Labor: The National Interest

As Jack Kennedy's Secretary of Labor, former A.F.L.-C.I.O. Special Counsel Arthur Goldberg has proved to have a way with both management and labor. He has helped to settle several strikes—from shipping and airlines to the Metropolitan Opera—with a combination of charm, cajolery and expertly applied pressure. But Goldberg has been bothered by the fact that both labor and management are intent only on their own interests in collective bargaining. Last week he was assailed by both management and labor for suggesting that a third interest, the national interest, should also sit at the bargaining table—and that the Government should decide what it is.

The Long Hand. Goldberg had told the Executives' Club of Chicago that "Government has the obligation to define the national interest and assert it when it reaches important proportions in an area of our economy. This is what your Government is going to do. I think the Government has got to give more help to the collective bargaining process." Goldberg quickly explained that the Administration was against wage and price controls and against compulsory arbitration "as a general principle," but elements within both management and labor saw the long hand of Government interference in his words. Said A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany: "This is a step in the direction of saying the Federal Government should tell either or both sides what to do. He is infringing on the rights of free people and free society." The National Association of Manufacturers charged that "this will lead to Government regulation and control of the economy."

The fuss was surprising not only because Goldberg had said the same thing, but because no one disputes the duty of management and labor to consider the national interest. At least one major executive had no quarrel with Goldberg. Said Inland Steel Chairman Joseph L. Block: "I heartily endorse Mr. Goldberg's concept. A contest of strength where the stronger side wins doesn't prove a thing. Each side has to represent its own interest, but neither side must be unmindful of the needs of the nation. Who else can point out those needs but the Government?"

Guidelines or Commands? Several major labor settlements must be made before this year is out—in steel, airlines, railroads, missiles and spacecraft—and the Government clearly intends to define the national interest in terms of economic growth, foreign competition and national security. As far as most Americans are concerned, that is fine. What bothered both labor and management last week was that they saw behind Goldberg's seemingly innocent words another step in the Kennedy Administration's tendency to move into disputes (tugboats, airline flight engineers, steel) and restrict the negotiators' range of choice. Their fear is that the national interest "guidelines" that Goldberg is prepared to assert could amount to Government dictation of terms.