Evening star., 1943-04-14
WLB Refuses Offers
Of 10000 Employers
To Increase Wages
Nearly Million Workers
Believed Affected by
'HoId-the-Line' RULING

Believed Affected by
HoId-the-Line' Ruling
By the Associated Press.
Voluntary offers by 10000 en-
plOyers to raise wages and sala-
,ies will be denied as a result of
the War Labor Boards refusal
to permit adjustment of in
equalities and inequities.
There was no official estimate of
how many employees that would
affect, but unofficial estimates
ranged from half million to a mil
lion. Most of the cases involve fewer
than 100 employees each. Denials in
the dispute cases, which usually
affect larger number, will raise the
total substantially.
First Hold the Line Application.
The WLB laid down It's first formal
application of President Roosevelts
hold-the-line order of April in
decision late yesterday declaring it
proposes to carry out strictly the
spirit and intent as well as the literal
meaning" of the anti-inflation order
Simultaneously, the WLB an
nounced it had instructed local
boards to deny at once all proposed
wage and salary adjustments which
involve only inter-plant inequalities
and which cannot be decided on the
basis of the Little Steel formula or
substandards of living"
The board estimated this would
result in disapproval of about 10000
Of the 1900 cases on hand in the
II regional Offices.
There was an awareness among
WLB officials that the rigidity of
the order and its application might
have unfavorable repercussions
among the workers, and even among
employers, but the belief prevailed
that responsibility for relaxation
rested with Sterilization Director
James F. Byrnes
| Murray Looks to Byrnes.
C1O President Philip Murray told
all affiliated unions in letter yes
terday they should contend for
WLB's right to correct the inequah-
ties by approving wage increases,
and that this could best be done by
bringing specific cases to Mr.. Byrnes'
attention. Mr.. Murray also urged
that the unions make full use of the
permission to increase earnings
through reclassifications and local
incentive plans.
The effect of the executive order,
the WLB told its regional boards, sis
to place the manpower responsibility
squarely up to the manpower Com
mission, and you should at once so
inform the parties in all pending
cases involving seasonal producers
in order that no time may be lost in
their facing the problem"
! The local boards were instructed
that applications from seasonal pro-
ducers, such as Gamers, for increases
in wages over last season must be
denied except to the extent that they
can be justified under the Little
Steel formula or substandards of
living provision.
Even the arbitrators' awards must
meet the same specificat tions, even
though they were issued before
April 8.
Expedite Wage Hearings.
The local boards were urged to
proceed expeditiously to hold pub
lie hearings on the question of sub
standard wages for their regions and
to recommend specific amounts for
the consideration of the national
board.
The first case formally decided
under the new executive order in
volved the Universal Atlas Cement
Co., Universal, Pa, United States
Steel Corp. subsidiary, and the CIO
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. A
referee had recommended an in
crease of 5h cents an hour in line
with steel industry wages and be-
cause of similar raise given two
other plants of the company.
The board unanimously said it
could only allow an increase within
the Is per cent Little Steel formula
and therefore cut it to 2 cents.
Dean Wayne L. Morse, in an
opinion, said, There is no question
about the fact that the wage in
crease recommended by the referee
would have been permissible" under
the October executive order, which
| provided for pay increases to re-
move inequalities and was the WLB
guidepost until Thursday night.
Many such inequalities" said
Mr.. Morse, land gross inequities
still exist in the American wage
structure, but under the new execu-
| tive order they cannot be corrected
by the War Labor Board"
Substandard Pay Not Involved.
Mr.. Morse said substandard wages
were not involved and that it was
very clear in the executive order
that the type of increases which
the board has been granting to cor
rect inequalities and gross inequities
cannot be obtained under the new
executive order by labelling the pro-
hibited increases as promotions,
'reclassif1cations, merit increases,
incentive wages and the like"
THE words of limitation set forth
in the proviso clauses" Mr.. Morse
continued, require that such ad-
j'lstments must not increase the
l,vel Of production costs appreciably
or furnish the basis either for price
increases or to prevent otherwise
justifiable price reductions"
Mr.. Morse went on to say that the
board proposes to carry out strictly
the spirit and intent as we'll as the
literal meaning of the executive
order of April 8, 1943. Therefore,
the only basis upon which it will
grant any wage increase in this case
Is that which is permitted under an
application of the Little Steel for
mula."
The formula, a cost of living ad-
justment, permits not more than a
Is. per cent increase in the average
straight-time hourly earnings over
the levels of January l, 1941.
Citing the fact that this is the