The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-02-17
AFL, CIO Urge Quick
Action On Wage Floor.
Child Labor Measure

Washington (LPA)-With only
minor exceptions, AFL ard ClO
spokesmen appearing before the
House Labor Committee this week
approved the committee print" OF
a bill undermining and extending
the coverage of the Fair Labor
Standards Act.
For the ClO, spokesmen were
Research Director Sol Barkin Of
the Textile Workers Union, Cen
eral Counsel Irving Levy of the
United Auto Workers, and Re-
search Associate Vera Miller of
the Amalgamated Clothing Work
erS.
Walter S. Mason testified on be-
half of the AFL, and was followed
by spokesmen for the Meat & Can
merry Workers in New Jersey, the
Hotel & Restaurant Employees, the
Int'l Longshoremen's Association,
and the Natl Farm Labor Union.
Compressed into one day were
all of labor's arguments for raising
the minimum wage to 75c immedi-
ately, allowing for further raising
of the wage floor to 81. The AFL
would have preferred flat 81
minimum Immediately, and opposes
the industry -by-industry procedure
outlines in the present law for
raising the minimum higher than
75c. "The 75c minimum provides a
realistic wage floor to which no
employer can truly object if he
wants to pay his workers wage
which represents some modicum of
decency," Barkin told the Con-
gressmen.
Both Mason for the AFL and
Barllin for the CIO emphasized the
economists contention that a 75c
minimum would have only a tiny
effect on industrial production
costs.
"a piecemeal job" in the area of
maintaining fair labor standards
ais not only ineffective, but it is
unfair to carve out exemptions to
give some employers an advantage
in labor costs over Others" Levy
told the committee, urging the full
est possible coverage, and the
clearest possible line of authority
for the administrator of the law.
Exemptions should be provided
only when they are necessary to
protect a proper public interest.
Unnecessary exemptions increase
competitive inequality and aggra-
vate the use of commerce to spread
and perpetuate substandard labor
conditions and must in the long
run count against the work ability
of the legislation itself"
The labor spokesman urged ex-
tension of coverage to commercial
farm operations, using, as a stand
ard, exemption of all workers en-
ployed by farmer who uses less
than 800 man-days of hired farm
labor during each of the previous
four quarters.
Considerable time was spent in
discussing the Overtime on over
time" provision of the proposed
law. Levy cautioned that certain of
the wording IN the committee print
might inadvertently "cut down the
effect and benefit which the over
time provisions are intended to
incur" He suggested changes in
wording to avoid possible employer
action to get around the intent of
the law. He suggested separate
Legislation to deal with the long
standing practices in the longshore
industry which resulted in the
Supreme Courts overtime on
overtime" ruling.
Speaking for the AFL, Mason
also urged that the Overtime on
overtime" section of the committee
print make it clear that the-Sec-
retary OF Labor must define the
"good faith" clause in the section
to insure that INSCRIPTIONS en-
ployers don't use this to get around
the overtime rule. He also asked
for a new section to handle the
overtime which arises when holi-
day falls in the middle of the week.
"In this case" he said, eve feel
that the premium holiday pay
should be offset against overtime
compensation.
Still to be heard, during the re-
of this week, are several
dozen Witnesses ranging in opin-
ions from the Natl Association of
Manufacturers to Americans for
Democratic Action