Evening star., 1947-05-11
Ceiling
Is Nebulous
Economists Believe Rate
Issue Will Diminish
in Importance
By Ed,pin 4. Lahev

DETROIT.-Hourly rates of pa.
in the high wage" Misrepresentation
industries have been hiked 80 cent
in the last year-181a cents in thu
1916 contract renewals and liz
cents or more IN the 1947 contracts
that have just been negotiated by
the CIO unions.
A few years ago a 10-cent-per.
hour increase was considered spec.
tacular victory by the unions, ane
a. few years before that a wage
increase of 21a cents or cents pei
hour was considered a norma
adjustment.
Future Uncharted.
Where do wage rates go from
here?
Has the natural ceiling beer
reached, or will the organized in
dustrial workers continue to push
hourly rates up toward the So OF
So level?
The answer, of course, lies in ar
uncharted future. But an mcreas.
ing number of labor economists be.
lieve that the question of hourly
wage rates viii lose its importance
in contract negotiations in 1948 ano
thereafter.
Not that union leaders will desist
from asking for an increased share
of the fruits of production. They
will continue to seek larger benefits
for the workers, but the emphasis
will probably be shifted to social
security benefits, guaranteed annual
wage plans, and other projects that
industry would find expensive, even
if there is no major adjustment in
hourly wage rates.
Guaranteed Wage Studied.
In the basic steel industry, where
close to half million CIO workers
have settled down under a two-yeal
contract that gave them 1919
cent hourly raise, plans are already
under way to popularize the guar
anteed annual wage plan and make
it a major issue for negotiation ir
1949.
The guaranteed annual wage al.
ready has been made the subject 0!
a study and guardedly favorable
report by a commission appointed
by President Truman, and for year.
has been a cherished objective fol
Philip Murray, president of the CIc
and the steel workers.
The CLOS educational department
can be expected to popularize the
idea among steel workers in tht
next two years, until the guaranteed
annual wage is as real to the rank
and file as the cost-of- living issue.
The seniority system introduced
into the automobile industry by
unioniSation has created problem
that becomes gradually more diff.
cult every year. Thef CIO autt
workers want to solve this problem
by the introduction of pension
systems.
Auto Workers Benefit.
The seniority system has giver
greater job security to auto workers
than they enjoyed before they were
unionized. Because of this job Sc.
curity the average age Of auto work.
Iers has tended to increase in recent
years.
General Motors and other aut,
corporations have detected the out
line of social security. the guaranteed
annual wage and ether non-wage is
sues emerging on the horizon. Tit
economic research departments q
these corporations have been study
ing the monetary implications of al
these projects, in the expectation
that they will be major issues II
1913, possibly outranking the ques'
ton of hourly wage rates when bar
gaming begins on contract renewals
General Motors already contri,
butes to a retirement plan for 1t
higher paid salaried employees. Gen
eral Motors of Canada, subsidiary
has recently instituted pension
system for its 5000 production
workers.
The United Mine Workers, thank
to Secretary of the Interior Krug
who negotiated the agreement unde1
which the miners are now working
already have cleared the first BIZ
hurdle on non-wage issues and hav'
won themselves death and acct
dent fund supported by royalt,
on coal production.
! distributed by the CHICAGO Daily News