Evening star., 1949-09-22

In Steel Mediation
Negotiations to Resume
With Emphasis on Who
ShaII Poy for Pensions
BY Dapid Laurence
d: Face saving" seems to be one
OF the most highly developed arts
OF mediation In labor disputes.
To Cyrus Ching, director of the
United States Cancellation and
Mediation Service, must 60 the
credit for being able to manipu-
late words that spare feelings and
yet bring agreement where there
has been disagreement.
The dispute over whether COL
lective bargaining should be re-
s,lmed in the controversy between
the steel unions and companies
was truly a debate over words" !"
as Mr.. Ching expressed it when
he first tried to get the parties
together. But the adroit use of
words to solve the matter was
even more necessary.
So it turns out now that in
stead of accepting" the findings
and recommendations" of the
fact finding board appointed by
the President, the steel companies
have agreed to give "the greatest
weight and the most earnest con-
alteration" to the boards report.
Both Sides Are Happy.
Philip Murray, head of the
seelworkers' union, finds this
satisfactory, because President
Truman IN his telegram to both
sides spoke also of the fact-flnd-
ing report "as statesmanlike
formula for fair and equitable
settlement Of the disputes in the
steel industry" MIR. Murray had
called it basis" and the Presi-
dent used the word "basis," too.
So both sides are happy.
The layman who is unfamiliar
with the niceties of words and the
finer meanings of the phrases used
will wonder what the quibbling
vas about. Didn't MIR. Murray
say all along that what he wanted
the steel companies to do was
to accept" the report as a basis"
for collective-bargaining negotia-
tions? And didn't the steel COM
panies say they were willing to
resume collective bargaining nego-
tiations? Each side distrusted the
others meaning-so mediation
ensued.
Actually, under the Federal
laws, unions are obliged to bargain
collectively, so Mr.. Murray could
not really have called a strike
without leaving his union open
to charge of unfair labor prac-
tice" before the National Labor
Relations Board. Certainly it is
not good strategy for a union to
call a strike when the record
shows it has not bargained collec-
tively. To. reach an impasse be-
cause one side or the other refused
10 accept the fact finding report
vas to fly IN the face of the re-
luirements OF the law, which says
hat negotiations must proceed a
reasonable length of time. Ger
.ainly both sides had agreed in
advance that they would not re-
gard the fact finding boards re-
bort as binding" anyway.
>a- Who Shall Pay?
So now, after a few days of
Earring. the negotiations are on.
eanwhile, emphasis has zen
laced on the controversy about
,;;.ao shall pay for social insurance
md pensions. Shall it be an ex-
..:cnse financed entirely by the
r>mpany or shall it be paid in part
y the employer and in part by
rnploye contributions in what is
:nown as a "contributory" sys-
ccm? -...
President Truman himself was
in an embarrassing position with
respect to this issue, for Uncle
Sam, as an employer. insists that
Federal employees must pay reg
ularly every month, into retire.
ment fund to which the Govern
ment contributes, too. Likewise.
contributions to Social Security
itself are by law apportioned to
both employees and employers on
a fixed ratio.
The steel companies have been
under attack here. with memo
rarda issued by the steel workers
ur pointing to the pensions
pc to executives Of u. S. Steel
W i involve high payments on
re 'ement.
There is a good argument. for
paying q valuable executive a
large salary and making substan-
tial provision for retirement lest
he accept the offer Of some other
company which will recognize his
talents and abilities. CIO union
leaders. however, do not recognize
that argument. They contend
that everybody should tend to-
ward common level Of compen-
sation. though in recent years
even the labor leaders are getting
salaries that run $25 1000 or more
Q year.
Pensions are based on the SAL
ary earned while In the employ Of
a company. The problem has
dozens of angles and only after
comprehensive studies can sys-
TENS of social insurance and pen
sions be worked out that will re-
late to the capacity of the COM
panies to make increased pay
ments and yet deal fairly with
stockholders and with the public