Nation: An End to Paralysis?

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The biggest aftereffect of this month's crippling New York transit strike may be on organized labor itself.

Last week Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, called for an end to "strikes that endanger the very survival of society." Said he: "We cannot live in a situation where a few workers who are denied their equity can paralyze an entire community." Speaking to some 1,000 top industrialists at a luncheon of the Economic Club of Detroit, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s No. 2 man proposed that a tripartite committee of industry, labor and Government be set up to find a "new mechanism and a new procedure" to settle labor disputes in public-service facilities.

Most old-line labor leaders insist that workers should have the right to strike —regardless of the consequences. At A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany's headquarters, the reaction to Reuther's proposal was a sharp "no comment—with the emphasis on the no." All the same, Administration officials are hopeful that Reuther's speech may help persuade liberals in Congress to support President Johnson's upcoming legislation to outlaw strikes by public employees. Said Assistant Secretary of Labor James J. Reynolds: "Here is an indication, even in the labor ranks, of changes that will have to be made as our society grows more complex."