In an outbreak of autumnal madness rarely equaled in the annals of industry, the biggest of U.S. manufacturers and the bellwether of U.S. unions last week hit an impasse over a topic so indelicate that neither side felt comfortable discussing it in public. The issue: toilet time.
Well before the extended deadline for the 1961 auto negotiations expired, General Motors Negotiator Louis Seaton and United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther had all but wrapped up a national economic agreement (TIME, Sept. 15). Then, just as the nation was congratulating itself on another industrial dispute peacefully solved, the trouble erupted. Choosing...
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