IT is the task of the Secretary of Labor, and probably his most delicate one, to set the tone of the Administration in major labor-management disputes. In that, George Pratt Shultz stands in sharp contrast to his activist Democratic predecessors, Arthur Goldberg and Willard Wirtz, who intervened frequently if reluctantly at Lyndon Johnson's behest. Before last week's strike against General Electric, Shultz held private meetings with company officials and union leaders. He has quietly helped to cool several other labor disputes, particularly in the airlines. But he firmly opposes direct and heavily publicized intervention. "We want the free collective bargaining process,...
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