Whither Reuther?

Walter Reuther, the C.I.O.'s cocky redhead, had a noticeable wilt to his comb this week. Somehow his swagger toward fame had bogged down in the quicksands of the wage-price formula and union politics.

Reuther had planned the strategy of beating the auto industry by knocking off General Motors first. Now everything was topsy-turvy--it looked as if he might have succeeded only in knocking himself off.

After Ford and Chrysler quietly signed (for 18-c- and 18 1/2-c- increases) Reuther had been left sadly exposed. Last week when General Motors made a "final offer" of 18 1/2-c- an hour, to counter his own 'final offer" of 19 1/2-c-, he was in the vulnerable position of keeping his men out on strike for only a penny an hour--8-c- a day minus withholding tax. G.M. pickets, who knew very well that their strike had been a club to help Ford and Chrysler win strikeless settlements, were bound to grow restive.

Walk Out. Reuther seemed unnerved. He took out his wrath in a fling of profanity at G.M. negotiators and Federal Conciliator James Dewey. Then he walked out, threatening to hold his men out two more months, if necessary, to get the penny and some contract betterments. Snorted Reuther: "I won't be made a damn fool of forever. The President's offer of 19 1/2-c- was a compromise of our demand and I will be God damned if I will compromise a compromise. We are not going to take less than this, and this is all h-- s-- about going back to work."

When negotiations were resumed, cooler heads prevailed. They had also prevailed on Reuther. He sent a telegram to his pickets. He wanted them to understand that it was not a "mere one-cent difference over wages" that held up settlement--it was a contract issue of seniority.

Walked Out On. Inside his union, Reuther suffered a serious blow to his ambitions last week when Richard Frankensteen, its leftist vice president, turned playboy, quit to seek fame & fortune elsewhere--possibly among his friends in Florida and Manhattan's Stork Club, possibly with Phil Murray.

Before his departure, Frankensteen pledged his officeholders to support President R. J. Thomas and Secretary-Treasurer George Addes, who ganged up at the 1944 convention in an unsuccessful attempt to toss Reuther out of office. Said Dick Frankensteen: "Let Reuther look out for himself."

Walked Past. Reuther had had another sharp blow from a brother C.I.O. union, the Electrical Workers, which quietly signed up with G.M. for an 18 1/2-c- raise. Its officers said nothing to Reuther about their plans, marched to a victory celebration only a block away from U.A.W. headquarters; he learned about the settlement from the newspapers. U.A.W. men called it a political doublecross, intended to put the autoworkers' leaders in a bad light with the C.I.O.

In Washington top C.I.O. men made no effort to conceal their glee over Reuther's plight. Said one: "He didn't consult us when he came out for a phony 30% wage increase without a price increase. . . . He just pulled that one out of thin air. He's publicity crazy."

Walter Reuther was discovering that union labor's prejudice against workmen who try too hard extends even to its officers.

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