The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-08-03


 will go Co President Roosevelt about mid October and will be decided between then and election day. Tn that case they expect that the steel workers will get raise Of from hye to ten cents an hour-which would bust the stabilization program wide open.
 The background is this. in brief
 Most of the contracts were ''open end". That Is to say. they were per. petual until specified notice oi inc tention to terminate them had been given. Such notice was given last year and the unions now are work ing in effect without a contract. MAY FIND SuBTERFUGE
 President Roosevelt assured Mur- ray that if the men kept at work under the terms of the old contract, any increases granted within the limitations of the stabilization formula would be made retroactive That. in the words of one observer was double talk" There can be no raises within the limitations Of the stabilization formula. Any raise, however small. breaks through the formula.
 But the union people do not think that the president promised such a thing to SO powerful an organization of his strongest supporters without intending to make good tn some fashion. one way would be to lind subterfuge by which the men could be paid for something they do now without pay-such as going into tine mill. punching the clock and walking to their posts Of duty.
 The importance of the steel wage negotiations is evidenced by the time and labor that have been devoted to n already. There have been almost five months of public hearings, com pleted in mid-July. before a fact- finding panel of the WLB. during which a million words Of testimony were recorded in some 1000 pages of stenographic transcript.
 The case is important because 1t was in the steel industry that the stabilization formula for wages-a cost of living adjustment of IS per cent above the scale for January l, i99l-was evolved.
 FORMULA BROKEN
 If the president comedies anything here, it will mean that he, person. ely, will have discarded the Little Steel Formula. In the opinion of many. that would mark the end 0f any firm, realistic struggle against imitation.
 Nevertheless. few believe that he win be able to resist. After all, Mur- ray is not only head of the steel" workers: he is head of the whole cIO. The CIO sponsored and fl- nances the Political Action commit tee, which is so influential in Demo- cratic circles that top party and ad- ministration leaders from Vice. President Wallace down, sneaked mp fire escapes t0 get Sidney Hil- mans Okay on what they planned or wanted to do at the Democratic NAttoildt GbtiNNtsAtosb.
 DEWEY FILLED BN
 It is considered doubtful whether the case can be kept from the pres- ident until after eleetion-ghetheT. If the race is close. he will dare go to the polls with the Murray unions demands undecided. Nor do realists think that. two weeks or A month before election day, he will send the union away empty -handed.
 Pennsylvania being a doubtful state with the second highest elec- toral vote in the country. the impli- cations of this situation are impOr- tant to the Republicans. It is pretty much certainty that Governor Dewey has bee given a iii in, SO that he can be prepared. when the time comes, to make all possible capital out Of whatever course the president may take.