-223- EXhIBIT "G11" Prepared by A. LMITTEEiTIALJ former CODE DIRECTOR September 1935 The principal problems confronting the ladies' handbag industry be- fore the code, were competition based on unequal labor standards, and com- petition b-sed uoon unfair trade practices. The labor problems were the. result of the migration of the industry from the metropolitan area of'New York to cities located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Penn- sylvania. This migration began in the year 1929, and continued increasing- ly up to and during the period of the NRA. Up until the year 1929, more than 85% of the industry was locate! with- in the metropolitan area of Noe%7 York. The industry located in New York has been in contractual relations with the Union for about twenty years. In the year 1928, the first manufacturer moved away from the unionized center of metropolitan New York, and began manufacturing in Allentown, Pennsylvania, inder non-union conditions.. At this time, the Union minimum wages fixed by agreement with the manufacturers in New York were $45.00 a week for skilled workers. Admission of workers to the killed branches was controlled by the Union, so that in ome of these branches of the industry workers earned on a piece work basis from $100.00 to $200.00 in a 44 hour week. Those manu- facturers who moved from New York were unable to obtain skilled workers in their respective localities. They were compelled to employ workers without ay previous experience in the industry. Machinery heretofore little used in the industry, was invented to take the pice of many of the operations performed by skilled workers in the New York factories. Workers in these new localities were paid $6.00 or $7.00 a week, and they worked from 48 to 54 hours a week. With -.his tremendous difference in labor costs, those manufacturing outside of New York, were able to give greater values or sell for less, with the result that the manufacturers operating in New York under Union conditions were forced to meet this competition by sacrificing their profits. fe success of the few w-ho moved away, offered the incentive for others to follow. In the yep.r 1933, only about 50% of the industry still remained in the metropolitan area of New York. Those who moved or opened new factories located in the eastern states, a few in the Chicago area, and a few small units were scattered throughout the country, chiefly on the Pacific Coast. The Union was unable to establish" Union conditions in these factories outside of New York. The facotries remaining in New York, were chiefly those making the high grade handbags which required the most skillful workers. At the time the code was being drafted, the industry was about equally i divided between those manufacturers having contractual relations with the I Union located in New York, and those without Union conditions, all of whom were located outside of New York. Factories in New York were paying first class workers (by Union agreement) $35.75 a week, and second class workers $32.00 a week; general help about $18.00 a week for a 44 hour week. Factor- ies outside of New York were paying their best workers about $20.00 to. $22.0r a. Week, and general help from $6.00 to $8.90 a week, for a 48 to 54 hour wee . Bitter struggle resulted because of the efforts bf the Unionized factories to establish in the code a classification' of the workers according to their