Word: reuthers
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...Detroit last week the word "settlement" had begun to lose its meaning. Three weeks ago General Motors agreed with United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther on the economic clauses of a new three year contract only to see a majority of G.M. plants shut down by local disputes over work rules. Last week Reuther and G.M. Negotiator Louis Seaton settled the major noneconomic points in the contract, including such delicate matters as toilet time and pay for union shop chairmen. But still walkouts caused a shutdown in 39 G.M. plants, crippled production at another...
Well before the extended deadline for the 1961 auto negotiations expired, General Motors Negotiator Louis Seaton and United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther had all but wrapped up a national economic agreement (TIME, Sept. 15). Then, just as the nation was congratulating itself on another industrial dispute peacefully solved, the trouble erupted. Choosing his words delicately, Reuther explained that all G.M. workers are entitled to 24 minutes off the assembly line each day "to take care of their personal needs." But. charged Reuther, G.M. was denying workers this inalienable right by refusing to put enough extra men on the line...
Broken Yo-Yo. Each of the strikes was a local affair called by a local union leader anxious to assert his authority. Like children out to embarrass their parents in public, local leaders went much further than Reuther expected, as they wrangled with G.M. plant negotiators over 11,000 issues ranging from the utterly frivolous (time off for deer hunting) to the undeniably serious (job transfer rights...
...openly blamed Reuther for causing the mess with a telegram he had dispatched to the locals telling them they were free to go on strike if they had no agreement on local issues when the national deadline came. Piqued Government officials agreed that Reuther had blundered badly with his telegram, mistakenly believing that he had his members on a Yo-Yo, could call them out for a few days to put a bit of extra pressure on G.M. and then send them back...
Empty Pipelines. For G.M. the damage had been done. Under pressure from Labor Secretary Goldberg (see cover), the toilet-time issue was quickly compromised: G.M. agreed to guarantee enough relief workers to spell each man for his 24 minutes, and Reuther dropped a demand for an extra 15 minutes relief time. By week's end, local agreements had been signed between G.M. and 72 of the striking locals...