U.S. WAGE-CONTROL MOVE

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32540, 25 February 1971, Page 11

U.S. WAGE-CONTROL MOVE

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON,

Feb. 24.

President Nixon today gave a clear warning to management and labour that he intended to get tough in his efforts to battle inflation by imposing wage controls on Government - sponsored construction work.

The White House announced that he was suspending indefinitely legislation covering wages paid on building jobs financed by Washington. Officials estimate that these amount to about onethird of the $90,000m in construction projects at present underway in the United States. Labour’s immediate reaction was hostile and construction industry chiefs said that the President’s action would be ineffective and inadequate. But Mr Nixon appeared to have backed away from a direct showdown with either group by ruling out a politically-volatile general freeze on wages and prices throughout the industry. Instead, he suspended legislation under which men employed on Government construction work are paid at the prevailing local wage

rate, which usually means the highest scale for private projects. The order will go into effect today and one result might be that contractors will be able to make lower bids for Federal jobs. Mr George Meany, president of A.F.L.-C.1.0. labour confederation said that the action was wrong in principle and decidedly one-sided. “It attempts to correct the national economic problem of mass unemployment in a period of inflation, brought about by the unwise monetary and fiscal policies of the President and his advisers, by penalising a single segment of the working population,” he said in a statement. "It is an open invitation to

> unscrupulous employers to ! exploit workers by competitive undermining of fair > wages and labour standards,” t he said. I On the management side, ; the Association of General Contractors, the largest • organisation representing the r building industry, said that ! the President’s remedy was s “disappointing and inadequate.” ! A spokesman said that it i would be totally ineffective in i bringing stability to the cont struction industry. ■ The National Constructors’ s Association, the second r largest group, said that it t would have no effect on pri- ’ vate industry. Mr Meany issued his statei ment from Miami, where he

had been attending the A.F.L.-C.1.0. annual convention.

Mr Nixon had sent the labour secretary (Mr James Hodgson) there over the week-end to try to persuade the unions to help keep a rein on construction wages and hence prices and inflation.

His mission was evidently unsuccessful, even though the unions had apparently given some signs they would not entirely rule out some sort of restraint under certain conditions.

The building industry employs three million regular “hard hat” workers and about the same number of casuals on summer and seasonal work.