Evening star., 1950-05-25
Writer Hints BIunder
Made by Union Chiefs
In ChrysIer Strike
Workers Coined Nothing
Thot Bargaining Could
Not Have Obtuined
Bv David Laurence

By David Laurence
Do strikes really pay of either
to the workers or to the COM
panies? This issue has always
been pertinent. but it is even
more so now that the General
Motors settlement with the United
Automobile Workers Union has
been announced, for it raises
question of why $4,000 Chrysler
workers were deprived Of pay by
a bitter strike for more than 100
days.
The record shows that Chrysler
workers actually averaged one
cent per hour better pay than
General Motors workers in the
last year or more and that the
pension plan which was finally
granted by General Motors could,
so far as the main features are
concerned, have been obtained
without a strike at the Chrysler
plants, since they we're embodied
in one Of the early offers by that
company.
What Record Shows.
The record also shows that no
real test has ever occurred on the
matter of acceptance by a union
of any substantial wage cut under
the sliding scale formula which
adjusts wages to the index of the
United States Bureau of Labor
statistics. While in two instances
the unions were obliged to take
cut on the cost-of Living basis and
local strikes were threatened, the
amounts involved were almost
Immediately compensated for by
General Motors with a separate
wage increase previously stipu-
lated in the contract as IAN an
nual improvement" factor. In
third instance, the company
waived the cut and needed a pro-
test that there was something
wrong with the Governments
index. This implies that similar
protests may be made in the fu-
ture. AS matter of fact. Secre-
tary OF Labor Tobin has just an
nounced that he is revising and
improving" the bureaus index
and putting 1t on "modernized
postwar basis" - whatever that
means to future negotiations.
Many companies, like Chrysler,
preferred straight increase a
couple years ago to the cost-of-
living sliding scale. AS it turns
out. the current rate at General
Motors from May 20, 1948, to
March /, 1850. involved an in
crease ranging during that in
terval from IL cents to IA cents
an hour. whereas Chrysler's grant
on nat 13-cent increase in 1948
turned out actually to be on an
average 1-cent-an-hour better
than G. MS for the same period.
On the question Of whether
the new General Motors contract
Is subject to reopening even though
its provisions explicitly provide
that 1t cannot be opened for five
years. the experience of the Chrys-
Ter Corp. with the UAW shows
that when work stoppages are
threatened pressure is exerted
and no matter what the contract
provides there are reopened ne
gotiations. Thus the Chrysler Co.
had a letter in writing stating
that pensions were not to be part
OF any recpening on wages in the
contract due to expire in 1850 but
this was of no avail.
Strike Achieved Nothing.
1t Is interesting to note that
had the UAW leaders waited on
the pension issue for the Chrysler
contract to expire in August 1850.
the employees of that company
would now be getting the benefits
OF the General Motors contract so
far as pensions are concerned, and
the probabilities are that there
would have been a wage increase
besides, thus improving upon the
nat 13-cent-an-hour raise granted
nearly two years ago.
This indicates that the leader
ship Of the UAW may have sacri-
feed the interests Of the Chrysler
employees by forcing an un-
necessary strike. Now, with plenty
OF fanfare, the General Motors
settlement is hailed as a great
achievement. 1t is an achieve
ment so far as that company is
concerned, but it tends neverthe-
less to obscure the fact that the
Chrysler strike inflicted unneces-
sary loss on $4,000 employees of
Chrysler and on dealers and
merchants indirectly affected by
the work stoppage.
Some day the facts on the
Chrysler strike will be reviewed
by faction in the UAW engaged
IN reviewing the work of their
present leaders and it will not
be surprising to find that a CO.
loSsal blunder was made. A strike
was forced by the union at Chrys-
Ter that achieved nothing which
could not have been obtained by
easy bargaining after the General
Motors settlement had been ef-
fectAd