They Plead Nolo Contendere at Chicago on Price-Fixing
---
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
---
CHICAGO, Jan. 22---Fourteen corporate and individual defendants in the glazing industry, accused of fixing prices of glass installed in and near Chicago, were fined a total of $31,003 today by Federal Judge Philip L. Sullivan. They had entered pleas of nolo contendere and placed themselves at the mercy of the court.
Fines of $4,000 were assessed against the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, the Hooker Glass & Paint Manufacturing Company, and the Tyler & Hippach Corporation. Three business agents for the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America, Glaziers Local No. 27---George Meyers, Max Glass, and Charles Pfeiffer---were fined the maximum of $5,000 each.
The local itself and the glass contractors' association were fined $1 each.
Other fines follow: Hamilton Glass Company, $1,000; Michael Shapiro, president of the Hamilton Glass Company, $1,000; Industrial Glass & Paint Company, $500; National Glass Corporation, $500; Torstenson Glass Company, $1,000, and Elmer Torstenson, president of the Torstenson company, $1.
The indictment charged that the companies, with others in the contractors' association, agreed to use a common price schedule. The union "policed" the agreement, the indictment charged, by refusing to supply union labor to any contractor violating the price agreement.
In January 1941, 14 entities in the Chicago glass trade faced fines totalling $31,003 after pleading nolo contendere to charges of price-fixing. Major players like Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and Hooker Glass & Paint Manufacturing Company were each fined $4,000, while union representatives received maximum fines of $5,000. The indictment revealed that union officials enforced a standardized pricing agreement by withholding union labour from non-compliant contractors, highlighting a coordinated effort to control glass installation prices in the region.
Comment and discuss