{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","title":"Time for Things Labor, Leisure, and the Rise of Mass Consumption","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9780674250529","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","id":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","uuid":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","title":"Time for Things Labor, Leisure, and the Rise of Mass Consumption","normalized_title":"timeforthingslaborleisureandtheriseofmassconsumption","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9780674250529","isbns":["9780674250529","9780674250536","9780674979512"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":355,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Time%20for%20Things%20Labor%2C%20Leisure%2C%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20Mass%20Consumption","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/search"},"page":{"printed_page":172,"pdf_page":180,"physical_index":180,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"d0df69b456a06beef6cd0eedd40251f4b744311d68667eae037753f49d420fc5"},"chapter":"FOR","content":"The diference in notions about how wages should be standardized came into particularly sharp focus in a series of industrial actions by East Coast railroad workers in support of standardized wages, which took place over the first two decades of the twentieth century. This protracted industrial struggle turned on the issue of whether and how wages should be standardized, and the public relations battle waged by the two sides took the form of a debate about the logic according to which standardization of wages should proceed.80 For the rail unions, standardized pay meant the same nominal wage for the same position, with standards set by the highest-paid worker in a category. For example, in 1909, just after the campaign for standardized wages had been launched, rail unions demanded the “standardization” of conductors’ pay on all railroads east of the Mississippi.81 Standardization of wages, for the unions, also meant uniform pay scales across geographical areas. In 1910 unions called for the ending of wage diferences across diferent regions of Pennsylvania, in the name of standardizing wages.82 The railroad companies and their sympathizers, however, had a diferent conception of the logic that should underlie the standardization of pay. For them, standardized pay meant equivalent real buying power (that is, the same real wage) for equivalent labor inputs. Since the cost of living varied considerably across diferent localities, and because the intensity of at least some kinds of railroad work depended on how busy on average things were, the railroad companies argued that wage scales ought to be flexible, to take into account the particulars of local situations.83 What the railroad workers meant by “standardized wages” was essentially uniform nominal wages for equivalent jobs (by adjusting all wages to match the highest ones in the category), whereas what their employers understood by the term was equivalent wage purchasing power for equivalent intensities of labor power. The issue of which logic should determine the standardization of pay scales of railway workers proved to be an ongoing source of contention, as employers claimed the union version would produce unsustainable increases in costs and was in any case irrational given diferences in the cost of living across the country.\n\n172\n\nTime for Things","previous_page":171,"next_page":173}