Wednesdav, Ffbniarr I, ISM
PAGE T-B
More Federal Intervention Expected
As Labor Turmoil Sweeps Over U.S.
Editor's Note: Government in
terventinn, pressures to automate
and some very human fears are
increasingly important (actors in
labor-management relations. They
help explain the length and bit
terness of many of the strikes that
plague the nation now or threaten
to in the future. Ray Cromley
takes you behind the picket lines
and the public postures in this
exclusive report and analysis of
HERALD AVD NEWS, Klamath Falla. Ore.
a critical domestic problem.
By RAY CROMI.KY
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
WASHINGTON INE.V-You can
expect, more government inter
vention in major labor disputes.
Says one labor man:
"Now that the pattern has been
set there's no stopping it. In ma
jor strikes, the side that's weakest
will hold out for intervention, fig
uring it will get more that way."
Says a management man:
"One side or another will hold
out until the government steps in.
because then it can tell its people
'See, we battled to the last ditch,
but you can't fight the govern
ment.' "
The worry on both sides and
among neutral observers is that
waiting for intervention may lead
to longer disputes and more un
reasonable demands.
But even now, Washington old
cials are discussing detailed con
cepts for standby legislation which
could be presented if and when
the political time is ripe al
though possibly not this year.
Principal likely provisions would
give the president power to:
Set up a fact-finding board that
could recommend settlement
terms.
Order a strike postponed on his
own say-so instead of asking the
courts.
Seize and operate a strike
bound plant or industry.
Some officials are also arguing
for standby power to order com
pulsory arbitration in some cases.
President Kennedy is already
using, unofficially, the fact-finding
mediation board idea without
benefit of law.
Even as they're working on new
rules for more power, there's pri
vate unhappiness among many of
ficials, even in the Labor Depart
ment, over the results of govern
ment intervention thus far. Says
one department official bluntly:
' "Secretary Goldberg, for all his
ttMMMtr Ml
lei
RETRAINING Some union
swer fo automation problems.
pids, Mich.
genius in settling disputes, actu
ally postponed a lot of the prob
lems. We still have them with us.
They still have to be solved. And
by sending the Secretary of Labor
out time and again to settle dis
putes, we've blunted the instru
ment, made it less effective. We
keep having to add one more gim
mick on lop of the last."
What worries the Administra
tion is that it may he getting it
self onto a one-way street that
ran only lead to trouble. Here
then ils the dilemma the Presi
dent (aces:
On the one hand, his tough-
minded Defense Secretary Rob
ert S. McNamara, to eke t h c
most out of the billions he spends,
is quietly ordering defense sup
pliers to cut down on all excess
overhead, including "make-work"
and other "wasteful" labor prac
tices. He says he won't okay any
idem have decided that refraining is not the en-
Here some workers are being trained in Grand Ra-
'-J-!. " '
DOCK WORKERS The West Coesf longshoremen gave
the shipping industry the right to automate. Unions now
wonder if this has set contract pattern (or the future.
uch expenses in Defense Depart
ment payments.
Mr. Kennedy himself has put
out the word that industry should
automate much more rapidly to
stimulate the economy, increase
employment and compete with
foreign nations.
Many U.S. business managers.
faced with rough domestic and for
eign competition, have become
convinced that they must auto
mate faster and must have more
authority to change work rules
or they will stagnate and wither.
For years, management could
pass on new "make-work" costs to
the consumer in higher prices.
That day is going.
All these decisions would nor
mally cut the work force strong
ly, mean the firing of many men.
That's the other horn of Mr.
Kennedy's dilemma.
Even as the Administration Ls
putting heavy pressure on busi
ness to become more efficient,
other U.S. officials are encour
aging workers to push for con
tracts that would prevent busi
ness managers from firing men
replaced by machines.
So the squeeze is on business
managers. As McNamara is tell
ing them he won't pay for "make-
work" practices, the Labor De
partment is quietly backing labor
in ils stand for "job security."
This dilemma is going to get
worse.
Union men interviewed say that
more and more the chief issue
in major labor disputes is going
to be job security.
Many workmen arc now deter
mined to fight bitterly to prevent
rompanies from firing established
employes replaced by machines
United Steel Workers and the pact
between the West Coast longshore
men and the shipping industry.
These give management the right
to automate: they guarantee that
jobs won't be eliminated by those
changes: there is a snaring of the
results of productivity increases.
In an interview. Secretary of
-abor Willard Wirtz specifically
named these two agreements as
typical of what he would like to
see industry and labor work out
This change in the nature of
strikes is a tremendous force that
no one in government fully un
derstands. But Labor Department
men already reahza that these
new strikes are going to he more
difficult than many strikes in past
years, simply because they are
based on fear.
There is a growing belief in
labor groups that large unem
ployment is here to slay, that
neither the government nor any
one else is going to solve this
problem in the foreseeable fu
ture. Many working men helieve
therefore, that If they lose the
job they hold, they'll never find
another. They see automation
erasing millions of jobs. They see
the coal industry as typical. Here
employment dropped from 418,000
to 160,000 in 20 years.
Says one union man:
"Take a 55-year-old longshore
man, who s been on the nocks all
his life. Eire him and what does
he do? What can he do? He
doesn't know anything else.
Ua i-in'l Ka Irni.teH Inr anv. '
thing else or thinks he can t. So
f he loses his job he ligures
he's on the dump heap. So he's
nterested above all in security
not wages security. And he's
feared."
k I a
v j now is Time to
I IP n tf
rcaer nim copies
OF THE 1963 ANNUAL
Edition of the Herald and News
PUBLICATION DATE - SUNDAY, FEB. 24th
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They are going to fight to keep
feathcrbedding" and "m a k e- Many union men have decided
work" practices. When they've that retraining progiams aren't
exhausted every legal step, which
mav take vears in each case.
they'll fight for labor contracts
which guarantee workmen their
jobs against technological change
allow- the company to reduce
the work force only as sales slack
en or as men retire from old
age or voluntarily quit.
Two agreements that please
both labor unions and Depart
ment of Iwihor men are the pact
between Kaiser Sleel and the
the answer. Where retraining is
being tried, they say. only a small
fraction of the men are found suit
ahlc. In many rases where men
can be retrained, another union
has jurisdiction over those jobs.
It wants to preserve them for ils
own members. It doesn't want
men from another union coming
in.
So thee men are convinced
they're fighting for their only
chjnce to earn a living
51
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