Statements by President Eisenhower and Secretary of Labor Mitchell on the Taft-Hartley Act brought to the convention's handling of this issue. a general interest that it might otherwise have lacked. In a letter to the convention, President Eisenhower wrote: "For months, members of the administration have been engaged in a searching study of the act. Our objective is to recommend improvement in order to make possible a more free and vigorous collective bargaining process, to reduce Government intervention in labor-management relations, and to promote sound and peaceful industrial relationships so essential to the economic well-being of American working men and women and to the welfare of all elements of our Nation.' "I shall submit the resulting suggestions to the Congress when it convenes in January." Secretary Mitchell urged the CIO to cooperate in devising proposals to amend the act. "If we can agree to start from the point of realism-which is that the Taft-Hartley Act in many of its features is sound, fair and just-and preclude further talk of repeal of the act, we will then jointly concentrate on those features of the act which are dangerous to labor, really loaded, really unfair." The Secretary of Labor then went on to list the criteria. he will use in determining his position on proposed recommendations. He reiterated the principles expressed in the President's letter and stated that he would oppose, among other things, proposals which would leave the Government powerless to deal with national emergency strikes, would encourage unions to be irresponsible, would enable employers to escape their obligations to bargain collectively, or would make Federal law a device for breaking or undermining unions. The resolution offered to the convention and adopted unanimously reaffirmed the CIO goal of seeking repeal of the act. However, the position that the CIO had advanced in the 1953 congressional hearings, which was stated anew at the convention, was that the CIO was prepared "realistically to support any sincere attempt to bring fairness and justice into the law." General Counsel Arthur Goldberg reviewed some of the CIO proposals and took particular issue with Secretary Mitchell's position on the national emergency provisions of the act. He expressed doubt that the administration's recommendations on amending the act, whatever they may be, would stand any chance of adoption by the Congress. Political Action Political affairs combined with criticism of the national administration appeared to be the dominant interest of the first CIO convention to be held under a Republican administration. The CIO's grievances were expressed in President Reuther's report, in many of the resolutions offered to the convention, and in statements from the platform and the floor. The resolution on political action, which cataloged the CIO's criticism of the national administration and the 83d Congress, elicited 11 supporting speeches from the floor, more than any other resolution before the convention. It called for an expansion of the CIO program of political action, on a nonpartisan basis, at city, county, State, and Federal levels, under the direction of the CIO Political Action Committee. The collection of voluntary contributions of at least $1 a year from each CIO member by CIO-PAC was authorized. Toward the end of the convention, President Reuther urged the delegates to ". . . go to work and let us make political action the top item in our agenda between now and November 1954 The power of the democratic labor movement is not numerical. It is not how many members pay dues. It is how many who know why they pay dues. That is what makes the labor movement powerful. We have got to unionize our people so that every member of us . . . in the great family of CIO are out as missionaries, democratic missionaries, carrying the gospel of political faith in the economic field." Legislative Policy The CIO's own legislative program was outlined in dozens of resolutions, but was also brought together in one omnibus resolution entitled In 1953, Dr. Nathan Feinsinger replaced Dr. George W. Taylor as arbitrator. "Highlights of Legislative Program." During the 2d Session of the 83d Congress, the CIO will press for: (1) Replacement of the Taft-Hartley Act. (2) Positive planning of an economic program which will promote an expanding economy. (3) Improvement of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including a minimum rate of $1.25, extended coverage, and adequate enforcement, and repeal of the Fulbright Amendment to the Public Contracts Act. (4) Improvement of the social security laws and higher unemployment benefits. (5) Enactment of a national health program. (6) Uniform standards and codes for industrial health and safety and workmen's compensation. (7) Enactment of major recommendations of President Truman's Commission on Migratory Labor. (8) A large housing program. (9) Revision of the tax structure, and opposition to any type of sales tax. (10) A farm program including reasonable price supports, farm credit, soil conservation, improvement of rural living standards, and protection of consumers. (11) Reestablishment of a lending agency to help small business. (12) Maintenance of natural resources for all of the people, including opposition to the surrender of public power resources to private utilities, restoration of appropriation cuts in the Rural Electrification Administration, and construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project. (13) Enactment of more comprehensive civil rights legislation and increased protection for civil liberties. (14) Replacement of McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. (15) Repeal or drastic amendment of the Subversive Activities Control Act. (16) Statehood to Alaska and Hawaii and home rule for the District of Columbia. (17) Abolition of the electoral college. (18) Adequate protection of national security, regardless of cost. (19) A democratic foreign policy. (20) Enactment of legislation to develop and maintain a U. S. Merchant Marine of size and status commensurate with this country's role of leadership in world affairs. Economic Policy and Collective Bargaining The CIO's outlook on economic matters was definitely on the deflationary side. A long, carefully prepared statement on the state of the economy in President Reuther's report referred to the piling up of inventories during the second quarter of 1953; in this it was seen "that America's ability 4 This committee is composed of economists and research directors in the employ of the CIO or its affiliates. to produce was beginning to creep ahead of the American people's ability to buy and consume the products of their labor." A slow downward drift, the convention was told, can be arrested before it gathers greater momentum by effective countermeasures. According to the resolution on this issue, it is up to the administration to change the direction of this movement by organizing an effective antidepression program which must include tax legislation giving priority to relief of low and middle income groups, special attention to low income families in the form of a higher minimum wage rate and an expansion in the social security program, lower interest rates, encouragement of home building, "reasonable wage settlements to enable workers to share equitably in the fruits of increased productivity" along with reasonable price policies to enable consumers also to share, a restoration of the income position of farmers, a well planned system of public works, etc. During the course of his address, Secretary of Labor Mitchell also referred to the need of "shoring up" the Fair Labor Standards Act. He revealed that the Department of Labor was considering four ways to accomplish this purpose: expanding the coverage of the act, encouraging the development of adequate State minimum wage laws, intensifying enforcement of the act, and raising the present 75 cents an hour minimum to "a more realistic level in keeping with present-day wage levels." In one of the few resolutions dealing with issues that arise at the bargaining table, the convention reaffirmed its support of the efforts of CIO affiliates to negotiate guaranteed annual wage plans. The activities of the CIO's Guaranteed Annual Wage Committee, which serves as a clearinghouse for exchanging information and exploring the problems of guaranteed wage plans, were reviewed in the president's report. The programs of the international unions venturing into this area were in the planning stages, but some changes in management attitudes in the direction of cooperation were reported. President Reuther spoke briefly in support of the resolution on guaranteed annual wage plans, stating again that this was to be the next basic demand in the automobile industry. Some of the problems involved in integrating proposed guaranteed wage plans with unemployment compensation were discussed in the com mittee's report. The resolution on the issue suggested that one advantage of such integration would be that "this would be much cheaper for employers and would permit a more substantial wage guarantee than would otherwise be possible." Another advantage was referred to in a resolution urging improvements in employment security laws: "The securing, through collective bargaining, of guaranteed annual wage plans integrated with unemployment insurance will aid our campaign for better employment security laws." Foreign Policy The deep interest of the American trade union movement in foreign affairs and its participation in combating communism and encouraging the growth of free trade unions throughout the world were exhibited again at the CIO convention. The convention heard Secretary of State John Foster Dulles describe the broad outlines of United States foreign policy, listened to former United States Ambassador to India, Chester Bowles, as he discussed the problems of Asia, and registered its own position on a number of key policy matters. A lengthy resolution on foreign policy said in part: "Adequate military strength, though vitally necessary, is only a part of the answer to Soviet Communist aggression. We must understand and guide along democratic paths the revolutionary and progressive ferment which is stirring twothirds of the world's population-the underprivileged two-thirds who are hungry, ill, and oppressed." The CIO reaffirmed its support of the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The resolution indicated concern with what was called a "continuous shift from the economic to the military aspects of the [foreign aid] program" and its new "big business as usual" philosophy, and urged a greater and more meaningful role for labor. A strong dissatisfaction with the operation of the point 4 program, largely related to the reduced emphasis on technical assistance, was registered. A concrete demonstration of the CIO's interest in the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions came in the form of a plea by the chairman of the CIO's International Affairs Committee, Jacob Potofsky, to the international unions for contributions towards a fund of $100,000 to be donated to the ICFTU. The convention urged the ICFTU and the Federal Government to come to the support of the free German trade union movement. Other Actions In all, 64 resolutions ranging over the vast area of interests of an organization which speaks for its members as workers, trade unionists, and citizens were offered to and accepted by the convention. In effect, these resolutions affirm the positions that CIO representatives and publications had taken on scores of policy issues during the past year and the positions that they can be expected to take in the coming year. In addition to the speakers already mentioned, the convention was addressed (in order of presentation) by Fred V. Heinkel, president of the Missouri Farmers Association, Luis Alberto Monge, secretary of ORIT, Donald MacDonald, secretarytreasurer of the Canadian Congress of Labor, Dr. Alonzo G. Moron, president of Hampton Institute, and Senator Hubert Humphrey. Election of Officers In contrast with the tensions of the previous convention, the election of officers was conducted quickly and without opposition. The officers unanimously elected were: Walter P. Reuther, president; John V. Riffe, executive vice president; James B. Carey, secretary-treasurer; and vice presidents Joseph A. Beirne, L. S. Buckmaster, Joseph Curran, O. A. Knight, Michael Quill, Emil Rieve, Frank Rosenblum, and James G. Thimmes. No constitutional changes were made. Health and Welfare M. I. GERSHENSON * ALTHOUGH fringe benefits such as vacations, sick leave, and paid holidays were expanded significantly in the days of wage stabilization during World War II, the growth of negotiated health and welfare programs is essentially a postwar development. In the past few years the Nation has seen a very rapid expansion of health and welfare plans, and California has contributed to this growth. A study of California union contracts in 1950 revealed that in February of that year about 135,000 workers in the State were employed under agreements providing for a health plan. By December of that year, the number had increased to approximately 260,000.' In August 1953, more than 765,000 California workers were employed under the terms of collective bargaining agreements providing some insurance against the hazards of financial loss resulting from nonoccupational illness or accident. The 1953 figure is based on an analysis of 1,565 union contracts covering 50 or more workers, made by the Division of Labor Statistics and Research of the California Department of Industrial Relations.2 These contracts applied to 1,245,000 workers and represented the conditions of employment for the great majority of union workers in the State. Provisions for health and welfare benefits were found in 758 of the agreements reviewed and covered about 3 of every 5 California workers under collective bargaining contracts in 1953. Of the 765,000 workers under health and welfare programs, about 700,000 were covered by plans * Chief, Division of Labor Statistics and Research of the California State Department of Industrial Relations. 1 Health Plans, Life Insurance, and Pensions in California Union Agreements, 1950 (including supplement of December 31, 1950), Division of Labor Statistics and Research, California State Department of Industrial Relations, San Francisco. 2 Health and Welfare Plans in California Union Agreements, August 1953. Division of Labor Statistics and Research, California State Department of Industrial Relations, San Francisco. 3 A contract which merely stated that the employee's contribution under the disability insurance provisions of the California Unemployment Insurance Act will be paid by the employer to a private insurance carrier rather than into the State disability insurance fund was not considered as having a health and welfare plan. ees who contributed to the cost of their health plan were in the metalworking industries, with more than half in aircraft manufacturing. For the 90 plans covering the remaining 4 percent of the employees, information was not available on whether costs were shared or paid for entirely by the employer. Dependents' Coverage. Of the health and welfare plans financed entirely by the employer, those covering 284,000 workers, or more than one-third (37 percent) of all workers covered by negotiated plans, extended benefits to both the employee and his dependents; for 42 percent, the employerfinanced benefits covered the employee only. About half of the employees in the latter group, were under plans which explicitly allowed the employee to include his dependents at his own expense. (See table 2.) The proportion of workers covered by health and welfare plans who were under employerfinanced plans in which the employer's premium covered dependents varied widely by industry. In construction, it was 64 percent and in trade, about half. In manufacturing as a whole, plans covering slightly less than 20 percent of the workers included dependents without cost to the employee, and in service industries the proportion was still lower. Amount of Employer Contribution. The amount per employee contributed by the employer to the cost of health and life insurance was tabulated for all contracts covering 500 or more workers for which such information was available. Altogether, the contracts included in the tabulation represented about two-thirds of the workers covered by health and welfare plans. The employer's contribution was most often expressed as a monthly amount per employee. These ranged from $3.21 to $11.25, with the most frequent amounts, in terms of number of workers, being $3.50, $8.65 to $8.67, and $9.50. Next most common was an hourly figure. These ranged from one-half to 11 cents per hour, the most frequent, again in terms of number of workers, being 71⁄2 and 5 cents. Employer contributions expressed in amounts other than dollars per month were converted to dollars per month (assuming a full work month of 173.33 hours). On this basis, the average employer contribution for health and welfare benefits for a full-time employee was found to be $8.66 per month. For plans financed solely by the employer, the average was $9.39 per month. For one-third of the workers, the employer's contribution was less than $6 per month; and for onefourth of them, it was $12 or more per month for a full-time employee, as shown below. • Contracts which did not specify the amount the employer contributed to the cost of the health and welfare benefits were found mostly in manufacturing industries. Under some contracts the employer paid the cost of certain specified benefits rather than paying a flat amount per employee. For these contracts, where the approximate cost per employee could be obtained, the amount was included. Seven plans where the contribution was expressed as a percent of the wage rate were omitted. |