The sub., 1945-04-14
w a s hin gton. D. C.


 Charges that the present frozen and unintelligent" wage policy of the Govern ment lis plunging war pro- duction into unnecessary em- barrassments and will inevit- ably destroy any chance of att taining full employment when peace comes," were made by AFL Seer e tary-Treasurer George Meany on the AFL's America United" radio pro- gram over a nationwide NEG network.
 MT. Meany appealed to the rep resentatives of industry and agri- culture who participated in the same program to support labor's drive for realistic" revision of the Little Steel Formula because busi- ness and the farmers are. bound to suffer unless the masses of Amer ican workers enjoy sufficient pur- chasing power to sustain full pro- duction after the war.
 In his opening talk, Mir. Meany said:
 First, how high are wartime wages? The National War Labor Board tried to find out. It diScoV- cred that the average earnings of the 14 million workers who had appealed for increases during 20- month period amounted to less than 70 cents an hour. No Ameri- can family can live decently on that kind of income at present prices.
 How then are these workers getting by? How do they live? The Acting Director of the U. s. Bureau of Labor Statistics supplied the answer last week before the Senate Committee on Banking and Cur rency. He testified that thousands of workers, even those with no de- pendents, are going into the red each week and are forced to bor- row to make ends meet. And his figures showed that the average surplus for all manufacturing workers after paying bare living expenses was the magnificent sum of $239 a week.
 That's where wages are frozen now-frozen by the Stabilization Act, frozen by Executive Orders and frozen by the War Labor Boards Little Steel formula.
 Cautiously enough, the Little Steel formula was not meant to freeze wages. Oh, no. 1t was of ficially set up to keep wages in balance with rising living costs. It provided that since prices had gone up Is per cent from January, 1941,. to May, 1922, wage rates should go up 15 per cent, too.
 Well, that was almost three years ago and prices have skyrock- eted since-but not wages. Hour ly rates of pay are still at the level called for by May 1922 living costs. More than a year ago the American Federation of Labor petitioned the War Labor Board to recognize this fact and act accordingly. The board hemmed and hawed and stalled until three weeks ago when the public members made public report that while the cost of living has gone up 30 per cent since the war. adjusted hourly rates of pay had gone up 30 per cent too.
 ''The joker in that report is the little word adjusted The original standard of the Little Steel for mula was straight-time hourly rates of pay. In order to avoid re- Iaxing the formula, the public members adjusted the standard. That change in the measuring rod constituted deception and injustice of the worst kind.
 Unless that injustice is immedi- ately corrected, the status of American workers will grow pro- gressively more unbearable in the months to come. Unrest and dis satisfaction will mount. But the full disastrous consequences to our entire country will not be felt un- til the war ends. Then the effect of restricting the purchasing power