represented an increasingly serious handicap in the procurement of qualified men for employment at the Jobsite. Wage rates, as recognized by
the Los Angeles Building and Construction Trades Council, had been revised upwards several times since the establishment of H & N schedules

for this Project.

On August 4, 1950, a request was made (Letter HN-5408)

for an immediate review of wage schedules to bring them into line with
the rates existing in the Los Angeles area. During the next two months,
a number of conferences were held to discuss the possible solution but
no definite decision was reached, However, on November 14, 1950, revised wage schedules were presented to the AEC for consideration and by
letter (SD 6453) received on December 18, 1950, notification of their
approval was received, On January 22, 1951, a Reimbursement Authorization was received reflecting approval of the revised wage schedules and
setting the effective date of the revision as January 29,

1951,

The revised wage schedules provided in the main an hourly rate in-

creased by $.48 per hour for manual employees and a reduction in the ~

contract completion bonus from $25.00 to $10.00 per week, As an incentive for manual employees to renew their contracts, an additional bonus
of $10.00 per week was provided for completion of renewal agreements,
Basic considerations of the economies to be realized by such action
prompted the provision for the payment of a contract renewal bonus,
These economies were inherent in the fact that a personal security clearance had been obtained for the employee, the employee had proved his
ability to adjust himself to Jobsite living conditions, and the employee
had also proved himself qualified for the work that he was doing, With
respect to nonmanual overseas employees, the revised wage schedules provided for time and one-half overtime for specified categories, and increased the maximum limit of salary ranges in other catagories.

This

revision was necessary in order to maintain a proper pay differential
between manual employees and supervisory personnel, who did not receive
overtime premium pay, In order to place the new wage schedules in

effect, revised employment agreements embodying the new wage provisions

were prepared,

A minimum work week of 48 hours for overseas employees was approved
at the inception’ of the Project and was incorporated into overseas en-

ployment agreements.

By October of 1949, it was apparent that substan-

tial economies could be realized by the authorization of a 54 hour week
at the Jobsite, and approval was granted on October 24, 1949. The
economies were achieved in the obviating of the substantial expense involved in the recruiting, security clearance, movement overseas, and
support of employees at the Jobsite.
In order to minimize the capital
investment in facilities and the number of employees necessary for housing and feeding operations, it was necessary to minimize the total number
of employees at the Jobsite, Furthermore, certain operations, such as
power generation, water distillation, boat pool, and mess hall operations, could only be carried out on schedules which involved a considerable amount of overtime if the total number of employees at the Jobsite
was to remain a minimum,

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