Word: backed
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...historic week for Wall Streeters. Led by such blue chips as U.S. Steel and Standard Oil (N.J.), the Dow Jones industrial average broke through the 520 level that has been a barrier three times before, climbed to an alltime record high of 526.57 before settling back to 526.43. What gave the market its record-breaking push was the same combination of improving business news, institutional buying and fear of inflation that has sent it on one of the steepest climbs in history...
After five months of trying to get "the biggest package ever," United Auto Workers' President Walter Reuther last week settled with Ford for far less. He got just about what Ford-and the other carmakers-offered back in April. Reuther joined with Ford Vice President and Chief Negotiator John Bugas to announce "a sound and equitable agreement ... a three-year contract .. . fair to the workers, the company and the American public...
...enough high-sounding but low-cost fringe benefits so that Reuther, who had long ago scrapped his grandiloquent profit-sharing schemes, could save face. Fordman Bugas hurried to a special evening meeting of Ford's board in Dearborn. He returned with a few penny-ante sweeteners. Reuther stepped back into the conference room, as union stewards cheered him along the hallway: "Give 'em hell, Walter," "Go get 'em, old Redhead...
...daybreak Bugas stopped bargaining to see the Ford board again, came back with more contract "refinements." At 10 a.m. the strike deadline passed, and 98,000 Ford workers went out while the U.A.W. hastily readied telegrams urging them to please go back to work. A few hours later Fordman John Bugas, happy that he had bagged the management's best contract since World War II, stretched out his hand to Reuther. "Walter," he beamed, "you've got yourself a deal...
...years is coming into production. Steadily rising labor costs have forced industry into a major drive to produce more with fewer workers, placing new emphasis on automation and efficiency. Last week's wage boosts in Detroit (see State of Business) will accelerate the automakers' drive to cut back. Said a vice president of a major steel company: "Labor fails to understand the fact that the more expensive labor gets, the more incentive there is to eliminate it. It costs us $25 a day for every steelworker that walks through the gate. Naturally, there is a great incentive...