MANAGEMENT: Protesting Early

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General Electric let out a premature cry of protest last week at the new demands of the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, although the present contract does not expire until October. On the union's list of wanted goodies were supplementary unemployment benefits (guaranteed annual wage), a union shop, improved pensions and continued cost-of-living provisions. But what really bothered G.E. was I.U.E. President James B. Carey's demand that his union receive all the gains of any increase in plant productivity.

The union contract, signed back in 1955, provided for wage increases ranging from 3% to 3.48%. Carey says that productivity climbed about 6% in 1959, complains that the union got only a 3.46% wage hike. Now, discounting the company's role in helping to increase productivity, he wants another year like 1959 to pay off with a 6% hike in wages. He also wants a minimum-wage increase of 3½% a year, even if productivity does not measure up to that.

G.E. charged that the "astronomical" cost of meeting the union's demands would be at least $500 million over the next two years, warned its employees not to look for a "pot of gold" in the fall. Replied Jim Carey: "A fair and efficient management could provide every benefit sought by the union for less than one-half the cost as estimated by General Electric."

During the 1958 contract reopener, Carey lost face when he asked for a strike only to have union workers vote to stay on the job. This time he is ready. He has changed the I.U.E. constitution to place greater strike authority with a conference board whose decisions are binding on union members.