LBJ Can't Afford To Alienate Labor: Economic Impact
AT THE MEETING here about ten days ago of the power-packed Business Council, President Johnson said that both management and labor would have to behave themselves next year to prevent a new cycle of wage-price inflation.</br></br>At that point, B. F. Goodrich President J. Ward Keener asked a question on behalf of every other U.S. business leader: would the President be as tough on labor as on business?</br></br>The President naturally said that he could and would be. And there is little doubt that he would like to be as evenheaded with the George Meanys and I. W. Abels as with the Ward Keeners and Roger Bloughs.</br></br>But the fact of the matter is that the President canÛªt afford to alienate labor as he heads into a tough campaign year in 1968. After a temporary rupture in relationships, labor is back on the John- son team. And despite misgivings here and there in individual unions, the AFL-CIO on a national basis is giving Johnson whole-hearted support on Vietnam.</br></br>THE RENEWED mutuality of interest between Johnson and Meany was evident during the PresidentÛªs appearance last week at the AFL-CIO convention at Bal Barbour, Fla. Meany, perhaps the last of a line of gruff, oldÛÓbut effectiveÛÓ labor autocrats, was delighted to produce LBJ, while his arch-enemy, Walter Reu-ther, lurked in absentia preparing a grand exit march from the Federation.