The New York Times/1916/11/22/U. S. Steel Raises Wages $28,000,000 for 260,000 Men
U. S. STEEL RAISES WAGES $28,000,000 FOR 260,000 MEN
Grants to Employees Third Rise of Year, Making Total Advance 33%.
$9 A MONTH MORE TO ALL
Action Announced by Chairman Gary Is Taken to Meet High Cost of Living.
CLERICAL FORCES TO SHARE
New Scale Effective on Dec. 15—Other Steel Concerns Likely to Follow Suit.
To meet the increased cost of living the United States Steel Corporation decided yesterday to increase the wages of its employes at steel-works and blast furnaces 10 per cent., with a proportionate advance in case of workers in the mines and transportation companies. This is the third increase made this year for a total of 33 per cent. over the wages in force Jan. 1. After the weekly meeting of the Finance Committee, Chairman E. H. Gary issued this statement:
“Ordinarily the question of wages would not come up for consideration or decision at this time of the year, but in consequence of the abnormal conditions now existing it has been decided to increase the wage rates of our iron and steel companies about 10 per cent., to take effect Dec. 15. As to other departments, increases will be equitably proportioned.
“The clerical forces in the various offices of subsidiary companies are expected to share in the upturn. All told about 200,000 men are employed by the corporation, and the average monthly wage, when the increase is in application, will be nearly 33%. The increase in dollars will approximate $9 a month, basing calculations on the official wage records of the corporation which showed the average monthly pay of the men to be close to $90 when the second advance of the year became effective on May 1. If the increase amounts to 10 per cent. in case of all the men, the corporation’s payroll will be increased by the latest advance about $28,000,000 a year.
“It is estimated that 175,000 laborers are employed at the blast furnaces and steel mills, whose average wage last January was $2 a day. After Dec. 15 they will get $2.84 a day. Figuring 300 working days to the year, the corporation will pay to the day laborers on its payroll in the neighborhood of $141,000,000 a year on the new basis, compared with $90,000,000 being distributed annually at the January rate to the 150,000 laborers then employed.
“In this table is presented the monthly record of employes and payroll for the first half of this year and the average number of employes and total payroll in the five preceding years:
| 1916. | Employes. |
Payroll. |
|---|---|---|
| January | 232,340 | $17,982,866 |
| February | 240,195 | 19,438,000 |
| March | 247,043 | 21,167,123 |
| April | 244,439 | 19,830,414 |
| May | 258,773 | 23,372,153 |
| June | 258,268 | 22,978,408 |
| ||
| Total Wages for 6 months$124,789,298 | ||
| 1915 | 191,126 | $176,800,803 |
| 1914 | 179,353 | 162,379,906 |
| 1913 | 228,906 | 207,206,176 |
| 1912 | 221,023 | 189,351,601 |
| 1911 | 196,588 | 161,419,931 |
It is expected that the Republic Iron and Steel Company, the Lackawanna, the Cambria, and other big producers of iron and steel will put the same advance into operation. They followed the lead of the Steel Corporation when the other increases were voted last January and April.
While wages have advanced 33 per cent., the prices for steel products have risen this year from 200 to 600 per cent.
In voting the two previous wage increases, the Finance Committee of the Steel Corporation considered as one factor the rising cost of living throughout the country. Presumably the same item had influence in yesterday’s action.
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 21.—The increase in wages announced by the United States Steel Corporation affects five corporations and approximately 75,000 men in the Pittsburgh district, according to officials of the Carnegie Steel Company. The corporations are the Carnegie Steel Company, the National Tube Company, the American Bridge Company, the American Sheet and Tin plate Company, and the American Steel and Wire Company. By the increase ordinary laborers will be paid a minimum wage of 27½ cents an hour. Local independent steel manufacturers indicated tonight that a similar increase in wages would be granted their employes.