Autoworkers Negotiate a Contract with a Cost-of-Living Provision
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Human Rights Series
- Categories: Social Issues, Reform, and Protest, Economics
- Subcategories: Business, Industry, Manufacturing, Factories, Treaties, Agreements, Negotiations, Human Rights, Labor, Unions, Work, Employment
- Curriculum: American History 1901-1950
- Geographical Location: Detroit
- Date: May 25, 1948
Article abstract: The United Auto Workers received a contract from General Motors that included an “escalator clause” that increased wages as prices increased.
Summary of Event
After the end of World War II and the abolition of wartime price controls, inflation grew and the real wages of American workers fell. As rank-and-file saw their standard of living decline, they exerted pressure on the United Auto Workers (UAW) leadership to respond to this growing problem. A 1946 conference of UAW officials, representing sixty-five thousand General Motors...
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