Evening star., 1947-04-28
million Workers Get
Pay Rises through
April Agreements
BY the Associated Press

NEW YORK, April 28.-Three new
wage settlements announced over
the week end brought to nearly l.
|000, 900 the number of workers in the
steel, automobile and electrical In
dustries who won pay increases dur
ing April.
Settlements boosting hourly wages
approximately Is cents when vaca-
ton pay and other benefits are in
cluded were announced Saturday by
General Electric Co.. Chrysler Corp
and Jones g. Loughlin Steel Corp.
This wage pattern developed dur
ing a month that saw these foul
other major developments in the
labor and economic field: Cd Initia
congressional action on labor legis-
Ilation; Cd an appeal from the ad'
tministration to stem the. rise ir
prices; 60 a 6-day walkout Of 4o0,-
900 mine workers called in memory
of Ill mine dead in the Centralia
Un.) disaster, stoppage tha'
Ilengthened to two weeks for most
mines, and (4) the strike OF more
than SOC, 600 telephone workers April
II over still unsettled contract issues
Ford Negotiations Pending.
Chrysler's settlement with 10000
members of the United Automobile
Workers, CIO, which will affect also
Is 900 unaffiliated and salaried en-
ployes, left only the Ford Motor Co
among the big Three with wage
negotiations still pending. Ford
negotiations were to begin May 81
but in view of the settlements by
General Motors and Chrysler they
may open sooner.
General Electric's settlement with
125 900 members of the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America, CIO, like
Chrysler's with the UAW, provided
an liz cents increase for hourly
workers and six paid holidays a
year. GE's salaried workers will
get a 1872 cents an hour increase
under the-one-year contract, re-
troactive to April /.
Jones and Laughlin's two-yea1
contract provides a 121a cents in
crease for $4,000 members Of the
United Steelworkers of America
CIO, which with adjustments for
wage inequities and differentials
will work out to an average in
crease of Is cents or more.
This was substantially the same
agreement made April 20 by United
States Steel to increase wages OF
$4,000 production workers to an
average of $147, under a two-year
contract. It's action was followed by
similar settlements by Bethlehem
Steel Co., youngstown Sheet anc
Tube Co., the Weirton (W. Va
Steel Co. and three smaller COM
panies on behalf of almost 27o,00C
| workers.
Auto Workers Asked 1874 Cents.
The, auto workers, who had de-
manded 1914 cents, agreed on Aprl
"a to accept General Motors offe,
of 'the equivalent of IS cents" al
hour, with the straight time rails,
to be liz cents. General Motor
first offered the 100000 UAW work
ers 10 cents, and raised that to III!
on April 18.
! On that date Westinghouse u.s.,
900 United Electrical workers agreed
to a settlement on the 15-cent pat
tern Q1a cents straight time
which first had been accepted OF
April IA by the 10000 electrical
workers, of General Motors, involv
| ing chiefly the Frigidaire and Delc'
Products divisions.
Setting a precedent for the Gen
eral Motors electrical workers set
tlement, and subsequent spread O
the pattern to steel ana the autt
industries. was the earlier actor
of the United Rubber Workers
CIO, in getting substantially tht
same terms from the major rub.
ber companies. A similar agree
ment was made on behalf of Gen.
eral Motors 5000 rubber workers
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