Letter to the President, United Steelworkers of America, on the Importance of Price Stability.

Dear Mr. McDonald:

I appreciate very much your letter of September 8 in which you pledge the cooperation of the Steelworkers Union in the negotiations next year with the steel industry, to make sure that full weight and recognition is given to the public interest.

I am sure that you agree with me that the public interest requires responsible price and wage policies in this basic industry and throughout the American economy. The Steelworkers Union can make a significant contribution to the public interest by following, in the forthcoming negotiations, policies that will ensure that their collective bargaining proposals are fashioned so that, in meeting the needs of workers in the industry, the interests of stockholders are safeguarded and the public interest in price stability is protected. This implies a labor settlement within the limits of advances in productivity and price stability.

No one, including workers in the industry, can profit by inflation and by advances in the cost of living. Nor can America as a whole maintain its position in the world if our balance of payments is jeopardized by price and wage policies that make our goods less competitive in the world markets. The whole nation has benefited from the price stability in steel for the last three years, We count on all concerned to maintain this stability.

I am confident that on the basis of your letter, we can rely upon the leadership and members of the Steelworkers Union to act responsibly in the wage negotiations next year in the interests of all of the American people.

Sincerely,

JOHN F. KENNEDY

[Mr. David J. McDonald, President of the United Steelworkers of America, 1500 Commonwealth Building, Pittsburgh, Pa.]