Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1947-05-09
Labor And Prices

Ever since the development of the
capitalist economy, labor has been fight
ing the price.prOfit system for the right
to occupy place on earth.
Mass production which should have
brought to the workers larger measure
of security and greater benefits, has be-
come instead constant threat to the Sc
curity of labor because employment is
contingent upon consumption, and con-
sumption depends upon wages.
The question of what shall constitute
a fair profit to the owners of the tools OF
production has been debated for many
years and has been subject to varying in
terpretations dependent upon which side
of the labOr-management fence indi-
viduals stood.
Despite conflicting interests and a
certain amount of justifiable partisanShip
or the part of those who sit on opposite
sides of the bargaining table, economic
facts cannot be denied nor explained away
by mere rhetoric or the glib arguments of
have spoken for themselves in the past,
are speaking now and shall continue to
speak.
We have had innumerable peaks and
valleys of production and prosperity. We
shall have, and no doubt will have more
ups and downs before a final showdown
TO determine which is the more important
excessive profits for the few, or as good
a living as the wealth of the country can
provide for the many.
1t is as simple as that, and it is not
over-simplification. Over-SimplifiCation is
what leads to the economic valleys of re-
cessions and depressions. Maintaining
prosperity for the masses of the people
seems to be the only intricate problem.
And in this intricate problem, consti-
tuting one of the major links to the sOlu-
ton of how to establish a stable economy,
is the wages paid TO the people who use
the tools of production to turn out all the
goods that make for better and fuller
life.
From the collective wages paid to the
workers of America comes the collective
purchasing power of the nation. When
wages are out of balance with the prices
of the things the workers produce, we
have what has been termed "OverprOduc-
ton and underconsumptiOn," condition
which merely means unemployed, under
paid, underfed ill housed, poorly clothed
and all the other terms which have been
used to describe the plight of people in
the midst of depression.
- A. l.
day, now. 1t is not something that can
occur next year, or two or three or five
years from now, but now. II is a cOndi-
ton which labor seeks to arrest because
the workers of the nation primarily are
interested in preserving their own stand
ards of living and raising them. 1t is be-
cause labor recognizes that the welfare of
the nation is more dependent upon the
welfare Of the many than the profits of
the few.
These are the thoughts which motivate
the labor movement today as ii seeks to
bring its wages up to national wage pat
tern. These are the ideas of labor which
is completely aware that il isn't the
amount of money that the workers receive
for their services, but the amount of goods
and services which their wages will pur-
chase for them.
And with these thoughts in mind, labor
must continue to fight now, as ii has from
the beginning to bring all the parts of
the economic system into balance. With
out this synchronizing of all the gears we
are headed for another economic debacle,
domestic crisis, more wars, chaos, and per-
haps ultimate destruction.
Let those who sit across the table from
labor during these days of wage negotia-
tions bear these thoughts in mind and rise
to their responsibility. They possess the
most and have the most to lose If we con-
tinue to fail to deal realistically with eco
nOmic facts.