The Mouse That Roared

Among its other baleful accomplishments, inflation last week shattered more than a half-century of labor peace in the men's clothing industry. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers, one of the nation's quietest unions, called its first major strike since 1921; 110,000 union members walked off their jobs making tailored men's and boys' suits, topcoats and overcoats at more than 700 plants in 30 states. They include facilities of such well-known companies as Hart Schaffner & Marx, Phillips-Van Heusen and Kayser-Roth. Many strikers were so unprepared for the transformation of their union from mouse to lion that some locals felt compelled to conduct informal crash courses to brief them on strike duties, and full-dress picketing was delayed for a day at some plants because union leaders had forgotten to have placards printed.

That so peaceful a union should suddenly turn militant underscores the ominous strains that inflation is setting up in labor-management relations after a long period of worker docility. The strikers, who include cloth cutters, buttonhole makers, sewing-machine operators, pattern makers and tailors, now earn an average of $3.60 an hour, or roughly $135 a week. They are demanding an increase of $1.10 an hour, or a startling 30%, over three years--50-c- the first year, and 30-c- for each of the next two. On top of that, the Amalgamated demands an escalator clause that would raise wages further as the cost of living increases. Union President Murray H. Finley has not yet produced a precise formula, but he rejects a management proposal that seems less than serious. It calls for paying a kind of inflation dividend in the third year of a new contract --but only if prices climb by more than a phenomenal 20% over the first two years. Says Finley: "Management has no conception of the depth of workers' feelings in 1974. Skilled workers are finding it hard to support their families."

Plunging Sales. Management negotiators, headed by Chester Kessler, president of the Clothing Manufacturers Association, contend that increases of the size the union is asking would send suit prices soaring and open the way to even more foreign competition from Europe, Canada and Japan. Moreover, a years-long style trend toward slacks, sports shirts and other casual wear has so hurt suitmakers that they say they cannot afford a substantial wage increase. Plummeting sales have reduced the number of men's suits produced from a high of 21.8 million units in 1965 to 16.7 million last year. At week's end both sides were meeting in Washington with Federal Mediator W.J. Usery Jr., but there were no signs of an imminent settlement.

The union's tough new stand is partly due to President Finley, elected in 1972 to succeed Jacob Potofsky, who headed the Amalgamated for almost 30 years and built a record of statesmanlike conciliation. Finley needs to make a strong showing in his first major negotiation. But on a deeper level, the strike points up a cruel dilemma that is likely to roil labor-management bargaining increasingly: workers' pay has indeed fallen behind the pace of price rises, and they can make a strong case for large increases--but those increases add to the inflationary pressure.

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