Show Profiteering on Defense Work TN N WAR TIMES there is always a lot of talk 1 about profiteering by business We had a good deal of it in the last war We have heard rumors of it in this one although stringent excess profits taxes and Intensive government effort to hold down such profiteering on the nations nation's defense program seem to be having a wholesome effect in restricting this evil tice There is however another kind of profiteer profiteer- not ing-not ng not on such a big scale its it's true but in ints its ts way just as evil and unpatriotic as the pyramiding of huge profits from war by busi- busi ness less This type of profiteering was called to public attention the other day in an official report on the progress of the national defense program It was charged that because of a shortage of skilled workmen contractors on various defense jobs were being forced to pay excessive wages to workmen in order to keep them on the job Heres Here's the way the racket is worked The hourly wages are fixed by agreement and the wage hour law limits the work week to 40 hours However working agreements call for a five-day five week with no work on Saturdays and Sundays I If these particular workmen are worked on those two days lays they must be paid under their agreement double time So what the skilled workmen do doIs dois dos Is s force the contractor to work them them Saturdays Saturdays Saturdays Satur Satur- days and Sundays at the double time rate and then hen they take Mondays and Tuesdays of off thus hus keeping within the five-day five hour 40 week That way the men are paid seven days' days wages for five days' days work an increase of 40 per cent And listen It isn't the contractors who foot the bill out of their pockets because most of these defense jobs are contracted on a cost plus fixed basis The government and that means the people has to pay for this type of profiteering on national defense just like ike they pay the bill for all kinds of profiteering profiteer profiteer- ing in a time of national emergency |