Spreading Rubber

Time was when Pittsburgh was the U. S. steel town, Detroit the automobile town, Akron the rubber town. But the improvement to transportation facilities has led to a general decentralizing of U. S. industries. Incidentally, the process has been hard on Labor. Nowhere is this more evident than in Akron, which last week witnessed a Grade A case in point: In a blunt manifesto to the United Rubber Workers Union, B. F. Goodrich Co. announced that its workers would have to accept 13% to 18% wage cuts or else Goodrich would pull another 5,000 jobs out of its Akron plants.

For 20 years Akron pay scales have been higher than those of most other cities. This caused little trouble so long as most of the major rubber firms were concentrated in Akron. But in 1936 Akron rubber workers staged a strike which raised wages still further. Goodyear, Firestone and to a lesser extent Goodrich then began building plants in such scattered spots as Oaks, Pa., Jackson, Mich., Fall River, Mass. Akron now produces only 40% of U. S. rubber as against 55% two years ago. Akron rubber workers, however, still cling to their high wage rate (an average of $1.05 an hour against a nationwide average of 96.3-c-), even though it has meant part-time work for some of them and hence a smaller annual income. Therefore, factories outside Akron have been able to make their products more cheaply than those remaining there. Said Goodrich last week to its workers: "Where 40,000 rubber jobs existed in Akron two years ago, today only 25,000 jobs exist. You are in a position to determine whether 5,000 more jobs must go to other communities.

In 1937 Goodrich paid to wage earners in Akron $19,361,927.57. Akron cannot afford to lose any part of this pay roll. But it can only be maintained by keeping Goodrich competitive with companies outside of Akron."

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