Fission on Two Fronts

While the Administration was preparing to use the Taft-Hartley Act in the coal strike (see above), Taft-Hartley machinery was already at work on two other strike fronts: at the Oak Ridge atom plant, where a labor dispute threatened the heart of U.S. war strength; in the meat-packing industry, where a walkout of packinghouse workers had halved the nation's meat supply.

Oak Ridge contains three plants: X-io, Y12, K-25. At X-io, building-trade workers (carpenters, plumbers, etc.) are members of A.F.L.'s new Atomic Trades and Labor Council. Y-12 is unorganized. K-25 is organized by C.I.O.'s United Chemical Workers.

Unknown Hazards. Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corp., already operating Y-12 and K-25 for the Government on a cost-plus basis, recently took over X-io on the same terms. When it did, it tried to reduce the X-10 higher wage rates to the same level as the other plants. Some 800 X-10 employees objected. Employment at X-10 was supposed to involve hazards of "a largely unknown nature."

A presidential fact-finding board reported last week on the trouble. The board made no recommendations. It sidestepped the nature of hazards but did note that X-10 actually had a lower accident rate than the other two plants.

A few hours before a midnight strike deadline, the Government took a step under Taft-Hartley. For the first time in the history of the act it slapped down an injunction. The injunction kept the 800 workers at their jobs, forbade Carbide & Carbon from changing the conditions of the old contract. The length of the injunction: 80 days. Meanwhile the Government will look for some way to mend the first labor fission in the atomic world.

Let 'Em Eat Vegetables. The packinghouse workers' complaint was an old one. They were among the lowest-paid workers in any mass-production industry. They had had a total 35-c- boost since the war; they wanted 29-c- more. The packers had countered with an offer of 9-c- The C.I.O. union elected to fight it out.

Too late to avert a strike, the President appointed a fact-finding board. Meanwhile the union agreed to accept the 9-c- offer provided it was retroactive to Jan. 12 and that other demands were arbitrated. The packers turned that down. At week's end, 2,000 C.I.O. pickets plodded around the stockyards, watched by 2,500 Chicago cops. Meat prices jumped up from 3-c- to 12-c- in seven days.

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