Evening star., 1949-09-11

Sulll1lldly VI tA1C oVCSA A"Ne AAAAA
Listening are Walter
Id Mcdonald, Steelworker secreta
dations.
after Mr.. Truman won consent
of the unions and the steel COM
panies to present their cases be-
fore the fact-flnders during a 60
day truce period. At that time
the unions had set July 16 for
strike. The industry agreed only
reluctantly to the Presidents pro-
posal and insisted the dispute
should be handled as a national
emergency under the provisions
of the ft-Hartley Act. which
provides for fact finding board re-
ports but without recommend
ations.
The Presidents actions culmi-
mated a period of several weeks
negotiation which amounted Writ
ually to a domestic war of nerves.
The negotiations broke down
and then Mr.. Truman won ap-
proval of the plan for fact
finding board, empowered to make
recommendations, by telling the
reluctant steel producers, Surely,
you are not afraid to have your
side of this dispute examined in
the public interest
The board held its first public
hearing July % in New York and
subsequent hearings throughout
August.
Much of the hearings were de-
voted to consideration Of the wage
isshe. The union insisted on wage
increases and bolstered its de-
mand by a report from Robert
Nathan, economist employed by
the CIO, who said that "substan-
tial wage increases" would barely
dent the steel industry's profit
structure. MIR. Nathan placed the
steel companies profits at 12.1 per
cent in 1948, or five times the in
dustry's 1889 earnings of S13l.-
100000. The first quarter of 1949
the economist also said. indicated
"a record-breaking 1874 per cent
profits.
But the fact finders brushed
aside these arguments and in its
reort, prepared after an unsuc-
cessful mediation attempt on Au-
gust 81, rejected the unions con-
tention that it should have more
wages because Of the steel indus
try's soaring profits.
It went exhaustively into the
wages and profits situation and
concluded that the present hour
ly earnings Of the steelworkers
compare favorably with all other
manufacturing workers.
Since there are no "inequities," "
the board held, 1t recommended
that the union withdraw its re-
quest for a general wage in
crease"
His Profits Acknowledged.
It acknowledged that steel
profits were high and said that
the reported profits in 1949 may
run to S6O6 100000. But it held
that wage rates in a particular
industry should not be tied direct
ly to the productivity Of that in
dustry" but rather to the gen
eral industrial rise in produc-
tivity."
In this it held that the union
had failed to make out case in
it's claim that labor productivity
had risen 49.5 per cent in the
last 10 years while real earnings.
when imitation was considered had
increased only IA per cent.
The board pointed out that the
industry's recent policy Of plant
expansion and modernization "has
absorbed most of" its recent sub
stantial profits"
THE plant modernization and
expansion program, it added,
should result in eficiencies which,
other things being equal, will bet
ter enable the companies to meet
the cost of the insurance and
pension plans recommended, and
also to look toward lower level
of prices for their products.
Reference to Collective Bargaining.
The board also took note Of
two things outside the immediate
demands of the union-com-
plants against the practice Of
industry-wide bargaining, and the
charge that fact-finding boards
appointed by the President are a
blow to collective bargaining.
On the industry-wide bargain
ing issue, the board pointed out
that the practice in steel is such
that the entire industry usually
follows the pattern set by the
United States Steel Corp. and a
few other large companies.
"As q result" it said, there is
frequently little or no serious bar
gaining or discussion between
most of the individual employers
and the union"
This practice, the board said. is
clearly a variation from the ac-
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ING MACHINE