UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Labor Month in Review

The

AFTER ROUND-THE-CLOCK New Year's weekend meetings, the parties to the long standing steel dispute agreed to a settlement recommended by Vice President Nixon and Secretary of Labor Mitchell, who had been engaged in intensive mediation with the companies and union for several weeks. On January 5, the day before the President's Board of Inquiry was to report on the parties' final positions, 11 major firms signed with the union. Settlements with some 80 smaller companies were expected soon. wage agreements will expire June 30, 1962 and the pension, insurance, and SUB agreements on December 31, 1962. Insurance, pension, and other benefits became effective immediately, but the first wage increase (ranging from 7 to 13 cents an hour) will not be due until December 1, 1960. There will also be a 7- to 10-cent raise on October 1, 1961. Roger M. Blough, chairman of U.S. Steel, met questions on the effect of the settlement on prices with a statement that "as far as our company is concerned, it proposes to continue the general level of its prices for the immediate future."

The dispute over changes in Section 2B, the local working rules clause of the contract, was resolved by the establishment of a joint committee, headed by a neutral chairman, to study local working conditions rules and their application and to make recommendations to the parties by November 30, 1960. Changes will be made only by mutual agreement.

The signing of new contracts in the steel industry removed a major question about the outlook for the economy in 1960, although there is a possible threat of a railroad strike in the spring, should the brotherhoods and management not be able to come to terms on the work rules problem. In his message to Congress on the State of the Union, President Eisenhower expressed the relief of the country at the settlement of the steel dispute and went on to say that he intended "to

encourage regular discussions between management and labor outside the bargaining table, to consider the interest of the public as well as their mutual interest in the maintenance of industrial peace, price stability, and economic growth."

WHILE NEGOTIATIONS between the industry and the Steelworkers were still underway, the union had come to agreement with five aluminum companies-Alcoa, Reynolds Metals, Kaiser Aluminum, Olin Mathieson, and Ormet Corp. The contracts, announced on December 19, provided increases in wages and fringe benefits valued at approximately 30 cents an hour over their 3-year terms. This settlement, covering about 35,000 workers in 35 aluminum plants, was similar to those with Kaiser Steel and the can companies.

Alcoa also signed a 3-year contract, on about the same economic terms, with the Aluminum Workers Union, which represents about 9,700 Alcoa workers in 9 plants.

A tentative agreement to end a 129-day strike by the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers against Kennecott Copper Corp. signed on December 16. An 182-month contract, covering about 5,000 workers, was ratified on December 24 by union members. It provided a package settlement totalling 22.3 cents an hour, which included severance pay of $100 for each year of service in cases of job displacement caused by automation, technological changes, or permanent shutdown of plants or departments. The contract was similar to that which the Steelworkers signed with the copper industry.

Last-minute agreement by the Transport Workers Union with the Transit Authority and seven privately owned bus companies in New York City averted a bus and subway strike threatened for New Year's Day. The termination date of the bus company contracts had been extended from December 1 to December 31, when the Transit Authority agreement expired. The contract between the union and the Authority, covering about 29,000 workers, provided for wage increases of 18 to 25 cents an hour during the 2-year contract. The bus company agreement for about 8,000 bus drivers and maintenance men included a 12-cent hourly increase the first year and an additional 10 cents an hour the following year.