the Youngstown district, and I can truthfully say to this committee that I knew but three of these men personally, of the eighteen I named, and one of these three was an old Amalgamated man and still carries the Amalgamated card he paid $3.25 for in 1919. As to the percentage of the men who are opposed to the plan, I can not speak with any degree of certainty, for I have made no check in this matter, but I do know that a great majority of the men in the Youngstown district have made use of the plan.

The plan has been highly successful in bringing about a closer mlationship between men and management, and I will say for the reanagement that no discrimination has been made by them against men who have affiliated with outside organizations.

I would like to read to the committee, if it will not take too much time I will make it as short as possible-the number of cases since this plan has been in effect: 285 cases have been presented by myself to the management, covering a wide variety of subjects. Two hundred and forty one have been settled in favor of the men; 29 were decided against the men; 1 case was withdrawn; 6 compromised; and 8 cases were pending on March 1, 1934.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Will the representatives of the Weirton Steel Co. come forward as I call their names? J. Madden? C. W. Conn? Carl Means? George Ferguson? R. Congleton? C. Stillwell? Who is to be the spokesman of this group?

Mr. CONN. Mr. Madden and myself.

The CHAIRMAN. Your name is Conn?

Mr. CONN. Right.

The CHAIRMAN. You desire to speak first?

Mr. CONN. Right.

STATEMENT OF C. W. CONN

The CHAIRMAN. Your full name?

Mr. CONN. C. William Conn.

The CHAIRMAN. Where do you reside?

Mr. CONN. Steubenville, Ohio.

The CHAIRMAN. Where are you employed?

Mr. CONN. At the Weirton Steel Co., open-hearth department, Weirton, W.Va.

The CHAIRMAN. And your occupation?

Mr. CONN. I am a first helper in the open hearth.

The CHAIRMAN. How many employees in the plant where you work? Mr. CONN. In the open-hearth department itself there are approximately 650 outside of the office employees, and those in a supervisory capacity. In the steel works itself there are something like 2,800. The CHAIRMAN. Were you elected a representative of the employees?

Mr. CONN. I was.

The CHAIRMAN. In what election?

Mr. CONN. Last June I participated in the election and was beaten. Through the resignation of one of the representatives, due to the fact that he quit his job and went to another department to work, I became a representative. I was the next highest man and automatically went on there some time in August, about the 15th of August.

The CHAIRMAN. Had elections been held prior to last June? Mr. CONN. No. I might say that one time, about 5 years ago, an election for the relief association was held, and I was elected and served 1 year as a representative from the open-hearth department on that work. We have always had those elections for the last 8 or 9 years.

Senator DAVIS. What is your salary? You are a first helper, did you say?

Mr. CONN. Yes; I am paid straight tonnage, no hourly rate, except on such as what we call our gas turns, when the furnace goes down for minor repairs for a day, or a burnout, or something like that. Then they give us what is called a gas turn-approximately $6.50, or something like that, at the present time-but the rest of it is straight tonnage, we are paid so much for that ton, and with this increase I will make approximately $14 a day, 5 days a week.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed with your testimony.

Mr. CONN. Starting in the mills in 1921, I have since worked in a half dozen steel mills over the country. I'm a first helper in the open-hearth department, operating or as we say "running a furnace" which makes an average of 10,000 tons of steel ingots a month. I have made more money and am continuing to make more money under better conditions at Weirton than I made or could make in any other mill in the country, doing the same class of work. Ever since I have been at Weirton we have always been free to go to the foreman or superintendent at any time with whatever complaint or grievances we might have.

Senator DAVIS. What were the names of the other works where you were employed?

Mr. CONN. I started out in the mill at Peoria, Ill., the Keystone Steel, where they have three 125-ton furnaces. Then I worked at Indiana Harbor. I worked there a while and then went to Gary. Senator DAVIS. Youngstown Sheet at Indiana Harbor?

Mr. CONN. No; the Inland Steel.

Senator DAVIS. The other one, at Gary, was the United States Steel?

Mr. CONN. United States Steel, and the South Works of the Illinois Steel Co., also.

Then I went back home, as I call it, to Peoria. From there I went to Pittsburgh Steel Co. at Monessen, Pa.

Senator DAVIS. And you say that the wages you receive are more for your work at Weirton than you made at any of the other places? Mr. CONN. Yes.

Senator DAVIS. That is as first helper?

Mr. CONN. Yes. I have been there 7 years. The most I had ever made in the other plants was $12.50 a day, and the most I ever made in 1 year was around $3,000.

I went to Weirton in January 1927, and we were making at that time approximately $15 a day, or $15.50, and through the enlargement of the furnace, and so forth, we stepped that up to $16, $17, and $18, and for one half month for which we were paid I received over $19 a day for 8 hours work, making, in that month, $580.

Senator DAVIS. Did you have a larger tonnage at Weirton than in any of the other plants?

Mr. CONN. Right. For 3 consecutive years when I first went to Weirton I made over $5,000, 1 year making $5,600 and some odd. Senator DAVIS. You may proceed.

Mr. CONN. Ever since I have been at Weirton we have always been free to go to the foreman or superintendent at any time with whatever complaint or grievance we might have. These men who have been through the mill know what it is, and are always ready to listen to a just complaint. Last June, after the passage of the National Recovery Act, we banded together, organizing mill committees, and held an election to elect representatives from each department. Since that time we have handled hundreds of cases dealing with most every thing that affects men's lives in the mill or out of the mill. Such a broad field of accomplishments is absolutely impossible under the national union plan. They confine themselves entirely to wages, working conditions, and hours of employment. One gathers the impression that the worry of the organizers and officials of the Amalgamated is entirely one of the closed shop. Every strike or struggle you read about in the papers, they harp on the closed shop and forget the individual needs of the men.

We believe that the Wagner bill as proposed is diabolically opposed to the spirit and intent of section 7 (a) of the National Recovery Act, enacted by Congress last June. We are very grateful to our President, Mr. Roosevelt, and to our Congress for having passed this law which gives us the right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining. We do not believe it was the President's intention nor the intention of the Congress to force us to join any organization against our will. If this Wagner bill is passed it nullifies this freedom of action granted us under section 7 (a) of the National Recovery Act. It would force us to affiliate ourselves with the American Federation of Labor, in whose tactics we do not believe. The purpose of a union should be to better wages, hours, and working conditions under which men labor. These things have all been accomplished by our local representative plan and I am going to recite to you a few of our accomplishments.

Starting last June up to January 1 our work was conducted along lines something like this: We would either go to the foreman or superintendent with grievances in person or write a letter regarding the complaint. These cases handled during the last 6 months of 1933 are recorded in the minutes of the various divisional committees. In looking over these minutes it is found that there were 152 committee meetings held and a total of 505 cases were handled. Of these 505 cases, 296 dealt with wages, 58.6 percent; 27 dealt with safety, 5.3 percent; 182 dealt with working conditions, which included sanitation, medical service, housing, recreation, and public relations, 36 percent. Of these 505 cases, 298 were settled in favor of the employees, 59 percent; 32 were compromised, 6.3 percent; 32 were withdrawn by employees, 6.3 percent; 98 were pending as of December 31, 1933, 19 percent. Most of these pending cases related to the West Virginia attachment law.

After 6 months of operating under our plan of employees' representation, we developed a system of records and follow-up on each case as it is brought up by a representative. This system was put into operation the first of this year and the records show that from January 1 to March 20, 258 cases have been handled. Of these, 127, or less than half, dealt with wages, piece work, or tonnage rates;

36 dealt with employment and working conditions; 23 with safety; 18 with economy and waste prevention; 25 with health and sanitation; 7 with relief and workmen's compensation; 2 with housing and living conditions; 7 with education and publication; 6 with athletics and recreation; 7 with public relations.

In our plan, if the departmental committee fails to arrive at a settlement of any question, it can be referred to the general committee on appeals, which sits as a final court and whose decision is sent direct to the president of the company.

Senator DAVIS. Just a minute. company?

Mr. CONN. Mr. John Williams.

Who is the president of that

Senator DAVIS. Did you ever have occasion to take a complaint to him?

Mr. CONN. Right. Prior to the first of the year we were up there on different cases probably three times, and since the first of the year we have had three cases coming from the appeals committee to Mr. Williams, and often we have gone to him-some of the stuff is covered in here to get machinery to do work grading baseball fields, and stuff like that.

Seven cases to date have come before this committee, which is composed of employees only.

Four cases have been referred back to divisional committees for additional information and three to the president requesting favorable action.

Of the three cases sent to the president, one was a question of a railroad conductor's seniority rights. Our men want to work under the same rules as apply to trunk lines and the approval of this case made this possible.

The second case was from the tin-plate department asking for 10 percent extra to be paid to the men who break down long packs of sheets to be sheared into sheets of one cut. This case was approved and by so doing the company is now paying for this class of work, a thing not done in any other tin mill in the country, either under the Amalgamated Association scale or nonunion.

The third case was sent back to the appeals committee with additional information which caused the committee to reverse its opinion.

Senator DAVIS. How long is the pack of sheets?

Mr. MADDEN. We break them down in the tin mill regardless of the length or the width of them, break them down so they are sheared flat, and we demanded that the company pay us 10 percent extra for that labor.

Mr. CONN. The question was that the men were doing it during the rest period, and not being compensated for it, whereas, in the other mills, where they have a smaller staff, you get a rest period, but these men were working right straight on.

Mr. MADDEN. The situation is that when you get a break-down where the catcher cannot pull it himself, these men go over there and take care of it.

In the report covering cases handled from January 1 to March 20, it shows seven cases dealing with public relations. One of these items covered the fight being made by the representatives on the attachment racket in West Virginia. While this appears as a single item on this

report, this covers hundreds of cases where representatives went with the men out to the justice of peace court and secured a release of wages from attachment.

Last July this battle was started by taking a collection among the men in the steel works department. We employed an attorney from Wheeling upon the recommendation of Congressman Bob Ramsey of our district. This fight has been successful in that wages are no longer being attached without justification, but the fight is not ended yet.

Formerly any merchant, regardless of the length of time the money was owed, would attach the men's wages and add the burden of the cost of the justice of the peace and the constable fees to the bill.

For example, I have seen a great number of bills amounting to $3 to $5 or $10 to which were added $6 or $8 court costs, so that a man paid two or three times what he actually owned.

This might be the end of a long-standing debt on which the men made regular payments, but the merchant would become impatient and attach without any justification.

This vicious practice is broken but we have now taken steps to ask the representative from our district to the West Virginia State Legislature to push legislation which would give a man exemption from attachment in cases of small earnings. The State of Ohio, just across the river, allows the creditor to attach only 20 percent of a married man's earnings above $60 a month and 20 percent of a single man's earnings above $30 a month.

We believe this would be fair and are asking to have legislation of this kind passed in West Virginia.

Under the heading of "Athletics and recreation", we have started ball teams and are going forward with plans to start a trap-shooting club.

When Mr. D. M. Weir died, a fund of $25,000 was left by him for an erection of a suitable memorial to his mother in the city of Weirton. This fund bas lain in trust and probably would have continued to do so had the representatives not got behind the thing and working with the Kiwanis Club convinced the trustees of this fund that the money should be spent now and as a result a park and swimming pool are now under construction.

When the news broke just a few months ago that a new fabricating mill was to be erected on the present athletic field of the local high school, the representatives immediately started action to get a new recreation field for the high-school athletics.

The company is furnishing the equipment and a new field is now being graded and will be in shape for use by the baseball team this spring. Had no one pushed this action, it is quite possible that the new mill would have been erected this summer and the football team next fall would have been without a field to use.

When the steel code was written it provided for the country to be divided into 81 steel districts, and that men be paid the prevailing rate of the district for this class of work.

This term is very ambiguous but Mr. E. T. Weir has interpreted it for our company as being the highest rate paid for that class of work in the district. With this in mind we visited other mills and have obtained access to the rates and working conditions of the other mills of our district and have in some few cases been able to obtain wage