FDR Formula Evades "Little Steel" Straitjacket
STOUT, JONATHAN
Capital Comment FDR Formula Evades "Little Steel" Straitjacket By JONATHAN STOUT WASHINGTON. D. C—The Little Steel formula pot it* face lifted>*,for New Year*. As a result, it rotams the win* old...
...U *»» perfectly Hoar that the WLB had its mind made up and would oppose pay increases to tae •steel workers abo«c the Kittle StOel formula...
...after 40 hours instead of 4H hours as at present...
...Because*«the railway, industry operates unde< the Railway 'Labor Act, it has been exempt froi.i the jurisdiction of the War Labor Board, the Smith Connelly Act, etc...
...No* President Roosevdt has laid aside the term "New Deal," preferring to call his administration a wln-the-war government...
...W.> need a program that will prevent a return to the disastrous era of Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, to the 1929 collapse and the Hoovei villas of 19:12...
...extra five cents an hour whether or not they work afty overtime at all...
...We need to mak*« permanent the Fair Esaploymewt Practices Committee and to enforce iftt decisions against racial discrimination...
...extension of social security far beyond evn that envisaged in the Beveridge plan for Britain...
...The reactionarics (inetuding lb • »ouiuiutiists...
...burden on tbos best able to pay...
...k It protected and maintained intact the status of prontu by passing the bill to the unorganised (and therefore powerless and inarticulate) workers of the ewmtryi 7. And it drove a wedge into the united front of the 20 railway workers unions whose solidarity (plus J*-coincidental simultaneous action of the powerful ste-'l workers) presented the Administration with the «cri-pi oblem of a revolt on the part of a solid, poami-f«l group of about two million of tfle most strongly organised workers in the country...
...Vinson recommended a sliding wale wage adjustment of four to ten^ cents'an hour...
...We need a stronger and more progressive labor _ movement, purged of Communist and racketeers...
...The voters dislike the war control* which the Republican* have identified with this Ni-w - Deal...
...on the domestic scene...
...In summary, we need a democratic, dynamic, planned economy guaranteeing full production, full employment, a more abundant life with all our liberties secure...
...They elected rap-lesentatiwa^vho prtce<«ied'ttj complete th* job erf burying New Deal measures designed to stabilize wages and prices, prvvent inflation, keep profits down, ensure maxiinuin production interrupted by strikes...
...We need more not less government regulation of big business to block the trend toward domestic monopoly and international cartels...
...For the engineers and trainmen get .this...
...has either been defeated or shelved...
...As a result, it rotams the win* old BM*?-^' »i turkey it is now ¦ brand nw *«noto who now can «r« places it could not'go b*«H» *K» the old face...
...As soon us it became apparent that war could not be avoid-d, F.D.R...
...We need need more consumers and producers cooperatives...
...The basis Cor this can only and must be laid during wartime...
...All progressive legislation...
...With the railroad workers, the problem was more complex...
...To this program the new Sew Ltadu ndedi-ratra itself...
...We supported the New Beal because it promised, and in some measure-carried opt the reforms we had advocated long before 19112...
...Towards a New'l^wJ^lV COR two turbulent decades The New leader-has * fought for social reform...
...This...
...demands fi-r advantageous war contracts and control of the economy...
...I 4 to tound a l»imjulu f».r,«vadinB Iwhnical violation of th* Tittle &<* 1/orroula...
...The chief immediate de-"wnd of Phil Murray, president of the ateel workers ¦¦ion...
...hen of time And a half merely postpones until the postwar the demands ef the engineers ami trainmen .for overtime.pay,.and right now U gives them fisr%ceilts 'more than permitted by the' LittV Steel formula...
...Big business resisted quirk conversion to wartime production, following a business-as-ifsnal policy.' .They iriadi...
...coal strike, it was remembered significantly, the President turned the seized coal mines over to the Solid Feels Administrator, Harold Ickes...
...This fc accurate...
...War measures plus a reactionary Congress killed the New Deal for the duration...
...We need, most of all, ar...
...The noiioperating rail Workers originally demanded a JO cents-an-hour raise and time -and a hah...
...actively participating in political life...
...Room-» el t, whtf'winded the acalpel in fashioning this imiI i laliijr irFlf *1—' one*' mfcre proved that he 85T.*t *oliti<*l akfll...
...was cam posed of four cants an hour allowable under the Little Steel formula limitations—and an additional five cents an hour in lieu of claims for time and a hah...
...The New Leader has changed its format, but not its bask- editorial viewpoint...
...Here t* wLt it did...
...The five cents in...
...was a guarantee th4t «ny new contracts drawi hdwecrithe union and the-steel companies would operate retroactively from the time- the old contract expired...
...We believe that the purposes of the war- lose their meaning to the degr.e that social reforms—the hard-won core of labor's rights - -go by the board under the cry of expediency...
...F.D.R...
...Actually, the compromise deceived none...
...But» then, the, WIM...
...We n«*-^ further curbing of the rr"~«*>I dtiv...
...We do not believe that social r. forms must be sacrificed in wartime...
...H. It five the railroad workers more money without (hrdwiaf the railroad- companies into a fit of scream in* maemies by pledging the collateral,of the United State* again t those inereaaes and without obligating the cr>*panies to maintain those increases later on...
...We need just taxation to reduce excess profits, stop Inflation, piece the heavies...
...Realists pointed out that it would 'tie easier to run railroad trains with bayonets than to mine ceal with bayonets...
...The fuel if that a yood win-the-war program -would also be a> thorough-going New Deal program...
...It is the universal opinion here that Roosevelt tu.1 an understanding with A. F. Whitney, president <S the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and Alvanlct Johnston, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, before making his arbitration offer...
...of the •conooiic royaliais...
...For a time American capital was "pri strike" against the government...
...gave his whole attention and energy to preparation for American participation, knowing -that, we could not long remain isolated from the struggle against fascist aggression...
...auch, a* the Treasury's tax- bill, subsidies, the anti-poll tax bill, federal aid to schools ip poor states, th ¦ Waioiei IMmrell social, security bill...
...In any event, Whitney and Johnston accepted the offer, and Roosevelt promptly awarded them the following compromise: ^ A nine-cenu-an-hour raise...
...Roosevelt found it relatively simple to jockey the «**el workers into position...
...a program that will prevent World War III on the international scene...
...for overtime...
...Te emphasize inn -fletemmation of preventing a railway strike, the President turned over the railroads to the Army instead of the Office of Defense Transportation...
...left to itself, has never exhibited n ;«r: c^vnHji' »>-ind or n tklfejirt^devtensmess, ajjiai Vaiei'iaii eouai . not envisage any pay W**''••¦'Mtda on antamest basis which would not break the tittle Steel formula...
...In in*ny way*, it was m tuajot accomplishment...
...The corporations compelled Koosevalt Ui surrlijder to- their demands fur i-crotro] big husi-neW...
...1. If «ipped th* flare »[> of revolt in' the long lirewmg labor e«i* without jn any way *omr to the heart af the twfths #iid without applying any real •oarrertwc measure* to prevent recurrence of the crisis 2 It pi evented a tenons steel and railroad strike situation J»y p>stpO«Jng settlement of the real issues for the postwar "period...
...Kocial reform is noid d mrw in re than ever, both to inspire and wjn the war ami to «-in the Mnr,' > • A _GENU1XELY liberal foiigross and a New Deal Administration could have avoided the sorry spectacle we now wrtness' scandalous war profits, with leading e..i pc r-tiops defrauding the government and taxpayers of millions, the cost of living soni iag, unions in' r.-volt against'the Little Stetl formula.-•WI neetfa <npiy-^w- f*eal> Its sociat reforms - altonW-bv'evotr-mo/t'W^'^tw- »h«» those carried out 1 by the pit-war Roosevelt Adiniuistration...
...has introduced no new legislation for social reform during his third term, <xcept for a baJf-fcearted advocacy of the National Resources Planning Board plan for an expansion of social sccuritv, which was quickly shelved by a reactionary Congress...
...The President found a way around this impasse by giving the steel workers their guarantee of rctre-ac.Uvity—with the pious, admonishment that of course it would alt have to be quite legal...
...itoifar-'a^ear 'men tootr'tnt* pnWer -from New Dealers...
...The War Labor Board originally refused to f»nt this demand, giving as its reason that it wi.s WLB "policy'' to grant-retroactive demands...
...If the President offer the non operating workers a similar additional five cents an hour in lieu of overtime, it will bring the scale up to from nine to fifteen cents an hour...
...and for saving face with-<wr.t>4lt^ fofred to admit that the Little Steel formula...
...wis *o longer tenable as a result of the ^Mnfrtovtawiy failure (o hold d<iwu the cost ««f * *'It avoid* <i antagonizing Hie Business by prorais-*f the steel > orporatiena price inereaaes to make up for whatever they have to pay their workers in i»i eased wages...
...Good old Dr...
...In the case- of the...
...We need industrial democracy...
...proclaim that social re(orui must be -shunted wide ' in order to win thu war...
Vol. 27 • January 1944 • No. 1
