Montana labor news., 1946-04-25
World at the Cross-R Roads

The struggle for human freedom and
justice did not end with VI Day.
Events of the last two months show
only too clearly that a new form Of
dictatorship threatens the postwar
world. affecting us here In America
just as surely as those in foreign
lands.
Few Americans yet realize the sig
nificance of the drastic new wage
price-profit controls clamped on our
peacetime economy. BY the executive
orders of February IA and 81, dicta-
torial power Eel American economic
life has been placed in the hands Of
persons subject to political controls
and p%ressures. Free collective uargain-
ing has been shelved. Every price adj
justment and every wage adjustment
affecting prices under the scru-
tiny Of a few immensely powerful gov
eminent officials. Their decisions af-
feet 81. 900, 600 American workers. en-
ployers and farmers. The result is con-
fusion and new loss Of freedom. If the
communist fifth column in United
States Of America were devising ways
to undermine democratic institutions
it could not have invented more use
full strategy.
The February q order decreed an
1Slec wage increase for 100000 strik-
ing steel workers, after their employ
crs had advance promise of a SIS per
ton price rise. 1t increased pay for
two per cent of all workers; but the
resulting break in price ceilings will
raise everyone's living cost 10c on the
dollar by the year end. So the gov
eminent in effect gave every worker
a Zoe wage cut to benefit a small mi
nority who used their right to strike
as a political weapon. All workers
must get comparable wage increases
in order not to suffer a decline in
their standards of living. Employers
and farmers 0 must pay higher
prices for their tools and materials.
Government Being Pressed
From All Sides
The aftermath of this political man
oeuver is already upon uss Because
$4,000, 900 other workers and 10, 900, 900
other employers and farmers have a
right to expect treatment equal to that
of the steel workers and steel EN-
ployers. claims are pressing upon the
government from all sides. A helter-
SHELTER of wage and price adjustments
is underway. holding back reconver-
sion with widespread delays and con-
fusion. working injustice on millions.
When political considerations replace
collective bargaining the result is
chaos.
Already OPA has issued &c price
increase orders. raising prices on more
than a Thousand items. Its order eff
fective April l permits retailers TO
pass on to consumers the manufac-
turers price increases resulting from
the new policy, which Of course was
unavoidable. Price increases are thus
already provided on: All meats. all
canned foods. bread, clothing. shoes
leather goods, consumers metal prod
ucts and many other things. Living
costs may rise more than 10 per CEN
as the new policy unfolds.
Wartime experience shows wha,
happens in a race between wages and
prices. From January 1941 to October
1915. labor department figures show
that straight time wage rates in cities
rose "a per cent; but cost of living
rose 80 per cent. Where is there an,
gain to workers in this? This hap
pened under government wage and
price controls, while in the prewal
period workers made steady progress.
under free collective bargaining.
The Great Illusion
The vast majority of American
workers receive a serious set bach
under the new wage-price policy. Be