Wage Policy

Archive Report

Raising Conflict Over Wages in Industry

Rapid Growth of Labor Campaign for Higher Wages

Strikes and threats of strikes on an ever-widening scale have confronted industrial managers and government officials at Washington with difficult problems of wage and price adjustment. The chief of these problems is whether wage rates should now be raised—or can now be raised—to give wage-earners the same purchasing power in time of peace that they enjoyed during the war.1

Undeterred by a mounting volume of transitional unemployment, labor leaders moved quickly after the surrender of Japan to enforce demands for maintenance of high “take-home” pay. The United Automobile Workers of America, world's largest union, led the way by lodging with the General Motors Corporation, only five days after the end of the war, ...

locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles