Evening star., 1949-01-02
Industrial Relations
Changed Overnight
By Election Results
By Mox Hall
Associoted Press Labor Reporter


The year 194S brought an over.
night change in the industrial rela.
tions picture. 1t happened on No.
vember 2-3.
American business, as result o1
the election, suddenly faces the
prospect of changes in the Fedora
and State labor laws, to the ad.
vantage of unions.
President Truman won on ar
anti-Taft- Hartley Act platform, anc
the Democrats captured control oi
Congress and gained strength ir
State governments.
A pendulum swing back to thu
original Wagner Act is unlikely, but
new Federal law somewhere be.
tween Taft-Hartley and Wagner is
in the cards. What happens in Con-
gress is likely to be reflected in
many State Legislatures.
Unions More Confident.
Business also faces a changed
group of labor leaders. These men
after two years largely on the de-
fenSive, have received a psychologist
cal boost. With their new feeling
of confidence and Importance, they
are planning big organizing drives
and other bursts of energy.
So the election must be counted
as the top labor development OF
1948.
There were other events of last
ing Importance:
l. Wages went up again. So did
prices. And the price rise indicates
new wage demands in 1949. But
the wage situation was affected by
the enormously important fact that
prices leveled off in the last quarter
OF the year. Employers and unions
getting ready for the coming
months, were studying the price in
dex anxiously as the year ended.
2. Unions began a surge toward
obtaining pension plans and other
forms of insurance benefits. Re-
tired coal miners began receiving
pensions after a long battle. Also
the National Labor Relations Board
ruled that employers must bargain
with unions concerning pensions
and insurance programs. The next
year or two will bring widespread
demands for such benefits, espe-
claIy in case of an economic slump
Strikes Decrease Slightly.
3. Strikes decreased a little. But
picket line violence increased some-
what. Strike idleness in l948 is
expected to run in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 900 man-days, COM
pared with 34,60O.000 in 1947. The
record is 1l6,0O0,OO0 man-days in
1916.
4. The rout Of the Communists in
the labor movement continued.
More CIO unions swung to the
right. At the CIO convention.
President Philip Murray condemned
the CLOS left-wingers. Business
observed the process with interest
1t meant that more employers were
being freed from the necessity OF
dealing with Communists. But it
did not necessarily mean that union
leadership was growing less militant
toward the employers.
In the wage field, a big turning
point of 1948 was the agreement
reached May Is by General Motors
and the CIO United Auto Workers.
This contract was important be-
cause it touched off the third round
Of postwar wage raises in heavy
manufacturing industries, and also
because OF its unusual and expert
mental nature.
The contract provided for an i'm
mediate raise of II cents an hour
and for later raises or decreases at
three-month intervals over a two
year period If the cost of living
rose or fell by a certain amount.
1t also provided for an automatic
raise of 3 cents each year to i'm
prove the workers standard of liv-
ing.
Management and labor will be
watching to see how this contract
works out during the next IL
months.