v/ 
 
 Registry No. 1741—9—07 
 
 NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION 
 
 PROPOSED CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 WATER SUPPLY INDUSTRY 
 
 AS SUBMITTED ON AUGUST 31, 1933 
 
 The Code for the Water Supply Industry 
 
 in its present form merely reflects the proposal of the above-mentioned 
 
 industry, and none of the provisions contained therein are 
 
 to be regarded as having received the approval of 
 
 the National Recovery Administration 
 
 as applying to this industry 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 WASHINGTON : 1933 
 
 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. ..--..-- Price 5 cents 
 
Submitted by 
 
 WATER SUPPLY UTILITIES, INC. 
 
 (n) 
 
CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION FOR THE WATER SUPPLY 
 INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 The Institute of Water Supply Utilities, Inc., which represents 
 public utilities providing water-supply service to more than sixty-five 
 percent of the population served by private water supply companies 
 in the United States, submits, in accordance with the declaration of 
 policy contained in Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act 
 and the President's appeal to the Nation for agreements on broad 
 principles by means of voluntary codes, the following provisions As a 
 code of fair competition for all persons engaged in said industry. 
 
 Section I — Purpose 
 
 The purpose of this code is to apply generally to the water-supply 
 industry the principles of the National Recovery Act, namely, to 
 encourage industrial recovery, to reduce and relieve unemployment, 
 and to improve the standards of labor. 
 
 To the end that the water-supply industry may do its part in the 
 national economic recovery and carry out the purposes set forth, it is 
 necessary that this code reflect some of the fundamental natural 
 differences between this industry and production and distribution 
 industries. These are as follows: 
 
 1. Water-supply properties are noncompetitive public utilities 
 engaged in the continuous service of furnishing a vital necessity of 
 life under constant and vigilant supervision and regulation by State 
 and local authorities; 
 
 2. Such supervision and regulation affect not only rates for 
 service but also operating expenses and conditions of service, and 
 impose the highest possible standards as to quality and continuity 
 of supply; 
 
 3. The adoption of this code by the water-supply industry imposes 
 a substantial burden of increased operating expenses, and this 
 burden cannot be passed on to the consumer, as is permitted in the 
 case of a manufacturing or merchandising industry, except by 
 application to the regulatory bodies where permission to increase 
 rates would be preceded by long and expensive hearings; 
 
 4. Throughout the period of depression the industry has furnished 
 service to thousands of customers who have been and still are unable 
 to pay their water bills, and since water is a vital necessity of life the 
 companies have felt obligated to carry these accounts and furnish 
 this service without compensation. 
 
 5. Wage rates of water-supply industry labor have been reduced 
 less than in most other industries, having been decreased an average 
 of approximately 10 percent from peak levels of 1929-30. Employment 
 in the industry is constant, free from seasonal fluctuation, and in a 
 great many cases employees spend their entire working lives for the 
 same waterworks employers. 
 
 9462—33 (1) 
 
Section II — Definitions 
 
 The term "water-supply industry" as used herein includes collect- 
 ing, storing, purifying, pumping, transmitting, and distributing of 
 water for domestic, commercial, industrial, and municipal purposes. 
 
 The term "employees" as used herein means all persons employed 
 in the conduct of such operations. 
 
 The term "employers" as used herein means all persons, partner- 
 ships, associations, and corporations in the water-supply industry by 
 whom such employees are employed. 
 
 It is understood that this definition does not include the supplying 
 of water by municipal or other governmental agencies. 
 
 The term "effective date" as used herein means the 10th day after 
 this code shall have been approved by the President of the United 
 States. 
 
 Section III- — ^Labor Provisions 
 
 As required by Section 7 (a) of Title I of the National Industrial 
 Recovery Act, the following provisions are incorporated in this agree- 
 ment: 
 
 (1) That employees shall have the right to organize and bargain 
 collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall 
 be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of 
 labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or 
 in self -organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of 
 collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; 
 
 (2) That no emploj'ee and no one seeking employment shall be 
 required as a condition of employment to join any company union 
 or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization 
 of his own choosing; and 
 
 (3) That employers shall comply with the maximum hours of labor, 
 minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment approved 
 or prescribed by the President. 
 
 Mindful of its responsibility to the consuming public in maintain- 
 ing continuous and adequate service, the Water Supply Industry, by 
 recognizing the right of its employees to organize and bargain col- 
 lectively, does not grant to them or admit that they have the right 
 to undertake any action which would interfere with the continuity of 
 water-supply service. 
 
 Section IV — Child Labor 
 
 After August 31, 1933, no person under sixteen years of age shall 
 be employed, except that persons between fourteen and sixteen years 
 of age may be employed for not to exceed three hours a day, and 
 those hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., in such work as will not inter- 
 fere with hours of day school. 
 
 Section ¥• — ^Hours of Labor 
 
 L No employee shall be permitted to work for two or more em- 
 ployers for longer period of any week than specified herein for a 
 single employer. 
 
 2. Exceptions to the standards in respect to maximum hours of 
 labor specified herein are authorized as follows: 
 
(a) Executive, administrative, or supervisory employees receivings 
 $35.00 per week or more. 
 
 (b) Janitors, watchmen, caretakers, watershed patrolmen, store- 
 keepers, and worker pension employees, and temporary employment 
 in case of emergency. 
 
 (c) Employees in small stations where the service does not require 
 more than two operators on duty at any one time, which stations are 
 not part of a waterworks plant having larger stations. 
 
 (d) Employees in plants employing not more than two persons in 
 towns of less than 2,500 population, which towns are not part of a 
 larger trade area. 
 
 3. Subject to the foregoing exceptions, a maximum employment in 
 the waterworks industry shall be as follows: 
 
 (a) For all employees, except those referred to in the next sub- 
 division hereof, not more than forty hours in any one week, except 
 where, because of exigencies, it may be necessary to work such 
 employees more than forty hours per week; but the weekly hours for 
 each employee for any six-weeks period shall not exceed an average of 
 forty hours per week. 
 
 (b) For employees connected with operation of pump stations and 
 purification plants, inspectors, maintenance men, and on-and-off 
 men, whose duties must be continuously performed in order to render 
 a safe and continuous service to the public, not in excess of forty- 
 eight hours per week. Because of exigencies it may be necessary to 
 work such employees more than forty-eight hours per week on occa- 
 sion, but the weekly hours for each employee for any 6-week period 
 shall not exceed an average of forty-eight hours per week. 
 
 Section VI — Minimum Wages 
 
 On and after the effective date and to and until the expiration 
 date, minimum wages to be paid to any employee who on July 1, 
 1933, was paid on a weekly or monthly basis, shall be at the rate of 
 not less than — ■ 
 
 (a) Fifteen dollars ($15.00) per week in any city of over 500,000 
 population or in the immediate trade area of such city; 
 
 (b) Fourteen dollars and fifty cents ($14.50) per week in any city 
 of between 250,000 and 500,000 population or in the immediate trade 
 area of such city; 
 
 (c) Fourteen dollars ($14.00) per week in any city of between 5,000 
 and 250,000 population or in the immediate trade area of such city; 
 
 (d) In towns of less than 2,500 population employers shall increase 
 all wages by not less than 20 percent, provided that this shall not 
 require wages in excess of $12.00 per week. 
 
 The minimum wages herein provided may be at the rate of $1.00 
 per week less in the southern section of the country. The southern 
 section of the country is defined as including the following States: 
 Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, District of Columbia, Tennessee, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas. 
 
 On and after the effective date and to and until the expiration 
 date, the minimum wages to be paid to any employee who on July 1, 
 1933, was employed on an hourly basis shall be at the rate of not less 
 than forty cents per hour, unless the hourly rate for the same class of 
 
work on July 15, 1929 was less than, forty cents per hour, in which 
 latter case the rate of pay shall not be less than the July 15, 1929, 
 hourly rate of pay, and in any event, shall not be less than thirty 
 cents per hour. The minimum wages above provided for shall not 
 be applicable in the states in the southern section of the country 
 above enumerated. The minimum wages in such states shall not be 
 less than forty cents per hour, unless the prevailing hourly rate for 
 the same class of employees on July 15, 1929, as determined by the 
 Administrator on statistical evidence, was less than forty cents per 
 hour, in wliich case the rate shall not be less than said prevailing 
 hourly rate thus determined plus fifteen percent if said hourly rate 
 on July 15, 1929, was less than thirty cents per hour, provided, how- 
 ever, that for wages per hour between twenty cents and twenty-nine 
 cents, inclusive, on July 15, 1929, with wages of less than twenty 
 cents per hour on that date being considered as twenty cents, the 
 percentage of increase shall diminish one and one half percent for 
 each cent that wages per hour exceeded twenty cents, in accordance 
 with the following schedule: 
 
 Wages per 
 
 hour, July 
 
 15, 1929 
 
 (cents) 
 
 Increase 
 under 
 proposed 
 schedule 
 (percent) 
 
 Wages per 
 
 hour under 
 
 proposed 
 
 schedule 
 
 (cents) 
 
 2Q 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 
 15 
 
 im 
 
 12 
 
 lOJ^ 
 9 
 
 7J^ 
 
 6 
 
 4J^ 
 
 3 
 
 iVi 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 24.5 
 
 24.5 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 27.5 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 29.0 
 
 30 
 
 Learners may be paid not less than eighty percent of the minimum 
 wage rates above provided, but the total number of learners shall 
 not exceed five percent of the total number of employees employed 
 by any employer subject to this code. 
 
 Section VII — Substitution 
 
 Sections V and VI of this Code are in substitution for paragraphs 
 2 and 7, inclusive, of the President's reemployment agreement. 
 
 Section VIII — Administration 
 
 The Institute of Water Supph^ Utilities is hereby designated the 
 agency for administering, supervising, and promoting the performance 
 of the provisions of this code by the members of the water supply 
 industry. The Institute of Water Supply Utilities shall appoint a 
 Recovery Executive Committee to exercise such functions on behalf 
 of the Institute of Water Supply Utilities and the facilities and de- 
 partments of the Institute of Water Supply Utilities shall be available 
 to make the administration effective and efficient. 
 
 In order to keep the President of the United States and the Ad- 
 ministrator informed as to the observance or nonobservance of this 
 
code, each employer shall prepare and file with the statistical de- 
 partment of the Institute of Water Supply Utilities at such times and 
 in such manner as may be prescribed, statistics covering the number of 
 persons employed, wage rates, earnings, hours of work and such other 
 data or information as the Recovery Executive Committee ma}^ from 
 time to time require. 
 
 Section IX — Data Confidential 
 
 Except as otherwise provided in the National Recovery Act, all 
 statistical data filed in accordance with the provisions of Article VI 
 shall be confidential and shall not be revealed except for the purpose 
 of administering or enforcing the provisions of this code. 
 
 Section X — Participation in Code 
 
 Any employer may participate in this code and in any revisions 
 or additions thereto by signifying his intention and accepting the 
 proper pro rata share of the cost and responsibility of creating and ad- 
 ministering it, either by becoming a member of the Institute of Water 
 Supply Utilities or by paying to it an amount equal to the charges 
 from time to time provided to be paid by a member in like situation 
 of the Institute of Water Supply Utilities. 
 
 Section X — Presidential Power 
 
 As required by Section 10 (b) of Title I of the National Industrial 
 Recovery Act the following provision is contained in this code: 
 
 The President may from time to time cancel or modify any order, 
 approval, license, rule, or regulation issued under this title. 
 
 Section XI — Reservation 
 
 By presenting tliis code those assenting hereto are not consenting 
 to any modifications thereof and each reserves the right to object 
 individually or jointly to any modified code. 
 
 Section XII — Amendments 
 
 It is contemplated that supplementary provisions or amend- 
 ments of this code applicable to the water-supply industry may from 
 time to time be submitted on behalf of the industry for the approval 
 of the President. 
 
 Section XIII — Execution 
 
 This code may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of 
 which shall be deemed to be an original. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 
 
 5 3 1262 08585 3058 
 
 Section XIV — When and How Long Effective 
 
 The undersigned by their signatures assent to the provisions of 
 this code, and this code shall become effective ten days after the 
 approval hereto b}^ the President of the United States, and shall con- 
 tinue in force until June 16, 1935, or at such earlier date when the 
 emergency shall be declared to be ended pursuant to subdivision (c) 
 of Section 2 of the National Industrial Recovery Act. 
 
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