The Status of Labor in Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii

111 Pages·2015·8.32 MB·English

The Status of
Labor in—
P u e rto
Alaska
Hawaii
Reprint from the Monthly Labor Review
Bulletin No. 1191
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
James P. Mitchell, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Ewan Clague,
Commissioner
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The Status of
Labor in—
PUERTO RICO
ALASKA
HAWAII
R e p rin t fro m th e M o n th ly L a b o r R eview
D ecem ber 1955
Bulletin No. 1191
January 1956
U N IT E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F L A B O R
Secretary
Jam es P . M itc h e ll,
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Commissioner
Ewan Clague,
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Contents
Page
A prefatory note_______________________________________________________________________________________________ vi
Contributors to the special section_____________________________________________________________________________ vm
Puerto Rico
The labor force and level of living_____________________________________________________________________________ 1
Population and labor force______________________ 1
Industrial development____________________________________________________________________________________ 3
Improvement in economic well-being______________________________________________________________________ 5
Tables:
1. Industrial distribution of employed persons in Puerto Rico, April 1940, 1950, and 1954_____________ 3
2. Employment and unemployment in Puerto Rico, April 1950 to October 1954_______________________ 4
Charts:
1. Relationship between net migration from Puerto Rico to United States, and mainland unemployment,
1945-55_________________________________________________________________________________________ 5
2. Distribution of w^,ge earner’s family income, Puerto Rico, 1941 and 1953___________________________ 6
Migration to the mainland_____________________________________________________________________________________ &
Farm labor migration_____________________________________________________________________________________ 8
City migrants_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 9
Dispersion of the migrants________________________________________________________________________________ 10
The Commonwealth migration program___________________________________________________________________ 10
Labor unions and labor relations_______________________________________________________________________________ 13
Union organization and membership_______________________________________________________________________ 13
Union structure and collective agreements_________________________________________________________________ 14
Arbitration and conciliation_______________________________________________________________________________ 15
Labor disputes____________________________________________________________________________________________ 15
Future course_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 16
Labor laws and their enforcement______________________________________________________________________________ 17
Minimum wages__________________________________________________________________________________________ 17
Hours of work____________________________________________________________________________________________ 17
Workmen’s compensation_________________________________________________________________________________ 18
Vacations, sick leave, and severance pay___________________________________________________________________ 18
Collective bargaining______________________________________________________________________________________ 19
Employment of women and children_______________________________________________________________________ 19
Other labor laws_______________________________________________________________________ 20
Enforcement of labor legislation___________________________________________________________________________ 20
Wage structure and minimum wages___________________________________________________________________________ 22
Wages by industry________________________________________________________________________________________ 22
Occupational wages_______________________________________________________________________________________ 25
Minimum wage legislation_________________________________________________________________________________ 25
Tables:
1. Number and average daily wages of wage and salary workers in agricultural industries, Puerto Rico,
1945-46 and 1953-54____________________________________________________________________________ 23
2. Number and average gross hourly earnings of production workers in manufacturing industries, Puerto
Rico, April 1946 and April 1955__________________________________________________________________ 23
3. Minimum wage rates in Puerto Rico under the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended_____________ 24
4. Minimum wage rates in Puerto Rico under the Commonwealth Minimum Wage Act_______________ 25
5. Number and straight-time average hourly wage rates of workers in selected nonprocessing occupations
in manufacturing industries, by major industry groups, Puerto Rico, October 1953________________ 26
Alaska
The economy and the labor force______________________________________________________________________________ 29
Physical characteristics___________________________________________________________________________________ 29
Economic characteristics__________________________________________________________________________________ 29
Population________________________________________________________________________________________________ 31
Labor force and employment______________________________________________________________________________ 33
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IV
Alaska—Continued
Tables: Page
1. Relative differences in costs of goods, rents, and services in selected Alaskan cities and Seattle______ 30
2. Federal obligations in Alaska, fiscal years 1948-54__________________________________________________ 31
3. Alaska’s income from production and other activities, by region____________________________________ 32
4. Alaskan civilian population________________________________________________________________________ 34
5. Distribution of Alaska’s population, by military status, race, and place of residence, by regions, 1950. 34
6. Average number of workers and wages in covered employment in Alaska, 1940-54__________________ 36
7. Seasonal variation in covered employment in Alaska, selected years_________________________________ 36
Charts:
1. Alaska’s population, total and military, monthly average, 1940-54__________________________________ 33
2. Percentage distribution of average monthly employment in Alaska, by industry division, 1940, 1943,
and 1954________________________________________________________________________________________ 35
The U. S. Government as an employer_________________________________________________________________________ 37
Classified and wage-board employees______________________________________________________________________ 37
Employee attitudes_______________________________________________________________________________________ 37
Territorial pay inequalities________________________________________________________________________________ 38
Working rules_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 39
Problems of recruiting____________________________________________________________________________________ 40
Table:
Paid civilian employees in executive branch of Federal Government in Alaska, by agency, compen­
sation authority, and residence, June 30, 1954_______________________________________________________ 38
Wages and working conditions_________________________________________________________________________________ 42
History of wage developments_____________________________________________________________________________ 42
Industry wage levels______________________________________________________________________________________ 43
Underlying factors________________________________________________________________________________________ 43
Typical wage scales_______________________________________________________________________________________ 44
Alaska-stateside wage differentials_________________________________________________________________________ 46
Hours of work____________________________________________________________________________________________ 46
Workinging conditions____________________________________________________________________________________ 47
Tables:
1. Average weekly earnings in employment covered by the Employment Security Act of Alaska, selected
industries, 1940 and 1954________________________________________________________________________ 43
2. Wage and salary scales for selected occupations, by industry category, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and
Ketchikan, May 1955___________________________________________________________________________ 45
Labor law and its administration_______________________________________________________________________________ 49
Equal rights and child labor_______________________________________________________________________________ 49
Wages and hours__________________________________________________________________________________________ 50
Worker security___________________________________________________________________________________________ 50
Territorial employees______________________________________________________________________________________ 52
Development of Alaska Department of Labor______________________________________________________________ 52
Federal labor laws________________________________________________________________________________________ 53
The character of industrial relations____________________________________________________________________________ 55
Private industry__________________________________________________________________________________________ 55
Federal Government______________________________________________________________________________________ 57
The Taft-Hartley Act_____________________________________________________________________________________ 58
Territorial problems_______________________________________________________________________________________ 59
Hawaii
Economic forces and growth prospects--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63
Determining factors in the economy___________________________________________ 63
Underlying instabilities____________________________________________________________________________________ 67
Postwar growth___________________________________________________________________________________________ 67
Possibilities for long-range growth-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68
Absorption of the growing labor force______________________________________________________________________ 68
Summary of underlying trends-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68
Charts:
1. How Hawaii earns a living, sources of income, 1954_______________________________________________ 64
2. Long-term trends in Hawaii’s economy_____________________________________________________________ 65
3. Civilian and military payrolls and Armed Forces expenditures, Hawaii, 1939-54____________________ 66
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V
Hawaii—Continued Page
Characteristics of the labor force_______________________________________________________________________________ 70
Age and sex composition__________________________________________________________________________________ 70
Racial composition________________________________________________________________________________________ 71
Labor-force participation rates____________________________________________________________________________ 71
Employment-unemployment trends________________________________________________________________________ 71
Seasonal factors___________________________________________________________________________________________ 72
Occupational and industrial distribution___________________________________________________________________ 73
Tables:
1. Population and labor force, and labor-force distribution by sex, Territory of Hawaii, percent changes,
1910-50_________________________________________________________________________________________ 70
2. Percentage distribution of the labor force, by age and sex, Territory of Hawaii, 1940 and 1950_______ 70
3. Racial composition of the population and labor force, and labor-force participation rates, by race,
Territory of Hawaii, 1940 and 1950______________________________________________________________ 71
4. Percentage distribution of the population by labor-force status and sex, Territory of Hawaii and the
United States, 1920-50__________________________________________________________________________ 71
5. Civilian labor force: Average number of persons employed and unemployed, Territory of Hawaii,
1945-54_________________________________________________________________________________________ 72
6. Occupational distribution of the employed labor force, Territory of Hawaii, 1940 and 1950__________ 72
7. Industrial distribution of the employed labor force, Territory of Hawaii, 1940 and 1950______________ 74
8. Government employment, total and Federal, as a percent of total employed civilian labor force, United
States and Territory of Hawaii, 1948-54_________________________________________________________ 74
Chart: Total employment, and civilian private and Federal Government employment, Hawaii, 1939-54____ 73
Working conditions and workers’ wages________________________________________________________________________ 76
Sugar industry____________________________________________________________________________________________ 76
Pineapple industry________________________________________________________________________________________ 79
Building and construction_________________________________________________________________________________ 79
Longshore industry_______________________________________________________________________________________ 79
Clerical workers___________________________________________________________________________________________ 80
Summary_________________________________________________________________________________________________ 80
Tables:
1. Hourly job rates established under Davis-Bacon Act and by General Contractors Association and
median rates for all industries, Territory of Hawaii_________________________________________________ 79
2. Salaries of selected clerical jobs in the Territory of Hawaii, 1954____________________________________ 80
Chart: Average annual earnings per full-time civilian employee, by major industry group or division, Hawaii,
1939 and 1954__________________________________________________________________________________________ 77
Labor legislation and enforcement_____________________________________________________________________________ 81
Wage and hour law_______________________________________________________________________________________ 81
Child labor law___________________________________________________________________________________________ 82
Wage claim law___________________________________________________________________________________________ 83
Commercial employment agency law______________________________________________________________________ 83
Emigrant Agent Act______________________________________________________________________________________ 83
Public Works Act_________________________________________________________________________________________ 84
Workmen’s Compensation Act____________________________________________________________________________ 84
Labor relations: pattern and outlook__________________________________________________________________________ 85
Development of the labor movement______________________________________________________________________ 85
Labor relations in the sugar industry______________________________________________________________________ 87
Trade union membership__________________________________________________________________________________ 88
NLRB representation proceedings_________________________________________________________________________ 89
Other indicators of union growth__________________________________________________________________________ 89
Issues affecting industrial stability_________________________________________________________________________ 90
Outlook for labor-management relations___________________________________________________________________ 92
Tables:
1. Number of National Labor Relations Board representation elections held, and number in which
unions were certified, Hawaii, 1938-54___________________________________________________________ 89
2. Results of representation elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board in Hawaii,
1948-54_________________________________________________________________________________________ 89
3. Number of contracts in force and strike activity, Hawaii, 1940-54__________________________________ 89
Chart: Trade union membership in Hawaii, 1935-53_______________________________________________________ 88
Bibliography on labor conditions, labor problems, labor economics______________________________________________ 94
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Labor in Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii
• • •
O f the many reasons for producing this special issue of the Monthly-
Labor Review on the status of labor in Puerto Rico, Alaska, and
Hawaii, the most compelling is that no other compilation of this type
exists. Indeed, as the bibliography of related material so pains­
takingly unearthed by the Department of the Interior Library
reveals, very little has been published in the way of comprehensive
studies of labor in any one of the three areas embraced by the
present inquiry.
But beyond this obvious justification is the interesting and
challenging example, to a world beset with colonial problems,
of the manner in which the United States has handled (not always
without error) the progressive growth toward self-government of
these three. That the United States has avoided colonialism is
due, perhaps in some small measure, to our national origin in revolt
against colonial status. One stem test of this national policy is
the well-being of workers in the Territories and the chances for
improving their lot. The 15 articles are designed to present facts
from which the reader can judge the present situation as well as
the prospects for working people.
The general pattern followed for each (one is pressed for a single
expressive term applicable to all three, bearing in mind that Puerto
Rico has Commonwealth status) is a discussion of the economy,
labor force, and level of living; the existence and enforcement of
labor law; the wage structure and working conditions; and the man­
ner in which industrial relations are practiced.
While each of the three has its distinguishing characteristics
(after all, their geographic relationship is a triangle with legs up­
wards of 6,000 miles long), there are some which they hold in common.
All were acquired by the United States late in the 19th century.
All enjoy a large degree of self-government and share common
United States citizenship. Each was economically primitive at the
time of acquisition, with a native population and a very sizable
percentage of nonarable land. Lacking basic raw materials, none
is self-sustaining. The policies and expenditures of the United
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A Prefatory Note
States Government have had decisive effects on their economies.
With an impartiality fine enough to satisfy their most enthusiastic
advocates, we can proclaim them all to be vacation delights.
Despite fast air travel, they remain remote and isolated from the
States. Puerto Rico and Hawaii are islands. Alaska and Hawaii
are sparsely populated. Since independence was granted the
Philippines, they are our largest territories.
Similarity in terms of labor, however, does not extend beyond
the practice of free trade unionism and collective bargaining. The
island Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an overpopulated nation
striving to create an industrial expansion, to raise living standards,
to improve its work-force skills, and at the same time to protect its
workers from exploitation. The Territory of Alaska is an Arctic
and sub-Arctic region, underpopulated and underdeveloped. Much
of its industrial enterprise is absentee owned and its stable unionism
operated from the States. Government workers constitute a large
fraction of the work force. Wages and prices are high, and there is
considerable seasonal importation of workers, especially in the con­
struction field. The tropical Hawaiian Islands have moved rapidly
from the primitive to the modern. Their cosmopolitan work force is
concentrated in a highly specialized agriculture. National defense
expenditures, tourist trade, and transportation activity are a boon to
Territorial income. Unemployment, in fact, tends to vary with
fluctuations in local Federal expenditures. Industrial relations have
not matured and considerable strife has accompanied collective
bargaining.
Our aims and our means, however, preclude our being encyclo­
pedic, even within the confines of the labor field. And one of the
revealing facts of this compedium is the paucity of facts concerning
many items relating to the economics of labor. Some data, as
routine and familiar in the States as the daily mail delivery, simply
do not exist in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico. The authors, chosen
for their knowledge and integrity, have drawn on what is available,
but at times they have had to improvise or to do without.—L R. K.
TO
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Contributors to the Special Section
All the authors of the articles in the special section of the Monthly Labor
Review on Labor in Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii are either working on
the scene as experts or have been closely associated with one of the areas in a
professional capacity. Our sincere thanks go to them for their faithful and
fruitful efforts. What they have written represents their own views on the
many problems discussed, and not necessarily those of the Bureau or the
Department of Labor.
Special acknowledgment is due the Office of Territories of the Department
of the Interior, and especially to Edwin M. Fitch of that Office, for cooperation
and good counsel in planning and reviewing much of the material.
Ewan Clague, Commissioner of Labor Statistics
H. L. Clark is Supervisor of Reports and Analysis, Alaska Employment Security Com­
mission
Leonard E. Evans is Territorial Representative of the U. S. Department of Labor in Alaska
Edwin M. Fitch is Special Representative of the General Manager, The Alaska Railroad
Joseph T. Flakne is Program Director of the Arctic Institute, Washington, D. C.
JoaquIn Gallart-MendIa is Director, Bureau of Legal Affairs, Puerto Rico Department
of Labor
Thomas H. Ige is Associate Professor of Economics, University of Hawaii
A. J. Jaffe is Director, Manpower and Population Program, Bureau of Applied Social
Research, Columbia University, and Consultant on Manpower, Puerto Rico Depart­
ment of Labor
Ruth W. Loomis is Deputy Attorney-General, Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial
Relations
Margarete McBride is with the U. S. Department of the Interior Library
Edwin C. Pendleton is Associate Professor of Economics, University of Hawaii
Harold S. Roberts is Dean of the College of Business Administration and Director of the
Industrial Relations Center, University of Hawaii
George W. Rogers is the Economist in the Office of the Governor of Alaska
Clarence Senior is Chief, Migration Division, Puerto Rico Department of Labor
James H. Shoemaker is Vice President and Research Director, Bank of Hawaii
Fernando Sierra-BerdecIa is Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Labor
Robert Sroat, until his death in December, 1955, was Administrator, Bureau of Labor Law
Enforcement, Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
Samuel Weiss, at time of his death in July 1955, was president, Samuel Weiss Research
Associates, and Consultant on Statistics, Puerto Rico Department of Labor
Frank Zorrilla is Chairman, Puerto Rico Minimum Wage Board
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