The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-03-23
Senators Thank Auto Workers Chief
For Testimony On Social Security

/ Washington LPA)--A dozen OF
the leading members of the Senate
listened with unusual attention to
J lecture March Is ON the need for
i sclappng the assumption that
there will always be scarcity OF
the good things Of ife. The speak
, er was Auto Workers President
\ Walter Reuther, testifying on So
cial security before the Senate Fin
ance committee. Both Republicans
and Democrats joined in thanking
him for the testimony, an unusual
gesture in this highly politically
minded committee.
"The American economy is free
| dom's greatest asset" and in the
cold war, where psychological
weapons are as important as A
bombs" Reuther said, our allies
abroad want us to answer two
questions: what is the US doing
about unemployment, and what is
it doing to insure its older citizens
a decent and secure old age? These
were the two questions most often
asked during his recent European
visit, he observed.
| "We're the most powerful union
| in America" he said of the UAW,
pointing out that last year in the
| Ford contract they were able to
win employer-paid pensions. A
sound pension plan is the point at
issue in Chrysler strike, and the
same issue will be in the forefront
during GIN negotiations starting
soon, he added. However, the UAW
president said, the union is con-
vinced that pensions should be
settled as matter of economic
fact, not by show Of economic
power, and should be available to
every American, mot just dues
Ipaying members of unions"
Besides universal coverage for
retirement benefits, Reuther back
ed the CLOS program which calls
for higher pensions, calculated on
"a wider wage base, to break down
the double standard" which means
"those who have high incomes out
lof which they can save for their old
lage are amply provided in addition
with pensions in their old age:
Those who receive incomes so small
THAT they cannot save for their old
lage are Offered so-called pensions
THAT, In many states, are less than
half as much as can be obtained in
relief from state and county well
| fare agencies"
| The cost Of the improved bene-
fits under the House-approved bill
now before the Senate committee
would be $l.3 billions a year. The
cost of the CLOS level of benefits
would be $6.3 billions a year in
1865.
/ Tackling head-on the timid ones
who object to the ClO plan on
grounds of costs, Reuther related
the S6.3 billion cost to the size of
the US economy. In 1865, he said,
we can expect an increase in pro-
ductlvlty, not even taking into
account any application of atomic
know-how to production, of over
$500 billions. This means we'd be
putting aside out of our total ma
tional production less than two per
cent to help people in their old age.
The $6.3 billion cost is less than
we spent in one week in World
War II, Reuther told the impressed
Senator's.
The highest velocity dollars" in
the whole US would be the money
paid to pensioners Reuther pointed
out, since these men and women
aren't boarding their cash but
spending il on food and clothing
and doctor care and immediate ex-
penses.
A fifth Freedom" which he calls
freedom from fear of scarcity.
was urged on the Senator by Reu-
ther. "lf we have full employment
these costs look low" he insisted.
There is no place where the gap
is so great between what we prac-
tice and what we preach as in our
treatment of the problems of the
aged"
Reuther presented to the com
mittee the first draft of an ade-
quate budget for elderly couples,
on which the JAWS research de-
partment has worked for four
months. The union is finding, he
pointed out, that present budgets
are ridiculously small, and that
there's still no generally accepted
yardstick by which to measure
benefit needs.
He pointed out that, for even a
"woefully inadequate" standard of
living in. Detroit, the UAW econ
omists found it would take about
STA a month to exist. If this yard