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CHAPTER VII

WAGES AND HOURS, 1911-1921

WAGES of the clothing worker in Chicago at the beginning of 1911 were those of the unorganized and sweated worker. Fifteen dollars were the average earnings of the men workers and ten dollars the average earnings of the women workers for the full time week of 54 hours. These are the figures compiled by the United States Government from the payrolls of the clothing firms in 1911.

It is interesting that the first agreement of the union with Hart, Schaffner and Marx, March 13, 1911, contained as a concession to the union the following provision with regard to a minimum wage:

"No employee shall receive less than $5.00 per week and no male employee above the age of 17 shall receive less than $6.00 per week, and no male employee above the age of 18 shall receive less than $8.00 per week."

The need for a minimum wage provision of this sort is revealed in the examination of the books of the clothing manufacturers in 1911 made by the Federal Government. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 8 per cent. of all women workers received less than $5 a week and that 49 per cent. received less than $10 a week. Only one out of every seven women workers received as much as $13.50 for a 54-hour week. Among the men workers 8 per cent. received less than $8 a week and 40 per cent. $13 or less. Or in other words, these 40 per cent. were paid at the rate of less than 25 cents per hour. Of all the men workers in the tailor shops in 1911 only one in twenty (5 per cent. of the total) received as much as 40 cents an hour for his work. Among the cutters the government found that 89

out of 583 cutters then employed in the factories selected for investigation in Chicago in 1911 received less than 30 cents an hour. The full earnings of these 89 cutters for a 48-hour week was $15 a week or less. In 1911 only 4 per cent. of all the cutters in the Chicago market received as much as 60 cents an hour.

The same report of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics on wages in Chicago showed that men basters on coats in 1911 earned $13.65 on the average and women basters $10.94 a week. Bushelers and tailors averaged $14.11; cutters $19.30, although a few machine cutters were reported earning $24.60; examiners $15.36; fitters, reported as the highest paid section in the tailoring department, $17.13; men operators on coats $17.09; women operators $12.07. Pressers received on the average $14.21.

These were the average earnings when the people worked 54 hours per week. Seasonal unemployment was then, as it is still, a very serious factor. Taking into account the loss of earnings during the slack season, men workers in the Chicago clothing industry in 1911 hardly averaged more than $10 or $11 per week over the entire year. Even at the very low prices of 1910-11 these wages bought less food, clothing and shelter than was necessary to maintain even a minimum subsistence standard of living. For many workers with families it was virtually a starvation wage.

The first agreement with the union in the Chicago clothing market took some recognition of these conditions. The union succeeded in securing an increase for all of the workers. The agreement with Hart, Schaffner and Marx read as follows:

"That there shall be a uniform increase in the wages of all the employes engaged in the manufacture of clothing in the tailor shops whether by piece work or by time work of 10 per cent."

In the trimming department the minimum rate was fixed at $8 per week and an increase of 10 per cent. was also granted. In the woolen examining department the piece work rate was adjusted to give a similar 10 per cent. increase.

Cutters' wages were raised 5 per cent. The agreement also specifically provided that in all departments persons that were paid by the week shall be paid time and a half for overtime. The company voluntarily extended the application of time and a half for overtime to the piece workers at the same time. Not until 1917, six years later, did workers in certain non-union houses in the Chicago market receive pay and a half for overtime. The agreement also established the 54-hour week.

The progress of the workers in the Chicago market, as a whole, in the matter of wages was very slow in the early years of the Chicago organization. In 1912 the government again examined the payrolls and reported that average wages of all workers had risen from $12.24 in 1911 to $12.68 in 1912. The gain was 3 per cent. Men workers had fared better than the women workers. Average earnings for the men rose $1.50 a week, or 10 per cent. from 1911 to 1912, while the wages of the women workers averaged only 2 per cent. more in 1912 than they did in 1911. Already the provision in the agreement of 1911 increasing the pay of the workers in Hart, Schaffner and Marx had had its effect upon the earnings of the workers generally, particularly the men workers.

A supplemental agreement was negotiated and made ef- ¦ fective April 1, 1912. This agreement provided for the establishment of a trade board with authority to fix piece work rates. In fixing piece work rates the board was to be guided by the rule: "Changed prices must correspond to the changed work and new prices must be based upon old prices where possible." The effect of this rule was to place the making of piece work prices on a more scientific basis and to prevent possible under-cutting of the wage standard in effect by a change in specifications for work done. This rule has been in effect continuously since it was first adopted in 1912. In 1913 the first agreement with the Hart, Schaffner and Marx Company was renewed. Specifically, no increases in wages were granted. Hours of work were reduced, however, from 54 to 52 and earnings were adjusted so that the

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worker suffered no loss by the reduction in hours. In nonunion shops, making a similar change in hours, weekly earnings were reduced. This is indicated in the survey of the payrolls made in 1914 by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics which shows a falling off in the average earnings per full-time week of men workers in the clothing industry generally. The Bureau attributes the loss in earnings to the reduction in the number of hours worked.

The 1913 agreement with Hart, Schaffner and Marx, moreover, specifically provided that piece workers were to receive rate and one-half for overtime work. This had already been the practice since 1911, but it was written into the agreement for the first time in 1913. Minor changes were also made in the minimum wage provisions so that workers automatically were raised certain specified amounts after three months' service.

In July, 1914, the average wages of the worker in the coat shop and the increases over 1911 were as follows:

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The average earnings of men workers in the men's clothing industry in Chicago in 1914 were $16.49 per week, or roughly about 10 per cent. higher than in 1911. The earnings of women had, however, been increased more than had the earnings of the men during the first three years of the life of the Chicago organization. In 1911 the earnings of women for a 54-hour week were $10 on the average. In 1914, for a 52-hour week the average earnings were $13.69.

Wages were, it is true, higher in 1914 than in 1911, but they were still far below an amount necessary to permit the worker and his family a proper standard of living.

Early in 1915 a vigorous campaign of organization was begun in the shops not then operating under union agreement. The workers in Hart, Schaffner and Marx were then the only ones organized. As a result of the campaign, the workers presented demands through the union to the nonunion houses for increases in wages, betterment of working conditions and the recognition of the union. The manufacturers refused to consider the demands of the workers and a long, bitter and costly strike followed.

The strike was terminated by "shop settlements," carrying a reduction of hours in the working week. In the tailors-to-the-trade houses hours were reduced from 52 to 48. The ready-made houses followed their example in April, 1916, and reduced hours from 52 to 50. Shortly after the strike was settled one of the largest tailors-to-thetrade firms gave a 10 per cent. increase in wages to the workers. The ready-made clothing firms then followed by granting a 10 per cent. increase in the form of a "bonus." The strike thus brought almost immediately increases in wages, although the manufacturers had "won." The spirit shown by the workers during the strike had forced concessions from the employers.

At the end of the 1915 strike there was no change in the number of firms officially recognizing the Amalgamated. The Hart, Schaffner and Marx Company continued to be

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