G.A.W. First Round

The battle for the guaranteed annual wage in the auto industry got off to a start last week in an atmosphere of small-town friendliness. Gone was the hostility that has occasionally marked the opening of contract negotiations between the C.I.O's United Automobile Workers and General Motors. As the bargaining teams gathered in a carpeted conference room of Detroit's massive G.M. Building, there were beaming smiles all around. On one side of the 20-ft. glass-topped table sat the 18-man auto workers' committee, led by Vice President Jack Livingston, 46, one of the founders of the U.A.W. and now respected as one of labor's slickest horse-traders. Opposite was ranged the 23-man G.M. team, headed by Vice President Harry Anderson, 64, a lawyer who worked his way up from a small G.M. subsidiary to chief of all company labor relations.

Although the auto workers presented a full list of contract improvements, by far the biggest and most costly issue was G.A.W. The union wants G.M. to guarantee that all hourly-paid workers will be paid for 52 weeks of the year--whether they work or not. If the employee works but one day of the week, says the union, he should be paid a full week's wages; if he is laid off in advance, his state unemployment compensation should be supplemented by G.M. so that he can maintain his normal standard of living. In addition, U.A.W. is asking for a 5.3-c--an-hour wage increase, a boost in the 2 1/2% annual wage credit for increased productivity, better pensions, a better health plan and other fringe benefits. Estimated total cost to G.M. : as much as $1 billion yearly. G.M.'s Harry Anderson said the first meeting was harmonious, that the company will do "the best we can to get a satisfactory settlement," but kept mum on what G.M. thought of the U.A.W. offer and what its counteroffer will be.

Divide & Conquer. This week Ford Motor Co. was to be served with a similar union demand, in the Silver Room of the Detroit-Leland Hotel. As the bargaining began, U.A.W. (and C.I.O.) President Walter Reuther sat back in his second-floor office at Solidarity House (U.A.W.'s elegant headquarters), ready to manipulate his teams by private telephone lines to each conference suite. He also soft-pedaled strike talk. When a newsman asked whether the auto workers will strike, Reuther replied: "If I knew the answer--and I don't--I wouldn't tell you."

Since G.M.'s contract expires May 29, and Ford's on June 1, the showdown--and possible strike--will come by early summer. In Detroit, automen were betting that a strike, if called, would be against Ford only, because Ford's 135,000 members would cost the U.A.W. little more than a third of the union benefits required for G.M.'s 325,000 members.

Cars in the Bank. If a strike does come, both G.M. and Ford will be in good shape to meet it. By setting alltime production records with 1955 models, the auto industry has not only kept pace with booming sales, but built a backlog of some 600,000 cars, enough to last the dealers five weeks. Moreover, a cutback in production would end the fat discounts auto buyers are now getting, thereby restore the dealers' normal profit on each new car.

The question of how much the rank and file wanted to strike for G.A.W. was problematical. Actually, the older workers already have a form of guaranteed wage because, under the seniority system, they are laid off last during seasonal production fluctuations or model changeovers. It is the newer workers who would benefit the most from G.A.W. Thus the chief support for it came from them. In general, there seemed to be no great enthusiasm for a strike. But there was no doubt that if Reuther called a walkout over G.A.W., the membership would go along with him.

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