LABOR: The Solid Gold Teamsters

For most prospective automobile buyers, the major difficulty involved in buying a Cadillac is the financing. Last week in New York City, a town where herds of Cadillacs prowl the canyons of the upper East Side, it was hard even for those with the asking price ($3,881.71 to $6,285.96) to buy a new Caddie. In five Cadillac agencies, 84 automobile salesmen (95% the sales force) were on strike. The strikers, all recently organized members of Local 917, Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, A.F.L. have been averaging $1,400 a month in salaries and commissions, according to General Motors officials in Detroit, with some star salesmen making as much as $40,000 a year. These statistics were vehemently denied by John Burke, President of Local 917. "Most of these poor slobs are making only about $8,000 a year," he said, and the highest-paid strikers make $20,000 or so a year.

The striking salesmen demanded more money. Specifically, they asked for a straight 5% commission on each sale (previously they had received 5% of the difference between the new car price and the trade-in allowance). Other demands: limitation of manpower on the showroom floors, prohibition of mass firings, a 40-hour week and paid vacations.

On the sidewalks outside glossy showrooms from Manhattan to New Rochelle last week the strikers, impeccable in well-tailored flannels and natty topcoats, picketed discreetly, almost sheepishly. There were no catcalls or other disturbances when customers violated the gentlemanly picket lines. Even those intrepid customers who bought new Cadillacs found they might have to wait for delivery. Members of the city's Cadillac delivery service were out, honoring the picket lines.