DUNLOP, JOHN T., and ARTHUR D. HILL. The Wage Adjustment Board. Pp. xiv, 166. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950. $3.50
| Author | H.M. Douty |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625127400166 |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
237
NIRA
did
the
President
espouse
Senator
Wagner’s
proposal,
after
it
had
already
passed
the
Senate
and
been
reported
to
the
floor
of
the
House.
Likewise,
Bern-
stein
indicates
that
Secretary
jerkins
made
few
constructive
contributions
to
the
form-
ulation
of
this
significant
labor
relations
policy.
In
the
light
of
Dr.
Bernstein’s
conclu-
sions
as
to
Senator
Wagner’s
role
in
this
process,
it is
unfortunate
that
the
author
was
unable
either
to
interview
Mr.
Wagner
or
to
examine
his
papers;
this
would
al-
most
seem
like
quibbling,
however,
in
the
light
of
the
7 Y2
pages
of
small
type
needed
for
presentation
of
his
bibliography.
Dr.
Bernstein
has
compressed
the
fruits
of
much
diligent
research
into
this
dis-
tinguished
small
volume.
He
presents
an
opus
which
should
be
consulted
by
all
those
who
seek
an
accurate
grasp
of
this
im-
portant
facet
of American
life.
JOHN
NEWTON
THURBER
Cornell
University
DUNLOP,
JOHN
T.,
and
ARTHUR
D.
HILL.
The
Wage
Adjustment
Board.
Pp.
xiv,
166.
Cambridge,
Mass.:
Harvard
Uni-
versity
Press,
1950.
$3.50.
The
present
volume
is
a
useful
addition
to
the
literature
of
wartime
wage
stabiliza-
tion
and
labor
dispute
settlement.
Mr.
Hill
was
a
member
of
the
Wage
Adjust-
ment
Board
from
its
beginning,
and
Pro-
fessor
Dunlop
during
its
later
stages.
This
account
of
the
operations
of
wage
control
in
the
construction
industry
unquestionably
benefits
from
the
insights
gained
by
the
authors
as
participants
in
the
process.
The
Wage
Adjustment
Board
was
estab-
lished
on
May
29,
1942
as
the
result
of
a
voluntary
agreement
between
the
American
Federation
of
Labor
building
trades
unions
and
the
federal
procurement
agencies.
for
the
stabilization
of
wage
rates
on
defense
construction.
The
agreement
anticipated
by
about
four
months
the
passage
of
the
amended
Emergency
Price
Control
Act and
the
imposition
of
general
wage
controls.
As
originally
constituted,
the
Board
con-
sisted
of
representatives
of
the
unions
and
the
procurement
agencies.
Its
jurisdiction
was
limited
to
federal
construction
projects.
This
limitation
persisted
for
a
year
after
general
wage
control
authority
(including
authority
over
nonfederal
construction)
was
lodged
with
the
National
War
Labor
Board.
This
division
of
responsibility
meant
that
&dquo;relations
between
the
two
agencies
were
frequently
strained
and
beset
with
some
mutual
suspicion.&dquo;
In
October
1943,
in
consequence,
the
government
contracting
agencies
withdrew
from
the
WAB,
and
the
Board
was
reconstituted
as
a
tripartite
agency,
with
public,
labor,
and
employer
representation.
It
was
given
jurisdiction
over
voluntary
and
dispute
cases.
in
private
as
well
as
federal
construction,
and
func-
tioned
until
the
end
of
the
war
as
an
agency
of
the
National
War
Labor
Board.
The
authors
do
a
first-rate
job
in
describ-
ing
the
application
of
wage
stabilization
in
the
construction
industry
and
in
indicating,
more
briefly,
the
difficult
problems
en-
countered
in
the
relation
of
wage
to
price
control.
In
practice,
the
Little
Steel
for-
mula
was
by
all
odds
the
most
important
criterion
for
wage
adjustments
in
the
sta-
bilization
period.
Other
bases
(substand-
ards
of
living,
intraplant
and
interplant
inequities,
and
rare
and
unusual
cases
in-
volving
manpower
allocation)
were
of
com-
paratively
minor
importance,
although
the
Board
made
limited,
and
in
some
cases
ingenious,
use
of
these
criteria.
&dquo;Fringe&dquo;
adjustments
were
also
of
much
less
signif-
icance
in
construction
than
in
industry
generally.
Nonwage
issues
(union
security,
seniority,
and
so
forth)
constituted
an
al-
most
negligible
aspect
of
the
Board’s
work.
In
view
of
the
inflationary
pressures
of
the
period,
wartime
wage
control
in
general
was
remarkably
effective.
The
careful
re-
view
of
the
available
evidence
in
the
present
volume
indicates
that
the
record
in
con-
struction
does
not
compare
at
all
unfavor-
ably
with
experience
in
manufacturing.
One
of
the
most
interesting
aspects
of
wage
stabilization
in
construction
was
its
maintenance
far
into
the
postwar
period.
It
is
not
widely
recognized
that
&dquo;for
al-
most
fifteen
months
following
V-J
Day
the
construction
industry
was
the
only
segment
of
the
economy
in
which
full
wage
controls
remained
in
effect.
Moreover,
to
a
signif-
icant
degree
they
were
self-imposed.&dquo;
The
authors
attribute
the
maintenance
of
con-
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