Word: terme
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...uptrend, said G.M.'s boss, has already begun. Industrial production has recovered from the April low; housing starts, retail sales, Government expenditures and personal income are all moving up (see below). And for the longer term -by 1965-Curtice was even more optimistic. Reasons...
...negotiators hammered out new labor contracts in half a dozen big U.S. industries last week, long-term labor contracts that hand out automatic annual pay boosts came under increasing fire. In this recession year, more than 4,000,000 U.S. industrial workers will pocket automatic increases averaging 8? an hour under contracts signed during the boom years of 1955-56-57; some 4,300,000 U.S. workers will also take home cost-of-living raises averaging 3? to 4? an hour-while industry's earnings are expected to decrease by about $2.5 billion. Businessmen who championed long contracts...
Businessmen are well aware that long-term contracts have many advantages. Management need not fear a production-crippling strike for three, four, even five years. Long-term contracts spare labor and management alike the heavy expense of time and treasure that yearly bargaining sessions require. With a fixed wage pattern, companies can plan ahead years in advance, knowing what their labor bill will be; they are able to guarantee delivery without interruptions. Were it not for long-term contracts in the auto industry, for example, countless auto suppliers would live from hand to mouth, not knowing from...
...other side of the coin is that long-term contracts often cost more than they are worth. Insiders say that General Electric thinks it paid too dearly for the five-year contract that it happily signed with the International Union of Electrical Workers in 1955's boom year, now wants no more long-term pacts. Union Carbide also signed its first long-term contracts in 1955-for three years-and once was enough. Labor costs have jumped most in precisely the areas where profits declined most. Last April, Union Carbide's contracts compelled it to hike wages...
Many big companies still like long-term contracts. General Motors' position: the longer the better for all concerned. Yet even G.M., which started the trend to lengthy contracts by signing the first important five-year pact with the United Auto Workers in 1950, has been burned. In the first half of 1958, when earnings dropped by $147,700,000, its labor bill went up per worker, because of a cost-of-living rise. G.M., U.S. Steel and the other giants can afford such bumps as the price of labor peace. Many a smaller company cannot. Says a spokesman...