Tranquillity's End

One of the more heartening developments in this year of expiring labor contracts has been the restraint shown by big unions in their demands for pay boosts. A case in point was the settlement between the United Rubber Workers and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., which granted increases totaling 810 an hour over the next three years--a figure within the Administration's 5.5% Phase III guideline. But last week the fragile peace came to an end as 10,300 U.R.W. members struck B.F. Goodrich, halting work at plants in six states and shattering a long period of labor tranquillity in major industries.

Slim Margin. The much heralded contract between the U.R.W. and Goodyear, the largest firm in the industry, had been ratified by the narrowest possible margin in the union's executive board. Further, it was rejected by the U.R.W.'s biggest local, Akron No. 2, whose president, John Nardella, is threatening an unprecedented petition drive among rank and filers to have it rescinded. Faced with that kind of pressure, union representatives struck a tougher stance in their dealings with fourth-ranking Goodrich and refused an offer that both sides agree was somewhat more generous than the settlement with Goodyear. The bargaining was further complicated by some issues peculiar to Goodrich. These include the company's rumored plans to shut down several antiquated plants in Akron and set up new facilities elsewhere, most probably in the South. Although face-to-face sessions and meetings with federal mediators were continuing, the outlook at week's end was for protracted strife.

There are other indications that the wage battle is heating up. In Washington, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters told representatives of the trucking industry that it wants a 500 --or 8%--hourly increase for each of the next three years of a new contract. The union is also asking for removal of the current ceiling on cost of living increases, a demand that the industry's chief negotiator, C.G. Zwingle, denounced as "shocking." Nobody expects the Teamsters to get more than a 400-an-hour raise, but even that would exceed the Phase III guidelines and encourage other unions whose contracts expire later this year to up the ante.

What has the unions' backs up is a policy of inflation control that they consider discriminatory. Asserting that the Administration continues to hold wage boosts within guidelines while allowing corporate profits and interest rates to rise unchecked, the AFL-CIO's executive council said last week that it is no longer "reasonable to expect the trade union movement to counsel moderation of wage increases." Just how immoderate the big unions--which include the electrical workers, transport workers, machinists and auto workers--will be when their turns come up in later months remains to be seen, but for the moment it looks like a long, hot summer at the bargaining table.

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