Evening star., 1946-02-08
Agency to Administer
Price Formula Urqed
Writer Fears New Strike Wave
With Blanket Pay Demand
By David Laurence

WIN DidHhSt dy Dcndn0
By Dauid Laurence
II there's to be big Steel formula"
to permit wage increases and price rises
In relation to some cost Of living index,
as was the case with the famous Little
Steel formula" of 1s41, then some gov
ernmental board or agency will have to
administer it now or the Nation will be
faced with an epidemic Of more strikes
and work stoppages.
Whatever President Truman allows
by way Of price rises or wage increases
under his existing stabilization powers
in settling the steel strike will be sought
in all other industries. There will be a
demand for Is per cent increase in
wages all along the line irrespective Of
capacity to pay or any other protest.
> Once the Government sanctions
blanket formula, the whole industrial
system will feel It's repercussions. The
President in one of his early speeches
after vi day termed the application
Of any blanket formula as unwise and
insisted that each industry and busi-
ness handle the situation according to
the circumstances In which 1t found
itself.
Uniform Labor Demand.
But since those days the demands Of
labor have become uniform so that the
demand for 30 per cent increase in
wages calculated on the 40-hour- week
base pay has become Nationwide. Many
unions are simply waiting for the major
strikes to be settled before asking that
the same percentage increases be
granted to them.
What the President faces Is an even
Nation has yet encountered unless he
takes steps promptly to see that his
original policy is fulfilled. The need Of
some national tribunal operating under
governmental authority to hear the
various pleas for wage increases and to
determine both wage rises and price
changes is imperative If the President
is going to put the sanction Of the
White House behind any formula,
whether it is called big Steel" or
Little Steel or by any other name.
Mr.. Truman,s original mistake was In
assuming that prices could be held In
line while wages were permitted to soar.
He was right, undoubtedly, that in
some instances part of the wage In
crease, If not all, could be absorbed
from profits, but he has been proved
wrong in the case Of steel. The labor
union leaders themselves have been
lobbying privately to get an increase
in the price Of steel, although outwardly
they have been giving out publicity
material tending to show that they
want the increases without the raising
Of prices.
The union strategists have not gained
anything by the maneuver because al
most everybody in Washington has
known Of their back-door conferences
and their pleas to give the steel men
an increase in price so that the cost
could be passed on to the public In the
future as 1t has been In the past.
Still Has War Powers.
The President still retains under the
War Powers Act enough authority to
create another agency like the National
War Labor Board, and he can ask Con-
gress to prohibit the use of strikes dur
ing the period while cases are under
consideration by such a board.
There is nothing sacred about such
a limitation on the right to strike, for
1t has been in existence virtually all
through the war period by means of a
so-called "no-strike pledge" which the
Government, at any rate, accepted as
having as much validity as if it were the
law Of the land. The unions, too, have
expressed pride in their obedience to
this, though they insist all the work
stoppages which violated 1t were really
wildcat strikes" or unauthorized"
A good case has been made for gov
ernmental limitation of any groups
power to interrupt production either by
strikes or by lockouts The right to
strike is no more than the right of an
individual to quit work. The right to
tie up the economic system, on the
other hand, and deprive a community
or the Nation Of vital communications
and necessities required for the main
tenance Of health does not have any
more sanction than the right of rebel
lion. An attack on the public by any
economic group can be prohibited by
law.
Even the so-called right to strike by
concerted action of group of citizens
has been limited by Congress in the
Railway Mediation Act. So it is about
time to consider not the so-called right
to rebellion against the public interest
but the right of the public to limit by
law the attempt of any group to injure
the public. With this limitation goes
inevitably requirement that labor dis
putes be settled in some orderly manner
either with or without the Intervention
Of Government
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