New Trends in European Labor:

...This was forcibly demonstrated in the last war and remains true today...

...The biggest private sector is the metal industry, where there is a deep resistance on the part of the employers to effective collective bargaining and wage concessions...

...Seizing upon certain economic and trade-union issues, W. Barrett, the Secretary of the National Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers, attempted to turn his small union into a large national organization which would in effect replace the Transport and General Workers Union of Arthur Deakin in the ports of Great Britain...

...The Government promises to make new adjustments next April...

...At the same time, the German unions have taken a strong position against any rearmament of West Germany prior to a Big Four conference to attempt to achieve German reunification...

...Although the unions are substantially in agreement with the Government's proposals on reconversion, they are objecting strenuously to the fact that they will be given no representation at the national policymaking level...

...The granting of the minimum-wage increase was made possible through concessions to the employers in the form of lower coal prices and other direct or indirect forms of subsidy...

...All of this is favorable to the Government's plan to expand capital investment...

...Edgar Faure, was in the Laniel Government and that it was his proposals that brought about the general strike of August 1953...

...What is normally done in other countries through the functioning of the free economy is now being undertaken by the present government through a system of subsidies...

...At present, the Government seems to have decided against trade-union participation...

...It has become necessary to resort to strikes in order to obtain a greater share in the prosperity...

...In his closing address to the congress, the 79-year-old leader of the union, Pierre Neumeyer, declared: "It is time that the Government should understand, since no definite decision has been taken yet, that the problem of readjusting salaries in the civil services cannot be solved by alms-giving...

...The purpose of this is to help finance or virtually subsidize the elimination of marginal firms or their reconversion into more profitable industries...

...This failure, plus the rebuff of the TUC, will seriously affect the future of this separate dockers' organization...

...This, for the time being, has taken the edge off any possible resort to strikes...

...The French CGT and Communist party have been playing a cautious game...

...This is one of the best-governed sections of the non-Communist labor federation, Force Ouvriere, and it is wary of some of the measures the Government may have in mind concerning the public-service employes...

...When it comes to additional increases, the Government has told the unions that these should be negotiated in private collective-bargaining contracts...

...The congress of the German Federation of Labor, meeting in Frankfurt in October, endorsed a program which demanded (1) the 40-hour, 5-day week, (2) equal wages for men and women doing the same job, (3) nationalization of the key industries, (4) expansion and enlargement of co-determination, and (5) opposition to all anti-strike laws and development of a movement to oppose arbitration schemes which might lead to a compulsory-arbitration system...

...There is no likelihood of any great mass movement to strike...

...Since a great part of the economy is in Government hands, it is hard to see how improvement in wage levels can come about without further concessions by the Government itself...

...Union dissatisfaction is not confined to the size of the increase, but also extends to the Premier's methods...

...There has also been--which is unusual for France--a decline in the value placed on gold, with a consequent dehoarding en masse...

...The trade unions, however, are not completely satisfied with the Government proposals...

...There has been a moderate rise in wage scales, which, the Government contends, has brought the purchasing power of the workers to a higher point than in prewar years...

...More serious is the fact that the unofficial strike committee was undoubtedly directed and controlled by the Communist party...

...But it has become quite clear in recent months that West Germany's prosperity and the piling up of enormous profits are not automatically transformed into economic and social benefits...

...But this does not affect the increase in discontent and threatened strike action among Government employes...

...This reveals that the strategic strength of Communists in certain areas of the trade-union movement is out of all proportion to their political position in Great Britain...

...In Great Britain, the spectacular outlaw dock strike involving 44,000 workers was primarily directed against the Trades Union Congress and the legitimate trade-union movement...

...There was not even a pretense at collective bargaining, which led to sharp criticism by FO Secretary Andre Lafond and by Christian unionists, who have called the Government "paternalistic...

...With the gradual increase in the minimum wage, French unions will now push for readjustments in the wages of semi-skilled and skilled workers...

...The reverse is true in France...

...The growth of such a movement, especially among the metalworkers, is in contrast to the philosophy of a number of German union leaders who believe that, through co-determination and a moderate wage policy, the general economy will so improve that the workers will naturally benefit...

...It would appear that the Soviets have resigned themselves to the inevitability of the Paris accords...

...This trend, most observers agree, is responsible for the revival of the stock market as well as the real growth of bank deposits...

...There has been a serious reaction from the trade unions to another Government proposal to set up what is called a reconversion fund of about 25 billion francs ($71,428,-571...

...Industrial activity in France rose last June above the level of 1929...

...A great part of the fund will be utilized in the reconversion of workers' skills...

...This reflects the position of the Social Democratic party, which calls for a conference with the Russians but has refused to recognize in any way the legitimacy of the East German regime...

...These strikes reveal the shift toward a militant program on the part of German trade unions...

...Unions are restive in Britain, France and West Germany NEW TRENDS IN EUROPEAN LABOR By Irving Brown AFL Representative in Europe PARIS RECENT FLARE-UPS on the trade-union front in Britain, France and West Germany reveal both the strength and the weakness of Western Europe...

...In the last two years, there has been a gradual stabilization of prices, with a more or less definite rise in the country's relative prosperity...

...For this reason, it became necessary for the TUC to expel this union...

...There are close to 2 million industrial enterprises in France, with an estimated 400,000 marginal ones...

...Most of the masses of workers accept the present government as a sort of "left" regime interested in their needs, and believe that by next April the Premier will make good his promises...

...It has been suggested that this decision was taken because the representatives of Force Ouvriere objected to the inclusion of the Communist-run CGT (General Confederation of Labor) as one of the participants...

...But this increase affects less than 10 per cent of the workers...

...As is well known, France through its cartels and other price-fixing restrictions has built up a more or less protective economy, thus holding down the standards of the people as well as reducing the country's ability to compete in international markets...

...Although this position in effect opposes the Paris agreement, the German unions have made it perfectly clear that they reject any and all contact with East German unions, which are denounced as state company unions under Soviet tutelage...

...Since the present government reversed the policy of the last three years not to deal with the CGT, it met FO's objection by eliminating any union participation at the national level...

...The unions have expressed their discontent with this concession and are asking that the monthly minimum be raised to 25,166 francs ($71.90...

...And, after a strike lasting one month, the union was forced to accept an agreement which is no different from the offer made six months ago by the employers...

...It is hard to forget that the present Minister of Finance...

...in contrast to the union demands which would involve twice as much...

...The union leaders in the Government-owned postal, telephone and telegraph industry have told their membership to be prepared for action, inasmuch as their negotiations are not going well...

...The present French Government came to power at the most favorable moment as far as the internal and international economic situations are concerned...

...The Communists seem to be confining themselves to more or less normal CP activities, plus a notable increase in their efforts on the anti-colonial front...

...In Germany, a wave of strikes broke out at the end of the summer in the metal and transport industries...

...There the Communists can no longer stage successful peacetime strikes, but they would certainly constitute a serious threat to the nation in a war crisis...

...Otherwise, we would have to declare that the Government's acts with respect to the working class do not tally with the Premier's statements and that the early hopes and promises might lead very shortly to a new and deep disillusionment...

...The average work-week has risen to 45 hours (against the legal workweek of 40 hours), with practically no unemployment...

...In addition, the favorable economic situation makes strike action impossible now...

...Not even the Paris agreements produced any of the violence and bitterness witnessed in the anti-EDC campaign...

...In failing to secure this primary objective, Barrett and his organization remain confined to their small area of activity in and around London...

...Nevertheless, although these strategic economic cells can plunge Great Britain into serious strikes which hurt the economy in peacetime, they constitute no real threat to the nation if there should be any real national emergency...

...The new fund would permit the first national attack on this weak spot in the French economy...

...The recent congress of the force Ouvriere Federation of Government Employes hit out sharply at the Government wage plans, which at best would amount to 80 billion francs (8228.571.000...

...Recently, there was an increase of 6.5 francs per hour, which brings the actual monthly minimum to 24,300 francs ($69.42...