(2 of 2)
Thirteen labor bosses, including C.I.O.'s Phil Murray, James Carey, Walter Reuther, A.F.L.'s William Green, George Meany and Dan Tracy, walked out of the mobilization program. They were admittedly acting mainly for dramatic effect. "In no other way," said labor, "can we effectively impress upon the American people the great wrongs being perpetrated." The only labor leader left in an advisory capacity: John L. Lewis, quietly smirking and, like Tar-Baby, saying nothin'.
New Ho!e in the Ceiling. The bosses were not placated when Eric Johnston, turning his eyes heavenward, announced he would re-examine the wage formula, which had precipitated the whole fight. Its 10% ceiling was already shredded with exemptions for fringe benefits, incentive payments, adjustment of inequities. Johnston punched out a new hole. He exempted cost-of-living wage boosts so long as they were in contracts signed before Jan. 25, the day of the Big Wage Freeze.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced encouragingly next day that the cost-of-living index had risen 1.5% between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15—thus 2,700,000 workers, mostly in the automobile and electrical industries, would get increases up to 5/ an hour. But no wage or price formula would get at the real reason for organized labor's onslaught. The ultimatum made that clear. The U.L.P.C. wanted a hand on the controls, not just a place at the navigator's table. The U.L.P.C. wanted to strike down the one-man rule of the ODM, and in the end—although no labor leader had said it publicly—liquidate ODM Boss Charlie Wilson.
Tough Charlie Wilson was in no mood to accommodate the labor leaders. Neither, for that matter, was Wilson's boss, Harry Truman. With diplomatic disregard for the facts of the case, he said he thought that labor's walkout was more of a disagreement than a strike. And he expected, he told his press conference, that everything would work out all right—in one week, two weeks, three months, depending on developments. It was a soft answer, but it was likely to turn away no wrath. Labor was in no mood for soft answers.