The union times., 1948-01-10

DullQlnS 1IdueS EIIlplOycIS ASS' struction Trades Council of Gre;
 SOME INCREASES
 The agreement includes wag' increases for some trades, estimated to average not less than 5 per cent These and the other rates, whicl in many cases have been in effec a year or more, will remain frozel at least until July l, l949, and vii not be increased then unless ther' is rise of more than Is per cen in the cost of living, according tt the agreement.
 Howard McSpedon, president O the council, and Fred J. Driscoll chairman of the employers stabil. ization committee, said the action tc protect builders and investors agains unforeseen increases in labor costs wa: the answer of the unions and con tractors to Mayor O'Dwyer's demand for stability.
 UNCERTAIN
 MT. McSpedon said Robert Moses City Construction Coordinator, ilat estimated that in the next few year. $1,250,000 of public construction would be needed in New York while tht Committee on Economic Development figured that at least an equal amount of private work was waiting to gel under way,
 The union leader and Mir. Dris coll, who is president of the George F. Driscol Company, general con tractors, agreed that other force. would have to see to it that costs Oi building materials and equipmen returned to a basis on which gen eral building costs could be esti mated with reasonable certainty fol investors.
 The impossibility of making es- inmates of this kind was cited by Mayor O'Dwyer last July, when he made the demand that contributed to the joint action. The Mayor as- serted that contractors submitting bids on public projects were padding their estimates to protect themselves against runaway cost increases. He called up on labor to help reduce the risk, and thus minimize the reason for such pad ding of bids.
 MT. McSpedon and MT. Driscol said that. in the new agreement much was being accomplished toward this objective and both asserted that they did not expect living costs to rise enough to require any change in wages before the contract expires on June 30, 1850.
 NOT OUR FAULT
 If costs do go up, we disclain responsibility-it'll be the respon- sibility of those who have failed tc stabilize" MT, McSpedon said.
 MT. Driscoll called for a return to the ''American system, where you take a job at a price and do il at that price-win, lose or draw With building materials Obtainable only on a basis where prices will be set at the time of delivery, no body knows what construction jol will cost, MT. Driscoll said, and thi. has been holding up construction by investors unwilling to take risk. that cannot be calculated in ad vance.
 The negotiations said the agree ment covered tWenty-seven of the thirty-eight unions in the council and that both sides had agreed tc work toward bringing the remaining eleven unions in as quickly as possible The councils unions include 126 locals with a total membership of 250,0O0 while the unions not taking part 1T yesterdays agreement, for various reasons, were the following:
 THEY'RE NOT IN
 Electrical workers, 22,OOO mem bers in one local; painters, 10000 members in six locals; bricklayers 6,5OO members i'm seven locals; ce ment and concrete workers, 10000 members in one local; mason tenders, 5000 members, one local, excavating laborers, 6,OOO mem bers, one local; plumbers, 5000 members in one Manhattan local, plasterers laborers, 4,OOO members three locals; composition roofers 600 members one local; mosaic and terrazzO workers, 100 mem bers in one local, and 100 of their helpers in another local.
 Rises of twenty-five cents an hour were agreed upon for carpenters cement masons, elevator constructors glaziers, hoisting engineers, marble cutters and settlers, marble polishers helpers, triggers and derrickmen, orna- mental iron workers, triggers and machinery workers, stone settlers and structural iron workers. Slightly diff ferent increases were granted to stone