Word: labor
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Please Go Home. Although he considered Bethlehem's response excessive, the President granted that the cost of the industry's new labor contract was "high." Ironically, one consideration facilitating settlement was the knowledge that a steel strike, with its inevitably depressing consequences for both the economy and the Viet Nam war effort, would have provoked White House intervention. Union representatives and Chief Industry Negotiator R. Conrad Cooper of U.S. Steel shrouded their meetings in unaccustomed secrecy, avoided the usual inflammatory statements. When Federal Mediator Simkin showed up to offer his assistance, he was politely told to go home...
WHEN the steel industry reached agreement with the United Steelworkers of America last week on a new labor contract providing for annual wage-and-benefit increases of 6%, Federal Labor Mediator William B. Simkin lauded the settlement as "an outstanding achievement of bargaining." When Bethlehem Steel Corp. followed with price increases, Washington's reaction was far different. Labeling Bethlehem's price hikes "unreasonable," Lyndon Johnson said that they "should not be permitted to stand." To that end, his Administration took action to limit U.S. Government purchase of steel for defense purposes to those companies that hold the line...
Echoing the President's opinion that sweeping price increases were unwarranted, White House aides claimed that the higher cost of the steel settlement could be partially made up in higher productivity. They also noted that labor accounts directly for only 40% of the price of steel. In any event, suggested one Government economist, steel companies could help combat inflation by absorbing at least part of the cost of higher wages instead of "asking the American people...
...steelworkers affected, the contract was especially lucrative when compared with the wage-and-benefit gains of about 3.5% won in the last steel negotiations in 1965. Since then, the Johnson Administration's onetime 3.2% wage-price guidelines have taken a beating. Although the White House has urged labor to hold its new contract gains to 5.5%, wage increases in recent months have approached or exceeded the 6% level in the building trades and the automobile, aluminum, copper and aerospace industries. Indeed, Abel could hardly have faced his workers with any gains much below 6%. The wave of generous settlements...
Soon this is going to change. After years of dawdling, the Labor government finally announced its plan to help set up a domestic aluminum industry. British Aluminium Co. .(partly owned by Reynolds Metals of the U.S.) and the British mining concern, Rio Tinto-Zinc Corp., received the go-ahead to build two smelting plants. They are expected to produce an annual 224,000 tons of ingots by 1971 and save $100 million a year on imports...