Masonry Magazine June 1973 Page. 39
Washington Wire
ECONOMISTS SEE A FURTHER DIP IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE in months ahead. In fact, most are very surprised that the rate has been so sticky recently. It has hovered around 5% for several months now, down from November's 5.2%. This is a small decline, given the strength of the economy so far this year. Growth in the labor force has been extremely strong in recent months, though. Experts think job seekers, who normally move into the labor force in June, have already done so this year-and probably most have found new employment.
As new job opportunities become available this summer, the unemployment rate should fall. Many analysts forecast a slide in the jobless rate to around 4% by the end of 1973.
CRUCIAL LEGAL ISSUES HAVE ARISEN OVER THE RIGHT TO STRIKE over safety. The Supreme Court will review a lower court ruling that permitted a strike over safety and ordered the parties to take the case to binding arbitration. Business fears unions may use safety to skirt no-strike contract provisions. What's more, the National Labor Relations Board is seeing more safety cases. The Board turned down a company's charge that a union refused to bargain fairly over health and safety demands. And it found a worker wrongfully fired for walking out to protest dangerous conditions, despite a no-strike clause.
Employer creation of union-management safety committees may also infringe on a union's right to bargain, officials warn.
MCMCA Stages First Masonry Demonstration
The Minnesota Concrete & Masonry Contractors Association staged its first annual Concrete and Masonry Demonstration on June 19 in Runge Park, West St. Paul. Architects, city officials, and park and playground staffs were invited to attend.
Each year the demonstration will be held in a different community in the state.
Smith Appointed Head Of Architectural Group
William Bailey Smith, AIA, former managing partner of Edward Durell Stone & Associates, New York City, has joined the international architectural, engineering and planning firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall in Los Angeles as vice president and manager of the Architecture/Engineering Group.
Throughout his distinguished career, which spans two score years, Smith has been an active leader in the American Institute of Architects and was a member and co-chairman of the AIA Engineers Joint Council, which has done much to improve working relations between the architectural and engineering professions.
CONSUMER CLASS-ACTION SUITS MAY BE SHARPLY REDUCED
CONSUMER CLASS-ACTION SUITS MAY BE SHARPLY REDUCED in coming years, because of a landmark decision by a three-judge Federal court in New York. The court held that a person who files such a suit must pay all of the cost of notifying each person on behalf of whom the class-action suit is brought. The new court requirement would obviously be extremely costly to a plaintiff. In many of these suits, many, many people are involved in the class action. All too frequently it is even difficult to identify members of the class.
The court's decision is expected to be appealed. So the victory for manufacturers could prove to be short-lived.
TERMS MAY BE EASED ON LOANS TO SMALL FIRMS hit by floods or shutdowns of defense plants under new legislation now being planned on Capitol Hill. Under the plan, the Small Business Administration could forgive up to $4,000 of a loan, with the actual amount depending on the damage or owner income. Under existing law, SBA does not enjoy authority to forgive disaster loans.
Firms affected by defense closing would be treated as disaster victims. The government is closing 200 military installations.
One "record" about profits that failed to make headlines is their relation to the national total output of goods and services, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States says. Last year, corporate profits after taxes were only four percent of the country's Gross National Product or the lowest percentage since 1938.
SCOOT-CRETE BUILT STRONGER TO LAST LONGER
T-70H shown, with hydraulic dump.
Getman Scoot-Crete power buggies are rugged, compact, versatile...able to handle up to 28 cubic feet or 4200 lbs, payloads with load-steady design...heavy duty power trains... 4-speed truck transmissions on all but the WG-10... sure-stop brakes... and built-in toughness. To last. Longer.
GETMAN BROTHERS
Getman MANUFACTURING COMPANY
A Subsidiary of Oury Engineering Co
PO Box 1145 Marion, Ohio 43302
Phone 614-389-4661