National Affairs: Back at the Table

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In the nation's biggest strike, President Truman's cooling-off proposal (see above) was a hotfoot that brought instant action —but the result was not what he had called for. After 16 days of stalemate, General Motors Corp. and the C.I.O.'s United Automobile Workers' Union promptly sat down again at the collective bargaining table.

The protagonists met in Pittsburgh, and also in Detroit. The upshot was another stalemate.

Biggest news was that C.I.O. President Phil Murray and U.A.W. President RJ. Thomas took some of the play away from Strike Leader Walter Reuther. They seemed to want the strike settled in a hurry, but not on G.M.'s new proposal of a 13½¢-an-hour increase. At week's end the U.A.W. Council of G.M. workers flatly turned down President Truman's request to return to work immediately. It was, in effect, a vote of confidence in Walter Reuther.

John L. Lewis rolled an eye at the

automobile strike, volunteered an ex cathedra opinion: "The dishonesty on one side by [General Motors] is equal only to the stupidity on the other side for that labor organization."