Word: wage
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...smoke-filled room in Pittsburgh's Carlton House one night last week, two greying executives shook hands on a bargain. David J. McDonald, president of the United Steel Workers, and U.S. Steel's Vice President John Stephens agreed on a 9?-an-hour increase in wages and fringe benefits for 400,000 steelworkers, thus adding at least $100 million a year to the industry's $3.5 billion wage bill...
...unexpected raises two years ahead of contract expiration (TIME, June 1). On labor's side, McDonald wanted no strike in his first test as leader of the 1,100,000-member union. When Stephens, who at first offered 5? an hour, said that 8½? in wages and ½? in fringe benefits was the limit, McDonald called it "an honorable compromise." Stephens, in turn, praised McDonald's "statesmanlike conduct," expressed the hope that the cordial atmosphere would continue. To add to the good feeling, the company made the raises (not due until July) effective immediately...
...strike trimmed them still more. Now, with all controls off, steel's indicated profits show signs of rivaling 1950's big year (see chart). Moreover, new price rises, estimated at $3 or more a ton, will be tacked on to pay for the wage boost. However, there is no certainty that a raise will mean higher retail prices for all steel products. So many items are in ample supply that steel users will think twice before raising retail prices...
Writers are crisply advised to avoid cliches and never, never to use such tired words as "shambles" (a "scene of slaughter, not merely a wrecked place") or "hike" for a wage or price increase ("A hike is a tramp and a tramp is a bum and bum is the word for hike"). They are also warned against words that may trip up printers, e.g., towhead. Thus, one story in the Times said: "To bright, two-headed youngsters . . ." Wrote Bernstein: "Use 'blond,' 'flaxen-haired'-anything...
Tough Talking. The auto settlement fell even more heavily on Pittsburgh, where the C.I.O. steelworkers are bucking for a wage boost. Said Republic Steel's President Charles M. White: "Where we might have talked [the union] out of something, [they] might now be a little harder to talk to." White was right. Reuther's old political opponent, Steelworker President Dave MacDonald, was sure to push for a wage boost to equal the autoworkers' gains. In terms of cents per hour, union officials figured the pensions and benefits equaled about a dime-though many steelmen were now balking...