Evening star., 1942-06-03


ing strikes the
labor movement ss'sa >'>'<<
was responding David Lawrence.
with only minor Interruptions, the
Nation actually experienced only
81 per cent compliance with the
no-strike pledge as compared with
the corresponding period of last
year.
Thus the total number of man
days lost in January and February,
1912, as revealed by the Labor De-
partment shows a decrease of So
per cent as compared with the same
two months of 1941.
If the calculation is made on the
basis Of the number of workers
involved, the decrease In January
and February Is only 48 per cent
as compared with the. same two
months of 1941. The number of
strikes declined only "a per cent.
The most important change was
in the frequency of strikes in par
ticular industries. Thus in the
machinery industry the number of
man-days lost declined SO per cent,
but there was a corresponding in
crease in other industries. Leather
and leather products, for example,
suffered a large increase. Since
nearly every industry contributes
something to the war effort-the
leather companies being called upon
to produce shoes for the Army in
greater quantities than ever before
and the textile industry being called
on to make wearing apparel for
military and naval use-these strikes
are indirectly hurtful to the war
program.
More Win Concessions.
There is a certain discord pro-
duced in various localities as work.
ers on defense projects see other
workers striking and getting bene-
fits that are not given them when
they forebear from using the strike
weapon. The latest statistics-also
from the Labor Experimentation
that 2s.4 per cent Of the workers
went back to their jobs in Janu-
ary and February after having won
substantial concessions as compared
with 235 in the same two months
a year ago. Almost go per cent got
partial concessions as compared
with 542 per cent year ago. so
striking seems to have been fnan-
cially beneficial to the workers.
AS for the issues involved in the
striges, wages or hours, or both, ac-
counted for 44.9 per cent OF the
number of workers on strike as COM
pared with 282 per cent in January
and February year ago.
Union organization, strangely
enough, dropped as the reason for
striking from 29.6 per cent of the
workers involved a year ago to 9.6
per cent in January and February
of this year. Jurisdictional strikes.
showed an increase this year over
last in the number Of persons on
strike. The total was nearly 9 per
cent Of the number of workers in
volved.
As for the responsibility for dis
ciplining the strikers and persuading
them to obey the pledge given on
their behalf to the President, the
blame appears to be divided almost
equally between the CIO and the
AFL. Thus, out of the total number
of workers on strike in January and
Nsbruary, 1912 - namely, $1,000 =
there were 37,157. or about 45.3 per
cent. among CIO members and
s4245, or about Alt per cent, among
the AFL members.
More AFL Strikes.
But IL the number of strikes alone
Is counted, the American Federation
of Labor shows up to have been
much more guilty of breaking the
pledge in wartime than the C1O.
Out of the total number OF strikes,
153, or sos per cent of them all. are
in AFL organizations. This is all
the more surprising since the AFL
boasts that it is the veteran of trade
unionish in America. The C1O,
which is a much younger organiza-
ton, was responsible for 36.9 per
cent of the number of strikes called,
or about Ill. Unafdliated unions,
rival unions, account for II strikes.
1t is interesting to note that strike
activity increased after Pearl Harbor.
Thus, December, 1941, saw only So, ,022
workers out on strike at one time or
another, while February, 1912, saw
74.775.
The administration considers the
strike situation as a whole satisfac-
tory, for there has been no comment
from officials about the work stop
pages. 1t would appear from the
study OF the statistics that union