AMERICAN CAR PRICES

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25740, 28 February 1949, Page 7

AMERICAN CAR PRICES

EFFECT OF WAGE REDUCTIONS

(Rec. 7 p.m.) DETROIT, Feb. 25. General Motors has announced a reduction in the prices of passenger automobiles of 10 to 40 dollars T ‘to pass along to consumers the savings resulting from the downward adjustment of wage and salary payments and the lowered cost of some materials.” It was announced earlier that the wages of more than 270,000 General Motors employees would be reduced by two cents an hour as a result of a decline in the cost of living. It is estimated that the wage cuts will save the corporation from 9,000,000 to 10,000.000 dollars annually. A clause in the employees’ contract with General Motors provides for an automatic wage adjustment of one cent an hour for every change of 1.15 points in the cost of living index. The present average hourly wage of the workers affected by the wage cuts is 164 cents. In Detroit, the Ford Motor Company announced that it would increase production substantially in the next lour months: but would not follow the lead of General Motors in lowering prices. A company spokesman said the current high level of wages and material costs would prevent Ford from reducing prices. Carrier Holed by Ice.—lce knocked a hole Win bv 6in in the stem of the bow of the 13,190-ton light aircraftcarier Vengeance when the ship was undergoing a test off the coast of Greenland to see how warships would Stand up to ice. Vengeance nosed her way at two knots through the ice barrier, comprisin'? blocks of ice up to 40ft across, and Bft to 20ft deep, but on entering the second line of »c« she was holed at the watermark. Within 10 minutes ?50 ton* of water had Hooded Iho forecastin tank. Another tank astern was deliberately flooded tn raise fhe hole nut of the wafer, and Vengeance at once returned to the open sea.—London, February 25.