Word: wages
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...surface, this year's labor-bargaining outlook would seem heavy with the menace of outsized wage boosts that could speed up inflation and strikes that could disrupt the accelerating recovery, or both. Nearly 4.5 million workers are covered by major contracts that expire or come up for reopening in 1976; that is twice as many as last year. The most important contracts cover five vital industries: trucking, rubber, construction, electrical equipment and autos. They are being renegotiated after two years in which the average hourly earnings of workers in U.S. private industry have risen less than the prices...
...industries," says W.J. Usery Jr., the new Secretary of Labor. "But we're finding more and more that people are willing to sit down and talk through their problems." Indeed, labor-management experts generally expect a major strike only in the rubber industry. And most economists reckon that wage and benefit increases negotiated in 1976 should average a fairly reasonable 8% to 11% in the first year of the contract. Since output per man-hour is rising as production picks up, the Council of Economic Advisers regards that prospect as no threat to its prediction that the rate...
Some reasons for the optimism: unemployment is likely to stay above 7% of the work force, deflecting some of the bargaining push away from big wage increases toward new job-security demands. The rate of inflation already is coming down, taking some steam out of the "catchup" drive. Also, many unions will be demanding new, or more generous, provisions tying wage hikes to the cost of living. If price rises continue to slow, the clauses could keep wage increases moderate...
...adjustment could not exceed 110 an hour in any year. Now, Teamster President Frank Fitzsimmons is demanding that the cap be removed. In addition, he opened negotiations last month asking for a $2.50-an-hour increase, spread over three years, in the truckers' minimum wage, which currently averages $7.11 nationwide. Chicago Teamster officials, who in the past have forced the national leadership to tear up newly negotiated contracts and bargain for higher terms, have indicated that this year they will follow Fitzsimmons' lead. So the likelihood of a strike after the contract expires on March 31 is slim...
...between the Big Four-Goodyear, Goodrich, Firestone and Uniroyal-and 69,000 members of the United Rubber Workers expire on April 20. Negotiations begin next week, and all signs point to a strike. The last U.R.W. contract included no COLA at all, and as a result the average hourly wage for rubber workers has fallen $1.35 behind that of automobile workers (who have been getting a cost of living increase). The union is demanding parity with auto workers' wages in addition to a "meaningful" further wage increase, a COLA clause and improvements in pension and insurance plans. Some tiremakers...