Latest instructions from the bureaucracy: [Extract from internal revenue code (§ 509) (Tax Reform Act of 1969)] “For purposes of paragraph (3), an organization described in paragraph (2) shall be deemed to include an organization described in section 501 (c) (4), (5), or (6) which would be described in paragraph (2) if it were an organization described in section 501(c) (3).”
It was a lollapalooza of a settlement for the UAW. After 58 days GM agreed to almost everything, including a first-year wage increase ranging from 49 to 61 cents per hour; a second-year hike averaging 13½ cents; and a third year average boost of 14 cents. Also agreed to: An unlimited cost of living bonus figured on price index gains recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, plus a $500 per month retirement pension for 58-year olds with thirty years service. Results? Among others: Leonard Woodcock, the new UAW president, has proved he can be just as tough as Walter Reuther, and wins a place in the top echelon of labor leaders; Ford and Chrysler now haven’t a ghost of a chance of avoiding similar settlements; price hikes for autos are certain; other unions with contract renegotiations pending—United Steelworkers, for instance—will expect at least an equally lavish dish. And for consumers, of course, it’s the same old story. “I would say that the cost of the settlement is substantially more than the anticipated increase in productivity of the country,” said GM Vice President Earl Bramblett, “and this, of course, is true of the general level of settlements in recent times. That’s the definition of—a general definition of—inflation.”
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