The Pittsburgh Press (September 21, 1944)
Chief of WLB defends board, cites work
‘Stalling’ charges by Dewey denied
Washington (UP) –
Chairman William H. Davis of the War Labor Board today replied to Republican charges of WLB “stalling” by stating that the board has already settled close to 300,000 wage cases and will clear its docket of pending voluntary cases in four weeks, and of dispute cases in 19 weeks.
Mr. Davis said in a formal statement:
Newspapermen have asked me to comment on certain statements regarding the work of the War Labor Board made by Thomas E. Dewey [the GOP presidential nominee] in his speech at Seattle on Monday night.
Since Jan. 12, 1942, the Board has settled 9,983 disputes involving eight million employees. Since Oct. 3, 1942, when wage stabilization went into effect, the Board has disposed of 275,000 voluntary applications involving more than 11 million workers.
4,262 a week
National and regional boards, he declared, are disposing of voluntary cases at the rate of 4,262 a week and dispute cases at the rate of 153 a week.
Mr. Davis’ reply to Governor Dewey was issued together with the report of a special WLB factfinding panel set up to hear the demands of the United Electrical Workers (CIO) for wage increases of 17 cents an hour in 81 plants of the General Electric and Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Companies.
The panel, noting that employees of the two concerns, had already been granted all raises allowable under the Little Steel wage formula, said any further increases would require “a revaluation and reformulation” of the national wage stabilization policy.
Public hearings scheduled
Therefore, the panel said, a final settlement should be held up until the WLB decides what action to take on the Basic Steel and American Federation of Labor panel reports on revising the wage policy.
Public hearings on those reports will begin next Tuesday.
On the cost-of-living increase, which forms the basis for the unions’ wage demands, the panel said it was “apparent” that living costs between Jan. 1, 1941, and Dec. 31, 1943, rose somewhere between 1.4 percent and 28.5 percent over and above the 15 percent in wage raises allowed by the Little Steel formula.
The panel held that no increases could be given the workers under the present wage stabilization policy, adding, however, that there was no action either of the President or Congress preventing the Board from recommending, and the President from modifying, the Little Steel formula in the light of living cost rises.