The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-01-28
BY Paul Mallon
STEEL STRIKE TROUBLE
STILL COMING UP


STILL COMING UP
WASHINGTON.-lf anything could
have been worse than the coal strike
settlement, II was the railroad set
Element but worse than both to-
gether is the steel strike trouble
coming up.
Steel unionist Phil Murray already
is pressuring the War Labor board
and the White House for another
wage increase. This is a campaign
year and he knows it. Unless he
gets something, he practically says
he will lose the CIO to John Lewis.
and the White House would sooner
lose the buildings and fixtures to
Dewey than to allow that
But how to do it? Up to now. old
Doctor "Win-the-War" (who has re-
placed Doctor New DeaD has been
getting around his own Little Steel
wage prescription - increasing
wages more than it allows-by espe-
cially concocted devices such as
more overtime allowances, vaca-
tons with pay. but chiefly by reclas-
sihcations. But this steel case is
the formula itself. and getting
around II without seeming to. will
take some doing.
Pressuring behind Murray are a
national array Of unions-shipbuild-
ers, textiles, automobiles, aircraft,
aluminium, radio. shoes and a half
dozen others-with similar wage in
crease demands beyond the Little
Steel formula.
OF course. most, il not all these
unions, already have received in
creases beyond the Is per cent al
lowed in the formula. Aluminium,
for instance, got that Is per cent
and about or 10 more hidden in
reclassifcations. On an average. I
think these unions have received
from to 10 per cent above the for
mula, chiefly by upgrading.
But this. OF course, is never dis
cussed aloud. Only the base pay
rate is used in arguments and off,
cial papers. the reclassifcations be-
ing mentioned obscurely, il at all.
and never in such a way that any
one Except the particular union
industrial wage experts involved
can figure how much actual increase
these amount to.
What is likely TO make the trou-
BILE is that the unions have discov-
cred the more recalcitrant and trou-
blesome they are, the more they are
apt to get. The coal miners got
SITS a day increase from the gov
eminent, a few hectic months aft
er they would have taken SIPS from
the operators. The operating rail-
readers won IL cents an hour in
crease. a few troublesome weeks
after Economic Stabilizer Vinson de-
creed eight cents would be imitation
airy.
They also have discovered they
COUNTY, s... DO YOU hllOM ludN AdA
Helen Forrest was once a salesgirl
in a Brooklyn cut rate drug store?
-. If you think the days of the
pampered Ziegfeld Girl have end
ed, would It change your mind TO
hear about Kay Lewis. OF the cur
rent "Follies", who recently receiy-
ed a beaver coat, a Persian lamb,
and some diamonds-and gets or
chids nightly?
Does II STAY you to be told that
Carmen Amaya, LaConga's flamen-
co dancer, ties a red ribbon to
each of her toes before a perform
ance--for good luck?... Could that
Carmen Jones" seating slip-up
that landed so much space in the
local press actually have been
a clever publicity STUNT. Don't
you thing the advertising posters
for "Three's a Family" are rather
naughty?... Why hasn't there
been a movie about the WAC?..
Didn't Pistol Packin' Mama" beat
a hasty retreat from the Hit Pa
rade, and aren't you happy?