Evening star., 1959-12-09

The United SteelworkerS OF
negotiating a new contract \
after signing a settlement wit
Encirclement and isolation of
the steel companies was the
unions objective. 4
Secretary OF Labor MITCHELL
pressed his plan for settlement
of the steel strike through in I
tervention by fact finders or
arbitrators. He was trying to-,
shake the companies and the
union loose from their fixed
positions.
Federal mediators. meanwhile,
kept negotiations going at a
lackadiSical pace. They called
industry negotiators to a meet
ing today. without the union
bargaining team.
Union president David j. Nc
Donald, trying to wear down
steel management's resistance,
pushed ahead with his cam
paign to achieve settle
ment in aluminium. He directed
union committees to proceed
with negotiations in Chicago to-
day, and announced plans to
join the bargaining sessions
there next week - shunting
aside steel negotiations for al
while. II
Thres-Year Contract
Mr.. Mcdonald yesterday
scuttled the unions dispute (
with the American Can Co. and L
the Continental Can Co. He
estimated these manufacturers !,
granted wages and fringe bene- {,
fits worth 80 cents per man. /
hour during a three-year con- |,
tract covering $4,000 members /
of the steelworkers union. s
Union strategists viewed the
can agreement as a pattern for
eventual settlement of the steel
dispute. I'VE hope this will
bring some sense and reason
into the minds of the steel in
dustry," Mr.. Mcdonald said,
adding that American and Con-
tinental are the Nations biggest
individual consumers of steel. /
Can manufacturers normally
follow settlement patterns es-
tablished in steel, but reversed
the sequence this year. /
Arthur ]. Goldberg, the
unions general counsel, said
the three-year can agreement
was practically identical-on a
proportionate basis - to the
unions 20-month contract with
the Kaiser Steel Corp. and sew
eral smaller steel companies.
If can manufacturers and the
smaller steel companies can ac-
cept these terms, the union asks
in effect, why can't Big Steel
do the same? Mr.. Mcdonald
hopes to bolster this argument
by settling with the aluminium
industry-a competitor of steel
on similar terms.
Kaiser Settlement Spurned
But the major steel COM
panies already have said they
cannot accept the Kaiser settle
ment, which they call infia-
tionary. I
The new contract with the
can manufacturers provides
three annual wage increases
averaging 8.2 cents an hour
each, plus potential cost-of-
living adjustments totaling 6
cents an nour. plus liberaliza-
ton of pensions, insurance and
other fringe benefits.
The can contract makes no
change in existing provisions
governing local work rules. The
steel companies demand in
creased authority to change
work rules.
Secretary Mitchell used his
news conference yesterday as
a forum to urge both parties |
in the steel dispute to let an
outsider recommend a settle
ment, or to submit unresolved
issues to binding arbitration.
Recommendations could come
from a special board or from
Federal mediators, he said.
If both sides agreed to one
of the procedures. he said. the
principle of free collective bar
gaining would be preserved.
But r. Conrad Cooper. man
agement's chief negotiator. re-
minded reporters that the steel .
companies repeatedly have re- /,
jected the idea of intervention
by third parties. .,, +
Mcdonald Vet0es Arbitration
Although Mr.. Cooper has Of
fered to arbitrate the work rules
issue, he has said fact-f1nders
almost always recommend in
flationary settlements of dis
putes on wages and fringe bene-
fits.
Mr.. Mcdonald indorsed Mr.. !