Evening star., 1941-05-31

have encouraged union leaders with
existing contracts to start upsettlrg
those contracts in demands for i'm
mediate revision.
just why any members of medi-
alton board supposedly impartial
should allow themselves to become
part of the politics or strategy
whereby union leaders maneuver
management into higher wage levels
Is difficult to understand. Maybe
the union spokesmen are misrepre-
senting the comments of w. H.
Davis, vice chairman of the Ma
tional Defense Mediation Board, but
the word spread all around the Mid
die West is that Mr.. Davis expressed
the view that contracts should be
reopened in the auto industry gen.
orally to permit a 10 cent an
hour increase. Mr.. Davis is also
being quoted as having said that all
union contracts in the auto indus
try should be made to expire con-
currently so that wage increases
would be uniform throughout the
industry.
Even granting that Mr.. Davis can
at the same time be an impartial
umpire and judge of labor disputes
In America and still express views
on how highly controversial issues
not before him for settlement
should be handled, the fact remains
that the c. I. o. auto workers union
has contracts with automobile COM
panies that do not expire for sew
eral months. This may be un-
fortunate from the viewpoint of
those leaders who want to see wage
increases made general now but it
does not inspire much respect for
the sanctity of contracts when
Government officials imply that
such contracts should be upset in
order to gain an advantage for one
party or the other.
Equalizing Costs a Problem.
News dispatches from Detroit state
that the C. I. o. leaders have asked
for immediate revision of the Chrys-
Ter and Packard contracts involving
nearly 10000 employees. In the
Packard case where S20O,0OO,O 900 of
defense contracts are involved, no.
tice of strike has been given. But
there are about $4,000 more en-
ployes in other companies who also
will be affected by the general up
setting of wage scales at this time
to conform to the settlement made
In the General Motors case.
Now it can be well understood
that in competitive situation, no
company wants to be placed in the
position of bearing higher burden
of labor costs than another. But,
on the other hand, the problem of
equalizing labor costs is one of the
most contested issues in the whole
field of economics. Should big pro-
ducers with large volume of orders
set the pace for higher wages and
then by means of industry wide
agreements compel the less efficient
or less strong financially to pay
higher costs and thus weaken their
profit margin? Would this in the
end not produce monopoly for
the lower cost producers and drive
the marginal producers to the wall?
This is certainly no time for Amer
lea to try to equalize differences in
competitive situations or to try out
the industry-Wide agreement cover
ing all kinds of problems within an
industry. Yet this is precisely the
kind of chaos which Mr.. Davis of
the mediation commission may un-
Willingly be bringing about.
Mr.. Davis has not spoken publicly
and doubtless he pointed out that
existing contracts must be respected
but it certainly raises a question of
whether a Government mediator
ought to be stirring up this sort of
trouble for industries engaged in
defense work. If his knowledge
of labor problems is going to be
useful in an educational sense, Mr..
Davis would be better off detached
from the mediation commission.
Maybe he ought to be Secretary of
Labor where he could express his
views on labor policy for the Nation
and for particular industries. But
so long as he is supposed to act in a
judicial capacity, Mr.. Davis will find
respect for his impartiality dimin-
ishing the moment he begins to
allow his position as chief mediator
In defense troubles to be used by
labor strategists as a part of their
political intrigue in getting better
contracts for their constituencies.
"SIow Down" Effective.
Stability in labor conditions will
not be attained by starting prec-
sdent whereby contracts consum-
mated after long and painstaking
negotiation can be discarded the
moment competing company gives
q concession in a separate situation.
There is no certainty as yet that the
C. I. o. will precipitate a strike in
order to get a new contract, but
the weapons of pressure are we'll
known. The "slow down" is manv
times more effective than an actual
strike. And the ''slow down" has
been legalized by the absurd deci-
sions of the National Labor Rela-
tions Board. So a contract Is really
not worth very much in the auto
mobile industry and hence 1t is most
unfortunate If the vice chairman of
the Presidents own defense media
ton board was instrumental in pre-
cipitating the demands last week