Wage Adjustments in This War
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Author | Z. Clark Dickinson |
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400111 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
62
Wage
Adjustments
in
This
War
By
Z.
CLARK
DICKINSON
HE
exigencies
of
war
continually
and
profoundly
alter
labor
policies
and
practices,
not
least
those
pertaining
to
wages.
Many
of
the
policies
required
by
national
interests
during
a
great
war
are
almost
the
exact
opposites
of
policies
appropriate
to
a
chronic
depression
like
that of
the
1930’s.
One
oft-recurring
suggestion
as
to
how
wages
should
be
handled
in
wartime,
to
be
sure,
would
make
this
present
article
superfluous:
I
mean
the
demand
that
all
wages,
prices,
and
rents
be
simply
frozen
for
the
war’s
duration.
If
this
plan
were
literally
adopted,
the
subject
of
wage
adjust-
ments
during
the
war
would
become
quite
academic,
like
the
essay
on
&dquo;Snakes
in
Ireland&dquo;
which
began
cate-
gorically :
&dquo;There
are
no
snakes
in
Ire-
land.&dquo;
But
such
simple
and
universal
freezing
of
wages
is
most
unlikely
to
be
continued,
if
undertaken;
and
we
may
confidently
assume
that
many
bet-
ter
and
worse
wage
adjustments
will
continue
to ,be
made.
Several
of
the
moot
points
in this
field
were
brought
into
focus
by
the
War
Labor
Board’s
policy
enunciated
in
the
recent
Little
Steel
cases,
in
which
a
51/2-
cent
rise
in
wage
rates
was
granted,
on
the
ground
that
this
boost,
together
with
previous
wage
increases,
would
make
the
relative
advance
in
wage
rates
since
January
1941
at
least
equal
to
the
relative
rise
in
living
costs
in
steel
centers.
Was
this
a
proper
applica-
tion
of
the
wage
clauses
and
implica-
tions
of
the
President’s
anti-inflation
program?
What
other
government
agencies,
if
any,
should
participate
in
shaping
and
implementing
our
national
wage
policy?
Are
&dquo;parity
wages&dquo;
in-
definitely
to
chase
&dquo;parity
prices&dquo;
up-
hill ?
During
this
war,
what
is
hap-
pening
to
collective
bargaining?
Should
government
wage
control
be
extended
from
minimum-wage
determinations,
only
to
wage
fixations
incident
to
labor
disputes,
or
should
public
authorities
also
establish
maximum
wage
rates
or
ceilings-even
where
no
labor-capital
controversy
has
arisen?
Must
wages
be
determined
fundamentally
by
irra-
tional
political
pressures
and
maneuvers
of
various
factions
for
power?
Such
are
a
few
of
the
current
controversies
relevant
to
wages.
IN
BRITAIN
AND
CANADA
Let
us
approach
a
review
of
the
facts
and
outlook
in
our
own
country
from
the
angle
of
nations
which
were
earlier
swept
fully
into
the
present
war.
After
the
extreme
inflations
following
1918,
Europeans
were
willing
to
accept
ex-
treme
measures
to
prevent
recurrence
of
such
troubles..
Nazi
measures
of
price
and
wage
control,
for
example,
were
totalitarian
and
effective
from
the
onset
of
the
party’s
power.
Soon
after
the
present
war
began
in
1939,
the
cur-
rent
of
anti-inflation
opinion
in
English-
speaking
countries
was
accelerated
by
publication
and
discussions
of
the
Keynes
Plan.
The
influence
of
this
agitation,
though
indirect,
has
been
very
considerable.
In
Britain
and
elsewhere,
compulsory
war
loans
became
practical
politics;
and
labor
as
well
as
other
public
opinion
is
much
better
informed
than
it
was
a
generation
ago
as
to
the
inflationary
possibilities
of
the
attempt
fully
to
maintain
real
wage
rates.
The
British
wartime
compulsory
arbitration
law
has
had
little
occasion
to
be
used,
and
wage
rates
and
prices
have
advanced
much
more
slowly
than
in
World
War
L1
1
From
August
1939
to
April
1942
the
index
of
wage
rates
rose
261/~
per
cent
and
the
living
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