Nixon Says He Won't Pay Union Wages

President Nixon; declaring an "emergency" in the construction industry, has suspended a Federal law requiring the government to pay prevailing union wage rates on Federal construction projects.

The suspension is the temporary culmination of intensive talks in Bal Harbor, Fla., between government officials and union and management representatives of the construction industry.

Dean Dunlop

John T. Dunlop, dean of the Faculty, has been a central figure in these talks, aiding the government in its attempts to stop inflation in the construction industry.

Dunlop is a nationally known expert in labor-management relations, specializing in the construction industry. He has a long association with the construction workers' unions.

Nixon said the suspension "puts the construction industry on the same footing with other industries that now sell products to the government."

Although Labor Secretary James D. Hodgson claimed the move was not anti-union, it is expected to shift a large amount of Federal construction to low-er-paid non-union workers. Federal and federally assisted projects worth about $25 billion are affected.

Reaction to the Nixon pronouncement was predictable. Edward J. Carlough, head of the International Association of Sheetmetal Workers, said, "There will be 3.5 million angry people when this news gets out." The president of the National Association of Home Builders, however, welcomed the move as "a vital step in excessive wage increases in the construction industry."

Last month Nixon said inflation had reached crisis proportions and gave the industry 30 days to produce a voluntary wage-price plan. The deadline passed last week amid widespread speculation that Nixon might impose a wage-price freeze.

Though Nixon rejected a freeze, Secretary of the Treasury John B. Conally told Congress yesterday that the administration wished to have the president's standby authority to impose temporary wage-price controls extended by two years.

When Congress first passed the law giving him such authority two years ago, Nixon said he didn't want such power and had no desire to use it.