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Younger and Impatient. The auto workers' union has become noticeably more militant this year, largely because its membership is becoming younger—and impatient. Over the past decade, the median age of men in the auto plants has declined from 41 to 37; more than one-third of the strikers are under 25. The youngsters insist on big gains—now. A common refrain among union leaders is voiced by Leonard Paula, who represents 4,700 white-collar workers in U.A.W. Local 112 at Chrysler: "I try to tell the young guys that they have to wait for some things, but they come up with their beards and mop heads and say, 'Hey, mother, you're ancient.' They do not even listen."
The 26¢ Battle. Because of inflation, many workers cannot make ends meet. The average hourly pay of G.M. workers is $4.05, but by Leonard Woodcock's reckoning, they have a great deal of catching up to do. As a result of reductions in overtime work, the auto worker earns 1.7% less than he did a year ago; in addition, inflation has taken a 7.4% cut out of the purchasing power of what he earns. Just to get back to where he was in the spring of 1969, by the U.A.W.'s calculation, the auto worker would have to have a raise of at least 8% an hour. The union asks for a 61.5¢ increase in the first year of a new contract and further raises in the second and third years; the amounts will depend on whatever cost-of-living settlement is agreed on. G.M. is offering 38¢ in the first year, and second-and third-year increases of 12¢ each. The company says that that would give the typical assembly-line worker an annual income, including the value of fringe benefits, of more than $12,000 by the fall of 1973.
The two sides are farther apart than the figures indicate, because of a highly ambiguous clause in an agreement that Reuther negotiated to end the 66-day strike against Ford in 1967. The resulting conflict is an object lesson of the perils of postponing trouble. In the 1967 contract, the union accepted a ceiling on cost-of-living increases in return for an agreement that compensation for inflation above that ceiling "shall be available" in 1970. The difference now amounts to 26¢ an hour, which the union considers to be money already owed its members above and beyond any new settlement; the company includes the 26¢ as part of its 38¢ offer. In the "next contract, the union is insisting that there be no ceiling on cost-of-living increases.
For many of the pickets, a more crucial issue is the union's demand for "30 and out"—voluntary retirement at any age after 30 years of service on a minimum pension of $500 a month. G.M. has 41,000 employees with 25 years or more of service, and, says the company's chief negotiator, Vice President Earl Bramblett, "the possibility of losing such a large number of highly skilled and experienced personnel could be a crippling blow." The company offers instead what might be called "58 and out"—retirement on a $500-a-month pension at 58, with $40 a month deducted for every year a worker is below that age when he leaves.