Professor Discounts Likelihood of Gov't Forcing Arbitration

Elliot J. Berg, assistant professor of Economics, said yesterday that he is highly skeptical whether federal legislators will ever force compulsory arbitration on labor and management.

Berg spoke lightly of a testimony before the House Merchant Marine Committee Wednesday that compulsory arbitration for maritime disputes "would be a great incentive for more effective collective bargaining." Solon B. Turman, chairman of Lykes Brothers Steamship Company Inc., giving the testimony, said that a threat of binding arbitration would induce labor and management to settle their disputes themselves.

These suggestions, Berg said, are contradicted by past experience. He said that in the past, when labor and management have been faced with a threat of compulsory arbitration, both sides have often preferred to let their problems be arbitrated instead of negotiating them themselves.

Berg further contended that "compulsory arbitration has never settled an issue."