Evening star., 1945-07-28
Pay Policy Statement
Is Being Prepared as
Strikes Near AS High
sy the Associated Press.

.
AS strike and lockout totals
edged up to a new 1945 high, the
administration today worked on
a new wage-and-price policy
statement intended to allay labor
unrest in the transition to peace
The June dispute record was 48s
stoppages and $4,000 workers invol-
we'd. Labor Department officials ex-
pected July to run about as high
This week was ending with about
$4,000 workmen idle, the lowest fig
ure since June.
While emphasizing that strikes
since V-E-day have increased SC
moderately as to have a hardly
measurable effect on total armament
production, WPB officials noted that
they had really hurt" some espec-
tally vulnerable parts of the war
program.
Rubber Strikes Hurt.
The rubber strikes of early July
hit not only military vehicle tires
but aircraft through delaying deliv-
cries of aircraft tires, self-sealing
gasoline tanks and other essentials,
WPB said. Scattered steel stoppages
worsened the acute shortage of sheet
metal.
The fear that unrest will grow, as
workers foresee a sharp fall in
weekly earnings because of short
ened work weeks, prompted the
drafting Of a public statement on
the Governments wage and price
policy during the transition.
Director William H. Davis of the
Office of Economic Sterilization is
preparing such a statement for
President Truman and expects
fairly early action" OES officials
said. Mr.. Davis thinks the state
ment will be of vital Importance"
and will help overcome much of the
labor diSquiet.
Seasonal Strikes.
While the wars end in Europe
may have lessened respect for the
no-strike pledge, Labor Department
officials said the increase in strikes
since spring should be laid in part
TO the usual seasonal increase.
Figures for June, released last
night by the Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics, showed that stoppages caused
1,725 900 man-days of idleness. But
this is only o.23 per cent of the
available working time.
The number of strikes and lock-
outs in June was twice as high as
in January and the number of
workers involved was six times as
high. But the increase over April,
which was perior to We day, was
slight. The 485 stoppages compared
with April's 450, and the 1000
workers involved against April's
285 900.
Anxiety for Statement.
In the absence of any definite
trend toward greater strike activity,
the anxiety for a clear-cut state
ment of Government policy is based
largely on concern for the future:
The likelihood that strikes will
increase as munition cutbacks be-
come more pronounced and the
fear that recent isolated instances
of defiance of WLB rulings will
increase in number.
This was the picture over the
country today:
Two major disputes involving
more than $4,000 workers engaged
in the production of B-29 engines
for the Army Air Forces were ad-
justed and the strikers were re-
turning to work.
In Chicago the Executive Board
of the CIO-UAW needed a War
Labor Board directive sending 10000
workers back Monday to the Dodge
plant, where a three-day walkout
had been precipitated by what the
strikers termed accumulated griev-
ances."
Wright Workers to Return.
In Paterson, N. j., 1000 of the
10000 employees of the Wright Aero
nautical Corps five plants voted a
return to work that had been urged
by union leaders, who said that the
strikes there and in Chicago, were
unauthorized
The New Jersey trouble resulted
from dismissal of union steward.
In Detroit, striking employees of
the United States Rubber Co. voted
to return after company officials
had estimated approximately IS per
cent of the plants 5000 workers
had voluntarily gone back. The
strike, which started two weeks ago,
resulted from a dispute over dis
missal of IL workers.
Some 1900 production workers
ended a two-day strike at the Can
ton QllO plant of the International
Harvester Co. The walk-out was a
sympathy move to aid the cause Of
go welders who struck a week ago
over an alleged wage cut.
Du Pont Strike Ends.
A dispute which halted produc-
ton of tetraethyl lead for aviation
gasoline at the Du Pont ethyl plant,
Baton Rouge, La, was settled and
900 striking members of the United
Mine Workers of America, District
80, returned to work.
At Warren, Ohio, bus transporta-
ton was resumed as 48 drivers re-
turned following settlement of a
dispute over a union contract.
New work stoppages included TOO
welderS at the Bath (Me) Iron
Works Corp. shipbuildfng yards in
a<dispute a over wage increases. At
Norwood, Mass, some of the 300
workers employed at the Bendix
Aviation Corp. left their jobs in a
dispute over a seniority clause in
union contract.