
although such work had been con-
sidered under the jurisdiction of
No. l." His union, Mr.. Willis con-
tinued, has never ''encroached" on
the field of operations of No. l.
Horace O. Kirby, an official. told
Of the existence here of a lower
scale plastererS union, Local No.
84l. The wage rates of that union
are about the same, he said as
those of non-union plasterers.
Neither Mr.. Willis nor Mr.. Kirby
said they knew of any recent private
housing Jobs which had been built
here at the higher union scale, al
though both added there probably
are some.
Others who testified for the build
erS included Glen Lee, William
Banks, Gushing Daniel, Everett C.
Embrey and c. H. Small, all private
operators.
After testifying, Mr.. Lee tainted.
His head was severely gashed in the
fall and he was removed to Emer-
gency Hospital for treatment.
The testimony of Mr.. Lee and the
other builders was introduced in the
effort to show their work as COM
parable to Government war housing,
and that it is produced as speedily
as the Federal housing.
DI cGI