Note 73 — Chapter VII · —THE STANDARD WAGE

D. A. McCabe in his book, "The Standard Rate in American Trade Unions," calls attention to two aspects of the subject that are frequently overlooked. Firstly, that "in any attempt to estimate the extent to which men receive wages above the minimum on account of superior efficiency, it is important to bear in mind that the minimum in different scales may stand in very different relation to the modal or predominant wage. The proportion of men receiving more than the union minimum is frequently large because the competitive wage has increased since the minimum was established" (page 116); and secondly, that "the extent to which differential wages are paid above the union minimum, when that rate is the rate actually paid to the men whose efficiency is about the average, varies widely in different trades.... Standardization of workmen and of work and the practice of dealing with large bodies of men as classes tend to standardize the wages paid in the railway service more than in trades calling for similar grades of skill in other industries" (page 117); so, too, "the tendency towards uniform rates for men engaged in the same kind of work is stronger in large establishments than in small establishments for the same reason" (page 117 ff.).

Prominent among the factors which tend to make standard time rates actual rates he mentions: firstly, that the variations in efficiency within the membership of a time working union are not as likely to be as wide as among the men outside the union in the same trade, because the mere insistence on a standard rate tends to exclude some men much below the standard of competency. Secondly, practically all of the skilled trades unions require candidates for membership to prove their competency or be vouched for as competent by members who have worked with them. And thirdly, because the standard rate is the center of attention in negotiations and thus is made the presumptive rate (page 114-119).