Imperial Valley press., 1942-07-27
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

In an effort to see what may lie
ahead. take another gander at this
War Labor Board decision giving
the employees of the four Little
Steel" companies an increase oi
s.. 20 a week. which has been mag
nified into something that is goine
to break the nation. This Specula-
ton may be as futile as most crys-
tai gazing. or trying to predict tho
outcome of the campaign in Egypt
and the valley of the Don. But
now that JOY riding is on the wane
exporting becomes the favoritC
amateur sport. so pull up a chair.
In the first place, the Little SteeI
cases aren't settled yet, and there
is a possibility they'll be right back
in the WLB lap before long, for
this reason: The c I. Q. Steel
Workers Organizing Committee
and the four companies have to get
together and sign something The
WIB decision merely settled the
question of wages and union secur-
ity.
Unsettled is the time element
the question of how this con-
tract is to run. The unions may
take the position that this is
Just another contract. and
should therefore run for just
another twO-year period The
steel companies may take the
position that since this a war
contract, il should be made for
the duration. If the two parties
can't be together, watch for the
case to come back to the WLB
doorstep.
The general Interpretation of the
WLB decision on wages was thai
it was victory for labor and
slap at employers and antl-intla-
tionists in and out of the govern
ment. This probably would be de
MED by a majority of the Labor
Board members, and labor main
tains it took a licking. The WIf
position is that it is just as IN
terested in preventing initiation az
is anv other department OF govern
ment. Furthermore, the four VIII
representatives of the public, wher
they decided to vote with the lou
employer representatives and gran
increases of onlT "A cents a cay
were afraid the labor representa-
tives would pull out and wreck tn
war labor mediation Setup for
second time. But labor agreed t.
take the cut
WHAT is A CUT?
Was it cut? The Labo
Board insists it was. In settinI
-leyel-vS cost of living ratio
back to Jan. l, 1941-instead o
accepting as base the ratio eX
isting when steel got its last in
crease in April, 1941-WLB claims
it really was cutting wages bacl
to the relative cost of living values
that existed in 1887 In othei
words. the Labor Board presents 1T
action as restoring steel wages t.
the levels of five years ago ant
wiping out all the wage increases
steel labor had gained in that time
Actual dollars and cents wages arr
higher, but the value of the wage'
is lower.
If this is the theory which
WLB wishes to establish, 1T
means that on future decisions
the board will disregard all the
other major increases labor re-
ceived in 1941, including the 10
cents an hour increase given
Steel in April, 1871, the 81
day increase given coal miners
in April, the 10 cents an hour
increase gwen 6enerai Motofo
in April. the seven cents and
three cents increases given
Chryler in February and May,
the % per cent increase given
Ford employees in June, and
the 10 cents an hour increase
granted railroad labor in De
cember.
on this formula, future Wag
questions submitted to WLB Woult
be settled on the basis Of, "Hov
do your wages compare with wha
they were in reference to the cos
of living in January, 194l - o
1892" Wage increases granted
since then will have little weight
hnotber round of raises is not il