Imperial Valley press., 1942-04-03
TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

WAStlNSI lON. Apill - - roi IT
days hearings of the little steel
labor case have been held before a
three man PANEL of the National
War Labor Board. In this time the
four companies. Bethlehem. Inland,
Republic and youngstown, have
stated their cases. There will be a
week or so in which reports will be
prepared by the board panel. Then
will come rebuttal and possibly re-
rebuttal. 1t may be the end of April
before any decision is handed down
on the Steel Workers Organizing
Committee demands for Sl-a day
increases. union closed job and
check-off.
The important fact in this sit
uation is that while these hearings
are in progress. the $4,000 steel in
dustry employees are on the job.
There is no strike involved.
You may criticize the slow
ness of this procedure as much
as you please. 1t is costly for
mana cement, labor and govern
ment. Ii is filled with head
aches, for i'm all such negOtia-
tions there is a deal of pound
ing on tatles, hurting of charg
es. and losing of tempers. But
you can't overlook the fact that
while all this goes on, war pro-
duct on has not stopped.
The hopefulness of this condition
is nevertheless in the statistics on
labor conditions for February which
was maze public by the Depart
ment of Labor. Unfortunately, 1t
takes a month to get together any,
thing like accurate figures on the
national strike situation. National
Association CT Manufacturers dashes
into print shortly after the first
of each month for the preceding
month, and NAM. has taken oc-
casion to blast away at Labor. De-
partment statistics. The NAM sur
vey is, however, an inadequately
spotty check. based on newspaper
clippings received up to the end OF
each month. and can hardly be
dignified as outstanding statistics.
THREE SOURCES NEEDED
To get the real strike picture, you
have to put together three reports
the Bureau of Labor Statistics strike
summary the statement of the Con-
ciliation Service, and the defense
strike summary of War Production
Boards labor division.
BIS bases its summary OH the
number of strikes beginning in
in each month. For February II
was 100 new strikes, involving
$1,000 workers, as against the
1858 five-year average of 1872
strikes involving 69,6I1 workers.
1t was, in other words, below
average month i'm spite of the
increased levels of employment.
A single, One-day strike III
New Bedford textile mill ac-
counted for fourth of all the
time lost by labor trouble. Even
this was made up, for the union
forced the employees who had
refused to work unless given
time and a half on a holiday to
return to the Job the following
Saturday and make up the lost
day at straight time.
Without condoning strikes in any
way-they are ugiy, unnecessary,
and people get hurt in them-lt is
probable that there will be flare
ups like the New Bedford ruckuS,
all through the war period Hot
heads will get control of local sit
uationS and they raise hob, but
while these incendiar" strikes DO
break out and make all the head
lines. the machinery that stops
strikes and better Stlll-preventS
them-is working effectively, too,
You get that picture from an
other report-that of the United
States Cancellation Service under
Dr. John r. Steelman. Take the
same month of February. There
were 3l4 industrial disputes adjusted
and settled before the strike stage
and therefore without any stoppage
of production. In addition, 80 strikes
that had stopped production were
settled by the service.
LESS THAN l PER CENT LOST
The foregoing figures cover az
industries. whether on war or civil
ian production. When the figures
are narrowed to war production, the
picture looks like this, again for
! the month of February:
There were i'm that month
about is million workers on
war production. Figuring "a
working days i'm that month,
there were a potential $50 bill
! lion man days i'm employment.
! Out of that total i'm a reported
u stoppages of work involving
1880 employees, there we're 33,-
800 man days lost. The per-
centage of time lost is 18 1000
of l per cent-less than 2 100
or so of l per cent.
Contrast that with February, l94l,
when there were an estimated 81
million man-days put in on national
defense and strikes caused loss
of 373,000 man-days-nearly 35
times as high a percentage as this
year.
As long as here is maintained this
| tendenc" to keep 'em working while
labor disputes are being settled, this
labor t4oolem can be licked.