Show WHY BIG COPPERS REDUCED WAGES announcement of the amount of general reduction in wages of employees of the utah copper company was posted at the various plants in bingham arthur and garfield on the the wages of all skilled laborers will be reduced 1 per day the wages of unskilled or common laborers 85 cents per day these reductions will be effective january 1 accompanying the announcement of the new wage scale R C gemmell general manager made the follo following wint statement regarding the reasons for the companas comp anys policy the industrial situation all 0 ver over the country is in an uncertain and very ansa unsatisfactory t is condition during the past few weeks a large number of industrial plants in the east and middle west have curtailed production and some of them have discontinued this has caused a 0 operations pe rations entirely marked decrease in the c consumption P tion of copper with the result that during the month of november this company sold only 2800 pounds or a little more than one third of its production while during the first eleven days of december its sales have totaled only pounds the average price obtained for the copper sold in november was 1485 cents per pound and the price for the copper sold in december was only 14 cents per pound production cost above market for some time past the cost of production has been higher than the market price of the metal an and d because of this the company lias has been operating at a loss for a number of months however there is a large surplus of copper on hand unsold notwithstanding these facts the company has continued operations on the basis of the present high scale of wages in the hope that there might be some change for the better in the industrial situation recent developments have rendered it necessary to make another curtailment of production but I 1 hope that we can continue to operate on the present basis so that we may give employment to as large a number of men as possible since early in 1919 copper producers have been operating on less than 60 per cent capacity nevertheless production during the war years was so increased that the output of copper is still far ahead of the peace years prior to 1914 Eu european roVean nations are prohibited from buying our copper in any great amount because of the large shrinkage in their currencies europe has not bet n and will not be a purchaser of american copper until she can buy either on a cred it t or satisfactory exchange basis in the years just prior to the war the american production of copper averaged between 40 and 45 per cent of this output thus far this year the production has averaged between and pounds per month and europe took between 40 and 45 per cent of this output thus far this year the production has averaged pounds per month and europe has been able to buy only a small part of it all copper producers have recently reduced production and one of them namely the greene cananea cananda producing between and pounds of copper a year has closed down entirely on december 15 the arizona commercial company at globe ariz discontinued operations wage reduction imperative the conditions have made it necessary to reduce wages in various industries all over the country and so far as the copper industry is concerned such action is imperative at some of the mines in michigan this reduction took effect on november 15 at some soine of them in arizona on december 15 and at all of the remaining mines in arizona it will become effective on and after january 1 1921 similar reductions have been or w will ill be made at the properties in nevada new mexico and montana the producers of lead and zinc have also been compelled to curtail production and reduce wages on account of the small consumption and low prices of thee metals the price of silver is comparatively high only because the gov gova purchases it at 1 per ounce under the pittman act for the reasons above stated we have been compelled not only to curtail operations but also to reduce wages it was with great regret that I 1 announced the reduction in wages but there was wa s no other alternative we are faced with a serious industrial condition and an altered trend of affairs which bear evidence of permanency for son some ie time at least the necessities of the sa s1 situation tua tion have compelled producers to take these steps and we have felt that so far as t the lie employees are concerned it is better to operate on a curtailed basis at reduced wa wages than to suspend operations entirely |