Statement by the President on Releasing Report of Fact-Finding Board on the General Motors Labor Dispute.

I HAVE RECEIVED and am releasing for publication the report of the Fact-Finding Board appointed in the General Motors dispute. The Board makes the following recommendations:

1. That the Company grant a general wage increase of 19½ cents an hour. The report shows that a large part of this increase is for a cost-of-living adjustment to the workers, who have received no general wage increase since 1942. The balance is to compensate for loss of earnings due to shorter hours and other factors.

2. That "in line with the customary practice of American industry in similar situations . . . the status quo prevailing before the strike be restored by the reinstatement of the 1945 contract between the parties, which the Company cancelled on December 10, 1945 (as it had a right to do)."

3. That "after the reinstatement of the contract and pending its expiration on April 28, 1946 the parties settle by collective bargaining the remaining issues between them." 4. That "the strike be called off and that the employees be returned to work without discrimination because of their participation in the strike."

5. That "the management, the Union, and the workers join in a wholehearted effort to restore production as speedily as possible; to continue it without interruption; and to lift it to new levels of efficiency and capacity in the interests of all the people."

The report is a thorough and reasoned document. I believe that it will commend itself to the good judgment of the American public. I sincerely hope that the parties will follow the recommendations and bring about a speedy end to this most costly conflict. I am satisfied that if such a settlement is made, the industrial skies will rapidly clear and American industry and labor will go forward to new heights of achievement in the interests of the whole country.