Economist Nat Weinberg, 71

Nat Weinberg, an economist credited with forcing many breakthroughs in labor-management relations for the United Automobile Workers, has died in Washington of an apparent heart attack.

Weinberg was 71. He became a close associate of union leader Walter Reuther after joining the UAW in 1947. In addition to being Reuther’s statistician, Weinberg was credited with personally bargaining the 1955 contract that greatly improved auto workers’ supplemental unemployment benefits. He retired in 1974. He died last Sunday.