Vol. CII.







AND





B UILDERS







NEW YORK, NOVEMEBKR 29, 1918





No. 22





Will Renew Labor Wage Scale at Existing Rates

Building Trades Employers' Association Takes Action to Stabilize
Labor Market so Construction Work Mav Proceed





SUFFICIENT time has not elapsed since the armis-
tice was signed for the re-establishment of work-
ing conditions in the building industry. So many
factors enter into the question of a resumption of build-
ing, now that all restrictions have been removed, thát
no contracts covering construction work have actually
been placed in the Metropolitan District. Many pro-
jects are in shape to be pushed as soon as the labor and
material markets have been stabilized. No great changes
are expected in the immediate future in the prices of
building materials. There is a tendency to a stiffening
of prices in some hnes and a softening of the market in
others, but generally speaking few changes have been
noticed up to the present time.

In labor circles there are several interesting features
in the situation. One of the principle ones is the action
of the Building Trades Employers' Association in order-
ing its members to adhere strictly to the rates of wages
now being paid to labor employed in the building trades.
This move was made for the purpose of bringing about
as soon as possible stability in the labor market without
which the industry would fail to recover from the de-
])ressing conditions of the last year and a half. Unless
ihe contractors can íĩgure on no upsets in wage scales
building projects wiU be put aside until such time as
labor adjusts itself to present day instead of war time
conditions.

With this principle at issue members of the Building
Trades Employers' Association will reuew all trade
■•.greements, especiahy at the end of 1918, for a period
iiot exceeding one year, and trade associations have
agreed not to pay wages in excess of those now being
paid in any new agreement made for 1919.

The agreements, which expire at the end of 1918, and
which may be renewed at the same scale. are as follows:

Schedule of Per Diem Rates of Wages: Carpenters,
$5.50, and in shops $5 (in all boroughs) ; composition
roofers and waterproofers, $4.25 (January 1, 1919,
$4.75); concrete workers, laborers, 3.60 (January 1,
1919, $4); elevator constructors, $5.52; elevator con-
structors' helpers, $3.52; house shorers, $4.50; painters,
$5.50; plasterers, $6.50; plasterers' laborers, $4.50;
stone cutters, $6;  woodworkers, $22 per week.

-'Xgreements which continue in force after the end of
this year, together with the agreements which provide
for increases over the present scale, are as follows:

Schedule of Per Diem Rates of Wages: Asbestos
workers, $5.50; asbestos workers' helpers, $4; brick-
layers, $7; bricklayers' lalíorers, $4; cemeiit masons,
$5.60; dock t)uilders, $5; electricians, $6; electricians'
helpers, $3 ;_ engineers, $6.50; housesmiths (structural),
$7; houseEiniths,- finishers, $.640; marble cutters and
setters, $6; marble carvers, $6.50; mable polishers, bed-
rubbers and sawyers, $5.30; marble workers' helpers, $4;





metalhc hithers, $6; mosaic workers, $5.50; mosaic
workers' helpers, $4; plumbers, $6; slate and tile roof-
ers, $6.40 (Jan. 1, 1919, $6.50); steamfitters, $6; steam-
fitters' helpers, $3.40 ($4 when working eight hours or
less) ; roofers and sheet metal workers, $5.60 (July 1,
1919, $5.80) ; stone setters, $7; tile layers, $6; tile layers'
helpers, $3.65.

There is now generally speaking a sufficient supply of
labor to meet all demands. The shortage of labor ex-
ists only in those trades that are employed on interior
work and on the completion of structures. This short-
age will no doubt cease to exist long before a structure
immediately commenced reaches the condition as to
completion which necessitates the employment of those
trades.

One of the curious features of the labor situation is
that shortage, when it exists, is found in trades that it
has been thought suffered most from war conditions.
Carpenters can be secured without any difficulty. It
was supposed that members of the carpenters trades
had been drafted into shipbuilding, and that when build-
ing was resumed there would be difîĩculty in getting
sufficient men. On the other hand, mârble and stone
workers are hard to find, although they have not been
in demand for government work. Those who are inter-
ested in the question of the causes of this state of af-
fairs have not as yet succeeded in satisfactorily analyz-
ing the reasons for the inequality which exists in the
supply of labor in different trades.

Carpenters, steamfitters, cement workers, plumbers
and electrical workers on government contracts struck
for higher pay, and their demands were refused by the
government. At the present time these jobs are about
two-thirds normal, the men having drifted back to that
extent when their demands were turned down.

The carpenters on the Pennsylvania and Common-
wealth Hotels jobs are on strike for an increase of from
$5.50 to $6.50 per day, in violation of their agreement
at the former figure which does not expire until Dec.
31, 1918.

These are sonie of the reasons why building has not
yet started up and may be indications of a period of re-
stricted construction work until matters are adjusted
so that builders know where they stand.

All the building trades are looking forward to times
of greater activity and prosperity than have ever been
experienced in the past history of the country. The
scope of the anticipated movement cannot rightly be
estimated at this time as new demands for additional
buildings are manifesting themselves daily and new
lines opening for progress in both industrial and civil
needs. The demand for materials and labor for building
purposes will be tremendous and spread over a wide
stretch of the country.