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nearly 75 percent of the drivers had scales of at least $1.50 and a similar proportion of the helpers were covered by contracts stipulating $1.25 or

more.

City and Regional Rate Differentials

In addition to city and regional differentials that exist for motortruck drivers and helpers, there are wide variations in wage scales among the various classifications of commodities hauled as well as in sizes and types of trucks operated within individual cities. Sound intercity comparisons, or Nation-wide combinations of rates based on commodities handled, industry, and/or size and type of truck, are not possible because of the variations in classifications and terminology used among the cities.

Table 2 illustrates the variations and relationship that exist between the rates of union drivers and helpers in six important cities in different sections of the Nation.

TABLE 2.-Intracity and intercity differentials in union hourly wage rates of local motortruck drivers and helpers in 6 typical cities, July 1, 1950

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On July 1, 1950, average union scales for drivers varied from 99 cents an hour in Charlotte, N. C., to $1.84 in Oakland, Calif. The average scale exceeded $1.50 in 22 cities and ranged from $1.25 to $1.50 in 36; levels of less than $1.10 existed in 5 cities.

Union scales for helpers averaged highest in Oakland, Calif. ($1.71), and lowest in Jacksonville, Fla. ($0.73). In four additional West Coast cities-Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Spokane-scale levels also exceeded $1.50 an hour. In nine other southern cities, helpers' scales averaged below $1.00.

When the cities were grouped according to size, average rates for drivers were highest in the group

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The regions used in this study are:

New England-Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.

Middle Atlantic-New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania.

Border States-Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia.

Southeast-Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee.

Great Lakes-Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin.
Middle West-Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota.

Southwest-Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas.
Mountain-Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah,
Wyoming.
Pacific California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington.

Standard Workweek

The standard workweek for motortruck drivers and their helpers averaged 42.0 hours on July 1, 1950, compared with 42.2 hours on July 1, 1949.

A definite trend from the 48-hour to the 40-hour straight-time workweek is evident from the 8percent reduction in the average work schedule since 1939. On July 1, 1945, 48 hours was the typical workweek for two-fifths of all drivers and helpers while only three-tenths had a 40-hour week. However, on July 1, 1950, seven-tenths had a straight-time workweek of 40 hours and a fifth were covered by contracts which stipulated workweeks of 48 hours or more.

-JAMES P. CORKERY Division of Wage Statistics

1 Mimeographed listings of union scales by type of truck and commodity hauled are now available for any of the 77 cities included in the survey. Detailed information will be given in a forthcoming bulletin.

• Information in this report is based on union scales in effect on July 1, 1950, covering over 250,000 drivers and 40,000 helpers in the local trucking industry in 77 cities ranging in population from 40,000 to over 1,000,000. Over-the-road drivers and local city drivers paid on a mileage or commission

Building Trades:

Union Scales, July 1, 1950

HOURLY WAGE SCALES of union building-trades workers advanced 4.4 percent in the 12 months ending July 1, 1950, to reach a new peak, as construction activity continued at record levels.' On July 1, 1950, union scales averaged $2.29 an hour for all building-trades workers, $2.45 for journeymen, and $1.65 for helpers and laborers.2 The wage scales of 70 percent of the union construction workers were raised by contract negotiations effective during the year, as compared to about 55 percent in the preceding 12 months. Straight-time weekly hours showed practically no change during the year, averaging 39.3 for all building trades. The most common straighttime work schedule was still a 5-day, 40-hour workweek, and affected about seven of every eight union building-trades workers.

Trend of Union Wage Scales

The index of hourly scales rose 77.8 percent between June 1, 1939, and July 1, 1950; journeymen advanced 73.2 percent while helpers and laborers moved upward 110.8 percent (table 1).3 The Bureau's consumers' price index, during the same period, showed an increase of 75 percent. Average scales for journeymen, who constituted four-fifths of the workers studied, advanced slightly less than consumers' prices, while helpers and laborers had increases substantially exceeding the rise in prices.

Four-fifths of the rise since June 1939 occurred after July 1945. Since then minimum union scales of construction trades workers advanced 53 percent. This was substantially less than the

basis were excluded from the study. Data were obtained primarily by mail questionnaire and from regional representatives of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (AFL); in some cities data were obtained from local union officials by Bureau representatives.

Union scales are defined as the minimum wage rates, or maximum schedule of hours (before payment of premium overtime) agreed upon through collective bargaining by employers and trade-unions. Rates in excess of the negotiated minimum, which may be paid for special qualifications or other reasons, are not included.

Average scales, designed to show current levels, are based on all union rates reported for the current year; individual rates are weighted by number of union members working at the rate. These averages are not measures for yearly comparisons, because of annual changes in union membership and in classifications studied.

63 percent increase for a somewhat similar period following World War I (May 15, 1918, to May 15, 1923).

The extent of wage adjustments since VJ-day is reflected by a comparison of wage scales in effect on July 1, 1945, and July 1, 1950. On the earlier date over half of the union journeymen were employed at scales ranging from $1.50 to $1.80 an hour, but fewer than 2 percent had scales falling

TABLE 1.-Indexes of union scales of hourly wages and weekly hours in the building trades, selected years 1907-50

[June 1, 1939-100]

114.5

and 9 cents for helpers and laborers. The advance amounted to 4.4 percent for all construction workers, 4.2 percent for journeymen and 5.5 percent for helpers and laborers.

Seventy percent of the union journeymen and 75 percent of the helpers and laborers in building construction had their wage scale increased by contract negotiations. Three-fifths of the journeymen received increases ranging from 5 to 15 cents an hour and one-seventh received 25- to 30-cent increases. Of the helpers and laborers receiving increases between July 1, 1949, and July 1, 1950, about three-fourths had adjustments ranging from 5 to 15 cents and a fifth from 20 to 25 cents an hour.

Wage developments during the year covered by the survey undoubtedly were related to the generally prosperous condition of the industry. Building construction activities rose to record levels in 1950 and during the first 8 months of the year expenditures for new construction were about 20 percent greater than in a corresponding period of 1949. The Bureau's index of wholesale prices in building materials in July 1950 was about 77 percent above July 1945, and nearly 10 percent higher than July 1949.

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1920: May 15.

70.0

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113.9 108.1 105. 2 100.0

Trend of Union Hourly Wage Scales in Building Trades

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1 Before overtime rate was effective.

within this range 5 years later. On July 1, 1945, about 6 percent of all journeymen were working under agreements with negotiated scales of $2 or more an hour; 5 years later all but 6 percent of the journeymen had scales of at least $2, with a majority of them being covered by contracts stipulating hourly scales ranging from $2.20 to $2.60. At the close of World War II, over 40 percent of the helpers and laborers had wage scales of less than $1 an hour, and only two-tenths of 1 percent had scales as high as $1.50 an hour. In July 1950, less than 4 percent had negotiated scales under $1 and over 70 percent had an hourly scale of at least $1.50; for a sixth of the helpers and laborers, the contract scale was $2 or more an hour.

During the year ending July 1, 1950, union scales advanced 10 cents an hour on the average for all building-trade workers, 10 cents for journeymen

Hourly Wage Scales, July 1, 1950

Wage scales in building construction are designed, at least in part, to offset irregularity of employment and to compensate for other conditions that are not encountered by factory workers

of comparable skill. The hourly wage scales of construction-trades workers are generally higher than those in other industries.

Scales for journeymen averaged $2.45 an hour on July 1, 1950, and ranged from $2.23 an hour for paperhangers to $2.84 for stonemasons. Other trades which averaged over $2.70 an hour included lathers ($2.78), plasterers ($2.80) and bricklayers ($2.83).

Helpers' and laborers' scales averaged $1.65 and varied from $1.35 for composition roofers' helpers to $1.97 for terrazzo workers' helpers. Except for building laborers, who averaged $1.55 an hour, all other classifications had hourly scales averaging $1.72 or more.

City and Regional Variations

Since scale negotiations in the building construction industry are generally conducted locally, wage scales have always varied from city to city except where union jurisdiction covers broad geographic areas or several adjacent towns. The general level of wages in a locality and the extent of unionization also influence variations in scales. A rise in construction activity in an area, with a resultant demand for skilled workmen, may also be a contributing factor in scale advances.

Scales for individual journeymen crafts varied widely among the 77 cities covered in the survey. Carpenters, for example, ranged from $1.65 an hour in Portland, Maine, and Charlotte, N. C., to $3 in New York City on July 1, 1950.

Within cities, union scales for the 24 journeymen trades showed considerable variation. The differential and range of union scales of journeymen trades within typical cities is illustrated in the following tabulation.

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cities they ranged from 13 percent in Boston to 62% in Atlanta.

Wage scales of organized journeymen in the construction trades averaged at least $2 in all except six, of the survey cities and ranged from $1.80 in Portland, Maine, to $2.96 in New York City. Newark and New York were the only cities in which helpers and laborers averaged in excess of $2 an hour. There the respective averages were $2.19 and $2.13.

Except for a few cities, there was no consistent relationship between the scale levels of journeymen and helpers and laborers. Pittsburgh, for example, had the highest average scale for journeymen in the 500,000 to 1,000,000 population size group, but was sixth for helpers and laborers. Cleveland ranked first for helpers and laborers but third for journeymen.

When the cities included in the survey are grouped according to population, it is obvious that the average hourly wage scales are typically higher in the larger metropolitan centers, and that the average scale ranked in descending order according to the city-size grouping. Highest average scales for both journeymen and helpers and laborers were in the largest sized group of cities and lowest in the smallest. The difference between the average scales of journeymen and of helpers and laborers in each city size closely approximates the over-all national 80-cent differential. Average hourly scales of journeymen and helpers and laborers by population group are as follows:

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Dallas

New York...........

San Francisco_____

For the nine helper and laborer classifications the differences between the high and low scales were narrower than those for journeymen in each of the above cities except Chicago and San Francisco. In the latter cities differences were 33 and 68 percent, respectively, and in the other four

On a regional basis, average union hourly wage scales for all building-trades workers on July 1, 1950, ranged from $1.87 in the Southeast to $2.58 in the Middle Atlantic States. Only two regions -Middle Atlantic and Great Lakes-had levels exceeding the national average of $2.29. Thirty of the seventy-seven cities studied were in these two regions.

Levels of union scales for all journeymen trades combined ranged from $2.08 in the Southeast to $2.80 in the Middle Atlantic. Except for lathers and paperhangers, the average scale for each of

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1 The regions used in this study include: New England-Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Middle Atlantic-New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; Border StatesDelaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia; Southeast-Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee; Great Lakes-Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin; Middle West-Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; Southwest-Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas; Mountain-Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming; Pacific-California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

Regional levels of all helper and laborer classifications combined were as high as $1.87 in the Middle Atlantic and as low as $1.01 in the Southeast. In five of the nine helper and laborer classifications studied in the Middle Atlantic region, the level exceeded $2 an hour. Plasterers' laborers and bricklayers' tenders in the Pacific region also had levels above $2. Building laborers and composition roofers' helpers in the Southeast, with average scales of 97 and 92 cents, respectively, were the only classifications below $1 an hour.

Standard Workweek

Changes in straight-time weekly hours between July 1, 1949, and July 1, 1950, increased the average straight-time workweek in the building trades to 39.3 hours and raised the index a tenth of 1 percent to 100.3. Only three journeymen craftslathers, plasterers, and plumbers-were affected by revisions in work schedules. Probably because of the amount of work available for these crafts in a few areas the number of hours at straight time increased from 30 to 35 or 40 per week to more than offset the decreases from 40 to 35 hours a week.

About seven of every eight building construction workers had a 40-hour standard workweek on July 1, 1950. A 35-hour work schedule prevailed for about a fifth of the bricklayers, lathers, painters, and plumbers, and for over a third of the

bricklayers' tenders. Whereas only 1 percent of the construction workers had a straight-time workweek of 30 hours, about a fifth of the plasterers and plasterers' laborers were on this schedule.

-JOHN F. LACISKEY

Division of Wage Statistics

1 Information was based on scales in effect on July 1, 1950, and covered 660,000 journeymen and 165,000 helpers and laborers in 77 cities ranging in population from 40,000 to over 1 million. Data were obtained primarily from local union officials by mail questionnaire; in some cities local union officials were visited by Bureau representatives for the desired information. Mimeographed listings of union scales by trade are available for any of the 77 cities included in the survey. A forthcoming Bureau bulletin will contain detailed information on the industry.

Union scales are defined as the minimum wage rates or maximum schedules of hours agreed upon through collective bargaining between trade-unions and employers. Rates in excess of the negotiated minimum which may be paid. for special qualifications or other reasons are not included.

Average scales, designed to show current levels, are based on all scales reported for the current year in the cities covered, individual scales are weighted by the number of union members reported at the rate. These averages are not measures for yearly comparisons because of annual changes in union membership and in classifications studied.

In the index series, designed for trend purposes, year-to-year changes in union scales are based on comparable quotations for each trade in consecutive years weighted by the number of union members reported at each quotation in the current year.

♦ Bureau of Labor Statistics' series on expenditures for new construction

Standards Advocated by

Labor Legislation Conference

ATTENTION OF THE Seventeenth National Conference on Labor Legislation was focused on development of the Nation's human resources for peace and against aggression. The conference, which met November 29-December 31, 1950, in Washington, D. C., was attended by delegates from 40 States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Secretary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin, termed the conference a "forum, where State labor officials and labor leaders come together to exchange experiences, discuss problems of labor law, and seek common ground on improved labor standards."

President Truman in his message to the conference asserted that its ingenuity and experience could help guide the Nation in "those policies and practices which will speedily gear our productive machine to maximum efficiency."

The Executive Director of the Office of Defense Manpower in the U. S. Department of Labor, Mr.

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