Evening star., 1941-05-06

one Is much more
contest be- David Lawrence.
tween the Government of the United
States and the c. l. o. For in this
dispute the demand for a 10-cent-
that Uncle Sam will pay 7 cents
and the company about 3 cents.
This is due to several factors. one
of which is that defense contracts
are on a cost basis with a fixed fee
for the company and another is
the extensive taxation which dimin-
ishes the taxable income when ex-
penses are permitted to rise.
The workers in the General Mo-
tors plants are receiving now the
highest wage rates in the auto indus
try, which in turn pays virtually the
highest wage rates in industry gen.
orally.
With the present assurance of
work all the year around, the vast
majority of the 250000 employees of
General Motors will be earning at
least $4,000 a year and many of
them will earn s2500. In the face
of such figures. the drafted soldiers
earn S2l a month or just about a
tenth of what the auto workers now
earn and yet the c. I. o. union is
demanding 10 cents an hour in
crease.
COmpany's Position.
The company is willing to pay up
10 3 cents an hour increase but is
represented as fearing that any in
creases now beyond that will step up
wage rates in the very industries
where defense contracts have been
placed so that it becomes the Gov
ernment's responsibility for an up
ward spiral if the union demands are
fully met.
The National Defense Mediation
Board has the dispute under formal
hearings but it is being predicted
that the mediation efforts will fail
as did the soft coal mediation.
One Of the reasons why the strike
Is expected is because there is an
internal political fight in the United
Automobile Workers Union Of the
G. I. o. which is more important to
the factions concerned than any
thing else just now. 1t appears that
President Thomas of the union Is a
candidate for election and is backed
by Sidney Hillman of the o. P. M,
whereas Walter Reuther is his rival
and he has the backing of Phil Muir
ray of the C. I. O. 1t appears very
important to these candidates that
each shall appear to be gaining the
larger advantage Reuther is rep
resented as having originally op-
posed the certification of the Cen
eral Motors strike to the Mediation
Board. but this was brought about
nevertheless through Sidney Hill
mans intervention at the Labor De-
partment.
Union Politics.
Now that the Mediation Board
has the dispute on its hands. the
officers of the union feel they must
press the issue to the limit in order
that their position may be stronger
when the convention of the U. A. w.
Is held in June. Thus does union
politics take precedence over de-
fense requirements these days.
The Congress has been talking of
cooling-of period. But in this
controversy the negotiations have
been going on for seven weeks so
that the cooling hasn't had any
effect on the insistence of the union
that its demands be met.
1t is not generally realized that
the defense work of General Motors
is interviewer with its regular pro-
duction of vehicles. Thus, axle gears
needed for military vehicles are
produced in the same plants that
make aXles for commercial ma
chimes. A production cut of 20 per
cent has already been ordered in
General Motors output of automo-
biles and this is soon to be followed
by another 90 per cent reduction.
All in all. 40 per cent cut in auto
production means the laying off of
possibly 10000 men. 1t is believed
that many of these will be quickly
reabsorbed in the defense work. but
a strike will complicate the tran
sition.
Nobody Pays Penalty.
Both Chevrolet and Buick plants
are counted on heavily for airplane
engines of the Pratt e. Whitney. type,
which are being copied at Detroit
and Flint, and have been scheduled
for a production of at least 1000
engines month. A strike would
mean serious delay.
Unfortunately, nobody is penal
tied when these delays occur. The
Harvel die casting strike on the
Pacific Coast has delayed the en-
tire aircraft program on on the Pa
cif1c Coast. Communists admittedly
engineered the strike, but nobody
has paid the penalty for 1t. This
was C. I. o. strike.
Similarly, the sad news is trickling
out now that Americas steel produc-
hon-a vital factor in defense-has
actually suffered three-week delay
due to the soft coal strike called bv
the c. I. o. The strike is over but
the persons guilty of frustrating the