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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Labor Month in Review

IN LATE JUNE, the United Steelworkers of America and 11 major steel producers reached an agreement that, by extending the present contract until May 1965, assures them the longest period of labor peace since World War II. The agreement was achieved through steel's joint Human Relations Committee in the face of economic troubles within the industry; for the second year in a row, the parties to the agreement gave maximum credit to the committee for peaceful attainment of a settlement. Calling the committee a "significant development" for collective bargaining, both industry and union representatives consider that this year's experience "proves the permanent worth" of the committee idea, now being tried by negotiators in other industries. Both the industry and the union were gratified by the avoidance of a formal reopening notice, since the strike-hedging inventory buildup was smaller this year than last, when it took 8 months to work off inventories even though the settlement came 3 months before the contract would have expired.

The major feature of the steel settlement is a 13-week vacation once every 5 years for employees on the top half of each company's continuous service rooster. Sought by the union as a job-creating measure, the extended vacation will include the 3- or 4-week regular vacation to which the worker would otherwise be entitled that year.

Beginning January 1, 1964, 5 percent of the senior half of each company's work force will become eligible for the extended vacation every 3 months, "to the extent that there are sufficient funds in the account"; vacations will be scheduled before the end of the calendar year following the quarter in which the employee becomes eligible.

Financed by a 9.5-cent increase in the present 3-cents-per-hour company contribution, beginning January 1, 1964, the enlarged savings and vacation

fund will also accelerate vacation benefits received by junior employees. Under the 1962 agreement, all employees were to receive an extra week of vacation credit every other year, contingent on the availability of funds, with the option of using it for a vacation or saving it toward a layoff or retirement. Retiring workers and senior employees had priority in receiving the credits. Under the new plan, it is anticipated that sufficient funds will be available to ensure junior employees their vacation credits; senior employees will receive a 1-week credit every 5 years to be automatically deferred until retirement.

The revised program also encourages retirement upon attainment of full pension eligibility (age 65, 15 years' service). Those employees who retire before January 1, 1964, will be eligible for payment for the extended vacation on that date; employees who are eligible for a pension when they become entitled to the 13-week benefit will receive the full benefit only if they retire. Continuing the procedure under the existing savings and vacation plan, benefits payable only on retirement will be reduced by 10 percent for every 3 months an employee works after he becomes eligible for a pension.

The Steelworkers thus kept pace with their innovatory agreement signed last September with the major can makers, which granted an extended vacation of 3 months every 5 years for hourly employees with 15 or more years of service. Since average seniority in steel varies greatly from company to company, the Human Relations Committee hit upon the 50-percent formula to be used instead of a flat seniority requirement, hoping to make the plan's cost roughly equal for all employers and to keep its coverage from rising if technological change reduces hiring and thus increases seniority levels. To place in the senior group, for example, an employee at Inland Steel Corp. or Youngstown Sheet and Tube will need only 12 years' service, while a Pittsburgh Steel Co. employee will need 21 years; the average appears to be about 16 years.

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