The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-04-01
Fourth Round
Wage Raise
BY CLARKE BEACH

be decided at the conference
tables -
Workers representatives will
ask:
Have raises up to now met
the rise in the cost of living?
Have they been enough to pro-
vide the worker with his share
of the growing output per man
per hour made possible through
chronological and other adj
vances?
Employers will ask:
Is business good enough and
is the outlook favorable enough
to justify giving wage raises?
If the employees forced a raise,
would industry have to raise
pricos, thus adding another turn
to the rising spiral of initiation?
If prices could not be raised for
fear of losing buyers, would en-
ployes have to be laid off to
keep the business on a profit
able basis?
CLIO economists, in the latest
issue of the CLIO News, already
have called for wage raises. One
big employer already is COM
mitted to an increase - Gener-
al Motors. The contract which
the automobile manufacturer
made last year with its 270, 900
production workers provided
for a 3-cents-an-hour raise on
May 20, 1949.
This is for increased produc-
tivity or, as it is called by some,
"the annual Improvement fac
tor. The recent cut in wages
which GIN employees took was
an adjustment to the lowered
cost of living, another provision
of last years contract. But the
productivity raise has nothing
to do with the cost of living.
Workers in a large number
of smaller industries are getting
raises. The Department of La
Dor reveals this in its monthly
report, Current Wage Develop
ments. Of 435 contracts re-
viewed in the January and Feb
ruary issues, raises were grant
ed in all but Is cases. But both
AFL and CLIO textile unions
failed to receive wage raises.
An arbitrator said business con-
ditions were such that pay rails
es would be likely to result in
lay-offs harmful both to work.
ers and employers.
And the United Shoe Work.
ers (CIO) sought a raise from
10 Massachusetts, shoe manu-
facturers but failed to get it.
The Amalgamated Clothing
Workers (CIO) asked for no
increase. Increases granted so
far are not all fourth round.
It's the fifth raise since the
wars end for some industries,
only the first or second for
others.
All eyes this spring will be
on the Consumers Price Index
of the Bureau of Labor Stats
tics. The index, which is a
measure of living costs. has
dropped to 1909 from its all
time peak of 174.5 last August.
Since 1889 the average week.
ly wage in manufacturing in
dustries has increased from
$23.86 to $54.54 as of October,
1948. The rise in the wages
of bituminous coal miners has
been perhaps the most spectac-
ular - from $23.88 a week in
1899 to $76.40 last October. In
terms of real wages, however,
the workers have not improved
their lot nearly so much. The
$54.54 which the average fac
tory worker was getting in Oc-
tober would buy no more than
$31,23 in 1899.
The Labor Department has
figured out that the average
factory worker, although re-
ceiving a raise of 1881 per cent
since 1899, has gained only 800
per cent in purchasing power.
The bituminous coal miners
have increased their purchas-
ing power 1872 per cent.
But some other kinds of en-
ployes have done much worse.
Brokerage house employees real
wages went up only 3.6 per
cent. The real wages of en-
ployes of insurance firms have
dropped 14.9 per cent.
The Presidents Council of
Economic Advisers said in its
year-end report: Substantial
wage increases are still called
for in a number of instances
where wages are substandard".
But the council added. push
ing for the highest possible
wage advance is dangerous to
the economy in a period when