The hourly rates established, based on a forty hour work week returned to H & N overseas employees a gross pay check that was $16.00 less than the wages being paid to employees under Los Angeles A F of L rates, Furthermore, under the terms of the employment agreement, a weekly deduction for subsistence and’ a weekly deduction to cover return travel expense of defaulting employees, reduced net "take-home" pay to the point at which recruiting of high calibre personnel became a rather serious problem, However, by establishing a basic work week of more than 40 hours and including the incentive weekly bonus, a competitive total net pay was achieved for an employee who satisfactorily completed his contract. In order to ascertain that the interests of all government agencies participating in construction projects in the Pacific Area were protected, a meeting of representatives of the Army, Navy, AEC, and H &N was held on July 15, 1949. The subject of discussion was the comparison of the provisions of the H & N wage schedule with similar provisions approved by the Joint Army-Navy Wage Board for work in the Pacific area. The results of this meeting were broadly expressed in a letter written by the Chief of the Industrial Relations Branch, AEC, (Reference PR 120) on July 26, 1949, in which it was said, "We had some discussions as to the wages to be paid, on completion of contract bonus and other arrangements, and I would say that our general conclusion was to the effect that we had offered certain advantages on the Holmes & Narver contract although on the whole the advantages proffered by each of us seemed to be counterbalanced by other advantages and disadvantages so that the net result was that our working conditions, our pay schedule, etc., were not at odds with those of Army or Navy overseas contractors." Repercussims of the difference in provisions between the H &N type of overseas employment agreement and the type used by Army and Navy contractors in the Pacific Area came to light in January of 1951. However, reference to the above noted meeting of the interested parties held in July of 1949 clarified the situation. At the time the original wage schedules were approved it was estimated that the maximum manpower requirements for overseas employment would not exceed 600. At the peak of employment in January 1951, the number of employees at the Jobsite was three times the original estimate. To meet Jobsite requirements and to properly classify employees, new job classifications had to be secured and new wage rates had to be established for all new classifications, Inequities existing in original wage rates were adjusted from time to time in order that all rates reflected the proper differential between the various classifications. All such additions, deletions, and modifications of original wage rates as approved in an original "Appendix A - Contract AT-(29-1)-507" were accomplished by the submission of Reimbursement Requests to the AEC at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and securing prior approval of all revisions, in the form of Reimbursement Authorizations, During the early part of 1950, it became apparent that existing approved wage schedules, because of unfavorable wage differentials, 8-12