235] THE STANDARD RATE IO3 



Within recent years, the Association has endeavored to 

 include in the scale specified rates for all members of crews, 

 and to have them paid directly by employers. In 1905 the 

 sheet and tin agreement provided that " all regular tonnage 

 and day hands " should receive their pay envelope from the 

 office. This rule has since remained in force.^^ 



Abnormally Difficult Conditions of Production. — Finally, 

 deficient materials which make the production of iron or 

 steel abnormally difficult have demanded attention on the 

 part of the workmen because of the effect on earnings. In 

 the puddling division, coal and iron of poor quality caused 

 considerable trouble. In 1877 the puddlers in a Pittsburgh 

 forge refused to fire their furnaces with slack coal, which 

 did not produce sufficient heat and consequently increased 

 their labor. In the same year there was a strike against 

 poor ore.^^ Such grievances became so numerous that, in 

 1883, the convention adopted a resolution that iron requir- 

 ing more than an hour and three-quarters to make a heat 

 should be considered a grievance. In 1885 it was provided 

 in the scale that cracked or flawed iron made out of old 

 rails be paid for, otherwise the price for working old rails 

 should be ten per cent above that for working common pig 

 iron.** 



In the sheet and tin divisions for a long time the " turn " 

 system of working and payment was in vogue. This sys- 

 tem is a combination of piece work and a guaranteed wage. 

 The regular members of the crew were paid a fixed wage 

 per turn, except the roller who received a tonnage rate. 

 Their wages per turn and the stipulated number of " pairs " 

 to be rolled per turn were fixed in 1880 and specified in the 

 scales."^ The turn limits agreed upon for those who were 



"1 Amalgamated Journal, July 6. 1905, p. i. 



*2 Proceedings, 1877, pp. 46-47, 83. 



"3 In 187S-1879 old rails were substituted for muck bar, and the 

 pud<llers complained that the iron was " of bad quality " and would 

 not "stand the test of heating" (Proceedings, 1878, p. 131). A dif- 

 ferential of thirty cents above tlie price of heating and rolling was 

 demanded (ibid., p. 178), but could not be obtained (ibid. 1879, p. 

 224). 



"< Pittsburgh Scales of Prices, 1881, p. 15. 



