Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-06-26

:. or in concert through union rules
York and Washington. a dista nee
Of 221 miles. may make the Journey
in a little over four hours. but get
a little more than two days pay
for 1t.
Special Laws
! Some of the railroad working
rules are intended to be punitive
In effect: that is. it Is not contem-
plated that the money will be paid
generally. but that the roads will
adopt procedures that will avoid
the necessity for payment. This
is true, for instance. Of rules which
require that crew in road service
must be paid for an additional day
II it performs any yard or switch
ing service. The intent is to divide
the work and assure employment
of crews in switching service. but
the effect often Is to require the
payment of an extra full days Lay
for a few minutes of work. Plus
the payment to a switching crew
for work not performed.
| Some railroad feather-bedding
practices have been written INTO
statutes. Many States have full
crew laws" which specify how
many crew members must be- en-
ployed for trains Of various lengths
and some States have by law
limited the length of trains.
The argument is made in justi-
fication of such laws that they
promote safety. That Is a factor
which Legislatures should consider
but 1t is true also that the effect
of such laws is often to spread the
work and require the employment
Of unnecessary men.
The deceptiveness OF productiv-
ity figures as an index Of worke,
efficiency is nowhere better H.
Illustrated than In the data for rail-
roads. Many of their most ef-
ficient workers were in uniform
during the war. but the maximum
use of equipment made necessary
by the demands of wartime trans
portation caused the productivity
index figure to jump so per cent
from 1899 to 1914. With the post
war decline in freight and pas
senger traffic there was a cor
responding decline in productivity
so that the 1947 index figure
showed an increase of but IS per
cent, compared with 1889.
Some Comparisons
In the last session Of Congress
a Joint Senate House Committee
on Housing which studied causes
Of the housing shortage, devoted
one section of its report to testi-
mony 1t had heard about declining
productivity Of labor in the build
ing industry.
"A so per cent reduction in ef-
ficiency. which is the situation
that exists today with brick ma
sons and some others, contributes
to increased costs Of construction
in the same degree as 100 per
cent increase In the wage scale.
the report said. -s.>t ~ 1
Cited in the report were such
instances as these. taken from the
| testimony: . r-~ s. o.
Construction Of . house re-
quired 1000, man-hours. COM
pared with 1900 to l,400 before
the war.
Production Of 900 feet Of hard
wood flooring required 80 man
hours, compared with a In 1885.
Tile settlers handled 100 to 125
square feet day before the war;
10 square feet q day after the
war.
Plumbers took seven days to
''rough-in" the standard four fix
lures In an average house although
the work could be done in three
and-a-half days.
Carpenters hung five and six
doors a day. instead Of the prewar
dozen.
Senator Mccarthy of Wisconsin
vice chairman Of the committee,
In q personal report, said 1t was
clear that decreased productivity
in the building trades would ap-
pear to be no greater than in any
other line Of work" He concluded
that people simply are not work
ing as hard or as long hours as
they did in the war period"
Exaggeration Claimed
In testimony before the COM
mittee Richard L. Gray. president
Of the AFL Building Trades De-
partment, took cognizance of re-
ports of feather bedding in the
industry. agreeing that it was some
times practiced, but arguing that
reports were often exaggerated.
Mr.. Gray undertook to refute
certain charges repeated against
the building trades unions. One
was that the unions refused to
permit the use of spray guns
instead Of brushes in house paint
ing. He said the International
Brotherhood of Painters had
studied the question and developed
a program which would permit use
Of these guns when they met safety
standards and when spray machine
operators were granted rest periods
and shorter hours.
The Bricklayers' Union. MFR. Gray
said. had not and could not make
any rule limiting the performance
of its members on the job. THE
number of brick that could be laid
by a competent man in one day
was conditioned by many factors
he added, including the degree oil
his skill, the supply Of materials
and the type Of construction
whether straight and solid, or with
turns, openings and corners.
Mr.. Gray was talking primarily
about international unions and