Evening star., 1946-01-17
Lesson in Negotiation
Seen in Auto Strike
Town Meeting Atmosphere In
Situation Deplored by Writer
Bv Dapid Laurence

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By Dapid Laurence
Management and unions are not far
apart in the automobile strike. This is
a time when conciliation services are
most needed and intermediates operat-
Ing in good faith can help bring the two
sides to an agreement.
The union has receded materially.
Originally the demand was for q 30 per
cent increase over and above the 40-hour
week basic levels SO that the resultant
amounts would be equivalent to take
home" pay earned during wartime when
the employees worked overtime.
Now the union spokesmen say public
ly they are agreeable to TIA per cent
increase and they hope that the smaller
amount Of overtime worked-but at the
new wage rates-will provide "take-
home pay equal to that of wartime.
The Ford Motor Car Co. has offered
what amounts to something less than
17.4 per cent. Actually, in increases
per hour, the Ford offer is only two cents
less than the 19h-cen proposal which
the Presidents "fact-hnding" board
recommended In the case Of General
Motors.
May Prod GIN.
This must mean that If Ford and the
unions can get together somewhere be-
tween l71a cents and 1872 cents-pos-
sibly at 1872 cents-General Motors
Corp. would find itself more or less COM
PEELED by circumstances to 60 along. It
may well be that General Motors execu-
tives have all along had in mind a settle
ment at something around 1914 cents,
which is still somewhat below the TIA
per cent increase and considerable dis
tance away from the 80 per cent de-
manded by the union.
AS matter Of fact, the Presidents
"fact-finding" board left a loophole
when 1t said that anything above Is per
cent increase would put General Motors
among the group paying the highest
wages in the auto industry.
The episode teaches lesson that may
not soon be forgotten. 1t is that the
parties could have bargained collectively
and could have been brought together
by mediators and conciliators if the
Government had furnished experts for
that purpose and If the unions and the
auto manufacturers had been content to
keep the problem private, that is, within
the usual confines of a collective bar
gaining negotiation.
Public Argument
When one or the other of the parties
starts making stenographic records and
issuing them to the press or demanding,
as did the unions, that the reporters be
admitted to the negotiations, it meant
that the negotiations were not really
being conducted in good faith by any
body and were merely town meetings"
to get publicity and bring the pressure
of public opinion to bear on the con-
troversy
The public is entitled to all the facts
when dispute or deadlock occurs but
the General Motors bargaining negoti-
alton was characterized from the start
| by publicity maneuvers and speech
making for public consumption which
only served to prolong the strike and
! increase the hardships for the strikers.
| Even those who want to work do not
dare to cross picket lines for fear Of
| bodily harm.
Illegal picketing In the present crisis
| has produced bad feeling The moment
| employers seem, even by some vague
technicality, to be evading their collec-
tive bargaining obligation, the unions
ifof 10
| of violating a law and yet the illegal
picketing goes on When lawlessness
is sanctioned by one party, it sooner or
later becomes the practice Of the other
party.
Reasonabless an Asset.
Collective bargaining is written into
the law and up to now employers have in
the main obeyed the rulings of the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board but if ille-
gal picketing continues and workers are
actually deprived of their constitutional
rights. it is likely that the Wagner Act
will soon be honored more in the breach
than in the observance This would be
regrettable
The auto strike ought to come to q
quick ending. Differences between the
unions and management are not too
large to be compromised. The economic
losses to everybody concerned by con-
tinuance OF the useless struggle are
growing daily. An effective conciliation
service, plus the use of little common
sense by the administration in persuad-
ing the parties to abandon their bitter
ness and get together like reasonable
men, would go long way toward pro-
ducing an atmosphere in which satis-
factory settlement could be reached.