Labor: Greek Tragedy in Detroit?

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There was one happy break with tradition as leaders of the United Auto Workers and the Big Three car makers began separate labor talks last week. Both sides agreed to start serious bargaining immediately, rather than propagandizing until close to the strike deadline. That was the only hopeful sign in an atmosphere as heavy with a sense of menace as the opening of a Greek tragedy. Not since the talks that preceded the record-breaking 1959 steel strike has a major union-management confrontation begun with both sides assuming such an intractable line.

Company and union men take it almost for granted that when contracts expire on Sept. 14, the auto workers will call a strike. The most widely anticipated action is for the union to hit General Motors, its toughest opponent. An alternative forecast is for an initial walkout against Ford, which seems more willing to compromise, to establish basic money terms of a contract; that would be followed by a shutdown of G.M. in which work rules would be a central issue. Many Detroiters expect the strike—or strikes—to last until Christmas, or later. The union's $120 million strike fund could carry workers through a ten-week closing of G.M., or a longer one against Ford or Chrysler. The major questions appear to be how much damage will be done to the U.S. economy —which, according to many predictions, will just be starting to turn up around the strike deadline—and how inflationary the final settlements will be.

Convictions of Righteousness. The auto talks threaten to take on a special bitterness because in 1970, more than ever, both sides are convinced that they are in the right. Industry leaders correctly contend that hourly wage increases in the auto plants have been far outrunning gains in productivity. They sense that this is the year to take the union to the mat and gain more control over labor costs, quality control and discipline on the production lines—even if it takes a long strike. They feel that public worry about inflation and the Nixon Administration's pledge to keep hands off labor disputes will strengthen their position.

Union men argue, equally correctly, that it would take a big wage boost just to repair the damage that inflation and recession have done to their pay envelopes. Despite rising wage rates, the loss of overtime and reductions in regular working hours cut the average weekly pay of G.M. workers to $175 in the first quarter, down from $184.60 last year. On top of that, inflation made each dollar worth less.

U. A.W. President Leonard Woodcock, who succeeded the late Walter Reuther, will settle for no less than an 8% annual pay and benefit boost—for openers. That would match the average increase in U.S. union contracts negotiated in 1970's first quarter. The U.S. wage spiral will not be broken until one major labor leader settles for less than the average, but that leader will quite possibly be tossed out of his job by angry unionists. At G.M., an 8% raise would work out to 46¢ an hour for the first year, raising the company's average labor costs to $6.22 an hour.