Imperial Valley press., 1943-01-10
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

/ All right, you're a wage Garner
or a salaried guy or an employer
boss man or walking delegate
pardon. business agent for un-
/ ion-and you put in an application
for a pay raise. What are your
/ chances 10 have it approved some
place along the line by any one OF
the five or six government Offices
/ having power to rule on your case!
In the main. everything will go
back to the wage scale paid on
September Is. 1912. When Con-
! cress passed tho wage stahiliza-
ton amendment to the Price
| Control bill. il was attempting
to stabilize prices and wages as
os that date. assuming that the
prevailing rates then in effect
were proper. ANY adjustments
granted hereafter will therefore
have to be 10 correct Septem-
Der Is wage levels for one OF
four reasons:
!. To correct EMBELLISHMENTS.
Well, that means that if any group
of employees have received as
much as a Is per cent increase in
basic. Straight-time wage rates
over the rates prevailing on jan
uary l. 1S41. the War Labor Board
or any of its regional or local Of
fices will not grant any further
increases.
This goes back to the So-called
War Labor Board Little Steel For
mula' which in mid-July. 1912,
granted the steel workers a 5i2 per
cent increase so as to bring their
wages into line with the Is per
cent increase in the cost of living
recorded up to that time.
HOW ABOUT A RAISE
All right, suppose you have not
had a Is per cent increase between
January l, 194l. and today Can
you get a raise if the boss is will
ing?
If you're just an individual work
men, the answer is NO" because
it's average group wages that
count. If you're one of group of
workmen in one particular job clas-
sification-ribbon clerks, bull-doZ-
ers. anything-the answer is still
mol" unless an inequity needs
! correction.
But if the average straight
line paw rates of all the workers
in your plant, company or un-
ion bargaining units have not
gone up Is per cent since jan
uary, 194l, then your bargaining
unit can make application for
wage increase. Or. if there is
no union. YOUR employer can ask
for government approval of the
raise.
2. Cases of inequities or gross in
equities. If there are manifest in
| justices that arise from unusual
and unreasonable differences in
wage rates for people doing the
same kind of work in the same
plant or area. the tendency will be
for the board to correct the in
equality by raising the lower rate
If the punch press operators in
Plant A get rs cents an hour and
| the punch press operators in Plant
B get 80 cents, the people in Plant
! A or their boss have a case for a
raise.
NOT JUST ANYONE
Right here, however. the Labor
Board makes it clear that it is moi
going to eliminate all wage differ
entails all over the country. Wage
levels in the south aren't going tt
be raised TO wage levels prevailing
in The north for similar work, anc
the wages OF small-town carpen'
ters can't be raised to New York:
fancy scales.
3. To correct substandards of
living. This one is rather iffy.
There isn't any definition of
what a minimum or an average
standard of living really is, nor
is there any measurement for
substandard. II worker or a
group of workers should file an
application for wage increase
because present wages forced
them to exist under substandard
living conditions, that case
would probably be kicked right up
10 The War Labor Board itself.
1. TIC aid in effective proSccu
ton of the war. On this one tn
WLB says it isn't going to bc kick
ed around so that wage increase
may be granted just TO solve man
power shortages For instance, thcr
has been q shortage OF copper min
ers. WLB did not authorize in
creases in the pay scale for coppt
miners just to attract workers
copper mining from gold mining
WLB waited until the War Mar
power Commission and other goI
ernment agencies took concerto
action such as moving lot OF gol
miners into the copper coEntr
freezing coppf;' miners in the
jobs. etc. before it did anythin
about raising copper miners wage
Then WLB considered applica
lions TO adjust inequalities. a
adjustments the War Labor Boar
makes, it emphasizes, will be fC
more effective prosecution of III
war. That's the guiding princiDl
Of the whole business.