Evening star., 1949-01-23
Minimum Wage Roise
PeriIed by Pressure
Union Demand for Taft Hartley Repeal
Seen Leading to Bitter Fight
n ID III.
By Gerard d. Reilly

Dp OeTNU IL. NeWy
If the resolution of the Chamber of Com
merce on the proposed modification of the Fair
Labor Standards CWage-Hour) Act is typical
of the views of industry generally, President
Truman's recommendation for raising the ma
tional minimum wage standard from 40 cents
to IS cents should have clear sailing in the new
Congress. The directors of the chamber stated
that they were not opposed to lifting the wage
floor provided it was done by statute and not
by administrative determination. The major
labor organizations have taken similar posi-
ton.
Bills embodying the minimum wage change
have already been drafted and introduced IN
both houses Senator Ebert D. Thomas, the
chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, has
informed his colleagues that he feels that this
legislation should have priority over all other
labor bills.
The other night in a debate with Senator
Howard McGrath radio audience was told by
Senator Robert A. Taft that the wage-hour
legislation would probably not precipitate an
issue between the parties. The Republican
leader said that last year he was inclined to
think change from 40 cents to IS cents was
too drastic but that as result of the last round
OF wage increases In authorized industries ne
no longer regarded the 75-cent figure as out
of line
While many sincere economists look upon
such change in the basic law-an increase OF
85 per cent over the current minimum-as
further infationary factor in dangerously
swollen economy it must be remembered that
since 1899 there has been corresponding in.
crease in the level of prices.
Moreover, since 1941 the year in which,
under automatic steps provided for in the act,
the statutory minimum became 40 cents, the
average hourly rate in the manufacturing,
mining and transportation industries has more
than doubled. Consequently only relatively
small number of employers who have plants
in the substandard wage areas would be af-
fected by any modification of the statutory
minimum.
The prospect of bipartisan support for the
new wage-hour bill shows how the climate Of
public opinion has changed in the last II years.
When the wagehour bill was considered by
the heavily Democratic 18th Congress it barely
squeaked through the Senate, was blocked by
the House Rules Committee, and was finally
brought to the floor on petition. But when
its provisions were debated ajority of the
House voted to recommit the measure. 1t was
not until the next year that the administra-
tion was able to muster sufficient votes in the
House to put it across. Now, apparently. lead
ers both sides of Congress accept the act
as one Of the sound accomplishments of the
New Deal.
The chief obstacle therefore, to the granting
of the protection to substandard workers which
the new bill envisages is not the opposition
of business leaders but the selfish attitude Of
certain union officials. Despite Senator
Thomas desire to give the wage-hour bill the
right of way, many unions are pressuring the
Senate Labor Committee to sidetrack 1t in favor
of the proposed Taft-Hartley repeater.
Adoption Of this program would inevitably
produce the bitterest kind of fight, both in
committee and on the floor. 1t would divide
the Democratic Party in such a way that the
current Truman era of good feeling would be
destroyed thereby jeopardzing the social re-
forms designed to confer real benefits on wage
earners-increased minimum wages, housing
and the extension Of the Social Security Act.
Spokesman of organized labor are, of COURSE
aware that their interference with the legisa-
tive calendar may produce this effect That
they should persist in 1t is further evidence Of
the real conflict OF interest between professional
union business agents and the welfare of the
rank and file they profess to represent for 1t is
yet to be demonstrated that the Taft-Hartley
Act has inflicted any hardship on the men who
do the actual work in mines and factories
In addition to the revision of the minimum
wage there is also widespread sentiment in
Congress for Qualification of the term regular
rate" the term now used in the act to describe
the rate on which overtime after 40 hours
should be computed. Recent decisions of the
courts have indicated that the regular rate"
not only encompasses straight time but also
bonuses and premium time for SATURDAYS.
Sundays and holidays. AS result many en-
ployers who have conformed to the provisions
OF collective bargaining agreements have been
faced with unexpected liabilities. Recent bar
gaining conferences have been shadowed by
attempts to adjust long established practices
to these new interpretations Of the law.
A bill drafted by the Labor Department and
released yesterday as committee print"
would cure this situation by amending the act
so as to define regular rate" 1t excludes from
this definition gifts, Christmas bonuses, pay
ments for vacation, sick leave, travelling ex-
penses, contributions to pension and accident
plans and extra compensation paid at not less
than time and one-half for work on Satur-
days. Sundays and hours outside the regular
shift.
Unfortunately the bill does not confine itself
to this reform and the 75-cent floor but con-
templates a number of other amendments
which may be prollrc OF controversy. 1t trans
fers the enforcement of the act from the ad-
ministrator of the Wage-Hour Division to the
Secretary of Labor-a proposal which will al
ways be deemed questionable as long as union
officials hold office as Assistant Secretaries Of
Labor.
The bill also broadens the coverage Of the
act by suggesting the vague term activity af-
fecting commerce" and authorizes the Secre-
tary of Labor to establish by special order wage
rates which are higher than rs cents in par
ticular industries. These provisions as well as
the elimination of the exemptions applying to
motor carriers covered by the Transportation
Act and for the processing of agricultural and
dairy products are certain to encounter op-