LABOR: Try & Top Me

To show the boys that he is earning his pay and perquisites, a big-time labor leader has to compete with heads of other unions in thinking up lavish demands to put before management at bargaining time. For the Steelworkers' suave President Dave McDonald, this problem was already worrisome, even though his union's contracts still have a year and a half to run. For one thing, Dave won re-election to the presidency last year by an uncomfortably narrow edge. On top of that, he faces rugged competition from other labor chiefs, e.g., the Teamsters' tough Jimmy Hoffa, tarred by scandal and scarred by his union's expulsion from the A.F.L.-C.I.O., is out to prove to the boys that he is still their resolute leader by squeezing a whacking wage boost out of trucking firms this spring.

Eager to top Hoffa, McDonald last week unwrapped a gaudy parcel of his own: three-month vacations for steelworkers every five years, in addition to the regular yearly vacations of from two to three weeks. Striking the statesmanlike stance that union presidents assume when explaining how what is good for their unions is good for the country, McDonald argued that three-month vacations would help ease the "disemployment" caused by increasing automation.

Steelman McDonald had hardly spoken before the United Auto Workers' Walter Reuther topped him. The U.A.W. decided Reuther's executive board this week, will patriotically forget all about its plan for a shorter work week in 1958 negotiations. Instead U.A.W. will couple its new demands for wage increases with a novel program of profit-sharing for wage-earners. And just in case this might not bring him a big enough audience, Reuther was ready to propose (but not "demand") that automakers also share their profits—in the form of rebates—with their customers.