Toledo Union Journal

Wage Hike Required Now

WASHINGTON, July 10, (LPA) - There was a lot of talk in the nation's capital during the past week about the need of easing up on wage controls, but little real action.

Some progress was made inside the Nat'l War Labor Board which for several weeks has been discussing a revised wage policy for the reconversion period.

Other proposed changes would clear the way to pay raises in those industries where wage rates have lagged most sharply behind living costs and where workers' earnings are being slashed by downgrading and reclassifications.

Outright boosting of the little steel formula is still in the distance. Some public members were reputed to have leaned for a while toward the idea of raising the little steel ceiling to 30% which would bring across-the-board increases to a level with the official cost-of-living index. During the past week, however, the public members retreated from the proposal.

Concessions so far indicated by the public members are encouraging, but don't go far enough, laborites declared. A real wage program, one that would ensure preservation of purchasing power and avert a post-war economic collapse, must include, they said, a boost in hourly rates of at least 30%, sufficient to cover both the advance in the cost of living and the decline in take-home pay as working hours fall.

It is time, union spokesmen contend, for Vinson and the Administration to suit the deed to the word - and put into effect substantial wage increases now.

One of the plans gaining headway would give the "green light" to wage increases negotiated voluntarily between unions and managements, even though these exceed the little steel formula - provided such pay boosts aren't used as a basis for demanding price hike.

Labor Pushes Plan

Labor members have been pushing this plan as one major cornerstone of a revised wage program to protect workers' earnings from taking a nosedive -and public members were reported to be favorable to the idea.

The plan would also pave the way to at least a partial return to free collective bargaining.

Some union chiefs are confident that, given a free hand to negotiate wage raises within present price levels, they can "go to town" in many industries which have been rolling in fat wartime profits and which can easily grant higher pay rates without affecting prices.

Another revision being discussed would involve a new directive from the White House giving the board greater leeway than it now has to grant wage adjustments for correction of inequalities.