Show Pay Increase by Subterfuge IT TT LOOKS very much as if a little subterfuge subterfuge fuge is being used in the case of the coal miners to get around official edicts against wage increases In excess of the Little Steel formula A flat wage increase has been frowned on onby onby onby by the war labor board but on the ground of correcting an injustice which we will concede might have merit the board has as opened the door to some sort of an agreement agreement agree agree- ment went between the operators and the union on to portal pay The argument in favor of such an adjustment is that the men should be paid for all the time they are arc in inthe inthe inthe the mine and not just for the time they are actually working at the face There might be le e some justice for that claim but but if there is it is solely on the ground that the men who put in the time in the mine should be paid for that time However a preliminary preliminary pre pre- agreement worked out between one group of Pennsylvania operators and the union exposes the whole deal as merely a wage increase and not an adjustment to compensate compensate compensate com com- men for the actual time they spend on the job Under the agreement each miner would I not be paid so much an hour for the time he spent in the mine In the first place individual individual individual indi indi- vidual differences in travel time would not be taken into consideration The compensation compensation tion for travel time from the portal to the face would be figured at a flat for each miner even though one miner might spend only 30 minutes a day in travel whereas another another another an an- other might spend two hours Furthermore and and this is the most significant factor the factor the a day increase for the men who actually work in the mines would be split up among ALL workers whether they ever enter the mines or not Ou Outside side would get a apay apay apay pay increase just like the men who work in inthe inthe inthe the mines That plainly makes the deal simply simply simply sim sim- ply a wage increase rather than an adjustment adjustment adjustment adjust adjust- ment of a supposedly inequitable condition Maybe all the miners whether they work inside the mines or not deserve a pay increase increase ini in in- in- in i crease maybe they dont That's not the point But whatever is done should be done honestly and fairly rather than by talking one moment about no wage increase and then the next moment granting a wage increase under a fake adjustment of to portal-to-portal pay pay- I. I The government and the war labor board should not try to kid the public public and and other workers who think they are entitled to wage boosts in excess of the Little Steel formula in in such a manner Were We're really not that dumb |