The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1951-01-25
Urges Price Lids
Now, But Says
Wages Lag Behind

Washington (LPA) - To cope
with the peril facing this country
and the rest of the free world
Stringent and enforceable controls
are needed Immediately on consum.
er and raw material prices" So
President AL Hayes Of the Interna-
tional Association Of Machinists-
AFL told the second annual Ma.
tional Forum on Trucking Indus
trial Relations.
But, Hayes added, it is the Ma
chinists' "firm conviction that the
time has not arrived to impose g
freeze on wage ceilings" He sale
this was based on the facts, not OF
labor's desire for a special exempt.
ion from controls. He followed witt
an historical review of wage-price
movements since the end Of World
War ii.
First off, he said, as soon as
wartime controls were lifted, many
prices rose and others remained at
the war level although opponents
Of price regulation had predictet
a price slump. An upward tren
continued until the outbreak of tn
Korean conflict and corporation
enjoyed "golden age" of profits
Since then prices have moved fast.
er.
But right after the war, labor
actually suffered a reduction II
wages" This stemmed from actua'
reductions, from shorter work
weeks and from unemployment
The postwar labor movement was
strong enough at first to raise
wages through its own efforts but
in 1949 the .Taft-Hartley act slow
ed the unions down. "The result
was" said Hayes, "that under our
so-called free economy industry
was released from all controls and
ldDOI was HODDltu.
AS soon as American troops
moved into Korea, "some segments
Of the business world, at the retail
w h 0 e l e and manufacturing
levels, began to mark up prices
What's more, the LAM head declar-
ed, there was no reason for the new
beyond a psychological
belief that war means high prices.
Post-Korean wage increases are
something else again, Hayes point
ed out. Many workers haven't re-
ceived them and labor can't win a
raise just by saying it wants one,
the process by which
prices are boosted is generally that
simple. Pay hikes must be obtain
ed through negotiation, mediation,
fact-finding, and even strikes in
the midst of debate by a public
which generally is misinformed
''You will see," said Hayes, "that
the wage increases which have
occurred have not kept pace with
the rise in living costs seen in the
upward movement of prices"
There's another thing about
wages, he continued. "The wagel
figures do not tell the whole story.
Wages to workers mean only the
and kind of things their
families can buy with them. And
men and their wives dol
not need to consult the price index |
to learn that their wages have not
kept pace with price increases"
It's nonsense to contend that
wage increases cause prices to rise,
Hayes insisted. He cited figures
showing that prices of raw mater
ais such as copper, wool, pig iron,
in, oil, and rubber have risen from
) p to 124 percent since June.
Labor is a negligible cost factor
n producing these raw materials
le said and labor costs have gone
Up less than 2 percent anyway.
There will have to be manpowerl
too, Hayes contended, for
wo principal reasons. One is that,
comparatively speaking, there are
ever workers to staff production
,lants than there were in World
Var II. The other is that modern
lrmies require the same skilled
echnicians that industry requires.
at is my further opinion" Hayes
"that in the crisis now
lpon US, and that crisis will grow
Ieeper, the national effort will
iced the undivided attention and
ull cooperation Of all of us. | firm
Y believe that this is the time for
very man and every woman with
n our borders to come to the aid |
f the United States of America.