Evening star., 1947-10-15

house, even though the job can be done in
81 days. II they finish ahead Of time they
70 out and walk up and down the street to
put in the required hours. sl.-
IF everybody would get busy and work
the way they should" claims this builder.
"ths houss selling for $500 now could be
sold for Se50o.'' - ---..... 49,
What the Survey Shows
Low productivity Of construction workers
is undoubtedly padding home building costs,
already at record levels. These examples are
typical Of hundreds reported in q Wall Street
Journal survey.
Many builders attribute the low produe-
tivity of workers to destruction Of incentive
under the monopoly enjoyed by American
Federation Of Labor construction unions In
"organized" areas. Builders argue that under
this system there Il no way Of rswarding .
man for doing more work.
Many union leaders privately sonceds
labor IL not fully productive today. but hold
out little hope for early improvement.
Hunter P. Wharton business manager Il
Engineers Local No. So, and secretary Of the
Building and Construction Trades Council Of
Pittsburgh, believes "dislocauon Of war"
caused the showdown. During the war, hs
says, men slowed down because most projects
had more men than needed.
There's no doubt" he continued, that
the men are careless. They've got the wrinkles
out Of their bellies and money In their pockets.
The problem eventually will be worked out
but not as long as there IL a shortage sf
mechanics"
Where There's A Full Days Work
In non-rnion areas, construction labor h
by and large still doing . full days work,
say builders. In Oklahoma City, for instance,
where homo building IL "open shop" con-
struction costs are 1917 below the national
average and about 209s under those In high
cost areas like New York and Chicago. Yet
hourly wage rates are up to the union scale
for commercial building done In the south
western city.
builder: Were still getting 800 to 1900
brick day from our bricklaysrs."
In "open shop" Hyattsville, Nd, . WASH
ington suburb, Harry Boswell Of Boswell and
Miller Co. reports: I'VE have several brick
Washington, D. c., where e0% Of the home
contractor William r. Nelson says his men
are averaging 1000 bricks . day.
Other open shop areas tell the same story.
Robert Bready. Baltimore builder and prssi.
dent Of the Maryland Home Builders Associa.
ton, declares:
I'VE get more work from our men than DO
builders In union cities. Furthermore, we're
still boss on the job. II . man doesn't do .
days work, OF he goes"
Why do non-union workers do more work
than union members?
An important factor IL that .much Of the
work In non-union cities IL done on . piece
work" basis. Roofers are paid 20 much .
square (100 square feet), lathers 30 much .
bundle, painters 10 much q house. Hence, the
more work the men do the greater their In.
come.
Says Baltimore's Mr.. Bready: THE trouble
with . union shop IL that you can't offer the
men any incentive to produce. A good piece
worker makes good money. The only one
who's against piecework Il the sub-standard
mechanic because 1t means less money In his
pocket. In union shops, he's usually the fellow
who's carried by the more shhcient workers.
Another thing unions won't let you DO 10
grade workers. But We do II. CarpsntsrA
for instance. are graded from S1.35 IN hour up
to % much as S1.75. II We think q mans snly
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