Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-04
Long-Term Labor Poets
Are Subject Of Debate

which are negotiated from
year to year. AS a result. the
latter will seem more desirable
from a labor viewpoint.
With business at such a high
level, and labor in a sellers
market, reaction against the
long-term wage contract may
already be setting in. UAW-
CLIO President Walter P. Reu-
Their, for instance, ditched his
five-year automobile contracts
when they expired last year.
and wanted to renew only for
two years. He compromised
on three years.
General Electric got its first
long-term contract, for five
years, last August. But James
B. Carey. president of the
electrical workers union, had
little part in that settlement
and has been fighting hard
against giving the same five
year deal to Westinghouse.
now beset by a four-month- old
strike.
Mr.. Mcdonald is not inter-
ested in a long-term wage deal
in basic steel. The steelwork-
ers have always bargained an
nually ON wages. even when
they had longer contracts COW
ering other matters, and will
probably continue to do so.
5-Yeor Pact Criticized
A f1ve-year wage contract
negotiated by the Washington
Post and Times-Herald unit of
the Washington Newspaper
Guild was criticized by ma
tional officers of the news
paper union as "a bad prece-
dent"
The deferred annual in
creases in theory reflect the
trend of increased produc-
tivity, so that their cost should
be absorbed without raising
prices through greater unit
production per man-hour.
The productivity increase has
been about 3 per cent a year,
from 1947 to 1858, and about
per cent in each of the past
two years.
Evan Clague, commissioner
of the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics, finds it difficult to estab-
fish any short-range connec-
ton between wage rates and
productivity.
"One thing we know" he
said recently, productivity
achievements differ greatly
among industries, even among
business concerns in the same
industry"
An economic consultant to
the steel industry, DR.. Jules
Backman, professor of eco
Monies at New York Univer-
sity, has been quoted as being
of similar view.
1.-THE deferred fixed annual
wage increase assumes a regu-
lar increase in productivity
which just does not take place
in our economy" DR.. Backman
told the magazine Nations
Business. There is a serious
question of trying to impose
uniform annual wage increases
based on nonuniform pro-
ductivity increases merely be-
cause, over a long period Of
years, they have moved for
ward in the same direction
and in the same magnitude"
Stability is cited as the chief
advantage of long-term wage
contracts.
LESS frequent negotiations
mean more security for en-
ployers, employees and the
public against descriptions of
economic losses caused by
strikes" according to John
S. Bugas, vice president in
charge of industrial relations
at Ford Motor Co. This in
creased stability permits more
management concentration on
meeting the expanding needs
of our competitive economy;
it enables management to plan
for the future with greater
confidence" Mr.. Bugas said.
Eosier on Employer
Frank o. Blunden of Detroit.
chairman of the employers
committee which negotiated
the three-year Central States
agreement with the Transfers
Union, points out that long
term contracts relieve the en-
ployer of the constant fear of
work stoppages.
1T becomes possible, there
fore" he feels, "for the en-
ployer to work out a definite
future plan which will enable
him to reduce his costs to a
point necessary to meet a wage
increase which is impending
upon a given date in the
future; or, if he is unable to
reduce his costs, it gives him
an opportunity to seek a price
adjustment consistent with his
competitive situation"
Teamster Boss James r.
Hoffa says long term contracts
eliminate the piecemeal and
sometimes irrational approach
to modern collective bargain
ing, and contribute to indus
trial stability and maximum
employe security without sac
rificing the historic rights of
either side.
Here are the hourly in
creases which workers will get
this year and in the future as
a result Of existing labor con-
tracts:
Cnff -nooI y,oiy,;ro. Toy, na,ate