Overtime & Moonlighting

In Washington last week, A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany announced that labor would soon start campaigning actively for a 35-hour week. He realized, he said, that it would not come right away, but he figured that labor could get the short week eventually "if we start a drive and make enough fuss." Or perhaps talking of labor's future was better than talking about labor's present. With unemployment high (5.3%) and union membership waning, labor has been having its troubles at the bargaining table lately. The workingman's wages--like the businessman's prices and profits--are rising at a much slower rate than in recent years.

Major labor contracts signed so far this year call for hourly wage boosts averaging 3.2%, whereas in 1957 the average was 5%. In a time of automation-inspired layoffs, labor now fights harder for job-security benefits than for straight wage hikes. The main feature of Walter Reuther's settlement with the auto makers last fall was an increase in supplemental unemployment benefits. David McDonald's Steelworkers last spring settled for a many--fringed package of longer vacations, plumper pensions and layoff benefits---but no wage raises. Recent increases in labor costs in many industries have been more than compensated for by higher production per worker. Wages and fringe benefits have risen about 3.8% this year, while productivity gains have averaged about 3% a year since 1947.

Meany justifies the 35-hour week on the theory that companies would have to hire more men. But in the few cases where unions have achieved shorter weeks, management has simply scheduled more overtime work. The celebrated 25-hour week won by New York construction electricians this year (TIME, Jan. 26) works out in practice as 25 hours at straight-time pay and five or ten hours on overtime. Other unions that have got a short week complain that it inspires workers to "moonlight" by seeking out second jobs, thus actually cuts down work opportunities. A widespread adoption of a 35-hour week with 40 hours' pay--which is Meany's ultimate aim--might even oblige managers to spend more for automation. It would therefore do little in the long run to cut unemployment.

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