The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-10-18
BY s. BURTON HEATH NEA Staff Correspondent


 New York, Oct. 18-(NEA)-In one of the bitterest, most prolonged of the reconversion strikes, 65, 900 Vest inghouse employees stayed out 1l5 days until they beat the company. They won half cent an hour-four cents 8 day-more than the company had been willing to pay.
 But the figures indicate that a typical Westinghouse employe will have to work 83 years, three months and three days, before that four cents . day will make up for the $865.92 wages that he lost during the strike.
 The raise, on it's face, was 18 cents an hour. But the company had agreed to 1713 cents of this before the strike began. So the workers vic- tory netted them only the difference between these two figures.
 Some 16a 1000 General Motors en- ployes created a new national wage pattern in an almost four-month strike in which they won raise of 181a cents an hour. The company had been willing to pay only 1872 cents an hour. By striking, the JAW. gained an extra five cents an hour for its members and, indirectly, for many others.
 CONFIRMED THE PATTERN
 But the average GM.C. worker will have to work 453 weeks al- most nine years-before his personal pocketbook will recoup, at $2 week, the $906 in wages he lost while he was out on strike.
 The steel strike confirmed the pat tern established by the General Mo- tors walkout, and made it sort of un- officially official that an 181a cent boost would be the goal at which un- ions could hope to shoot rather suc- cessfully.
 The union started asking 2o cents an hour, dropped to 2o cents, and then adopted 1912 cents when the government "fact-findlng' commission recommended that fig ure. The company offered 121a cents, went up to 15 cents when it learned that Washington would permit prlce boosts to compensate for the differ ence, and eventually granted 1872 cents after price boost to cover that raise was given the green light.
 By walking 752,000 steel workers out for 25 days (and longer in the case of the smaller companies that waited to follow the lead of U. $. SteeD the United Steel Workers got 3k cents an hour more than they could have had without striking.
 But the typical steel worker lost 16O hours of work at $1.31 (the com- pany's offer) or $209 50. It will take two years, 45 weeks, three days and five hours for the 312 cents an hour, won by striking, to compensate for those lost wages.
 Records of major strikes show that where wages were the principal bone of contention in reconversion strikes, the unions almost invariably have forced employers into the new pattern since it was established.
 Because of this, thousands of groups all over the country have ob- tained raiseS-some at the pattern, others not far below it-without walking out The cost to the men who served as shock troops by carry ing on major strikes has been con- siderable, as the three examples cited illustrate.
 COST TO INDUSTRY
 The cost to industry-to the en- ployers concerned, most draStically- also has been enormous. WeSting- house estimates its loss from "the big strike"-the wage controversy ct $127, ,0OO, 900. This came on top of a previous strike in which 10,500 white collar workers, vainly seeking q bonus similar to that paid hourly employees, threw another 27,000 non- strikers out of work for 19 days. In that one strikers lost $2,220,000 in pay, non-strikers lost s, ,969,000, and the company lost $16,5O0, ,000 in pro- duction.
 General Motors was prevented by it's long strike from building some 300,000 cars and 100000 trucks for its customers. The company esti- mates the production loss to it at SAC, ,000, 900 and the revenue loss to General Motors dealers at $100,000,- 900.
 The steel industry estimates its