The Nation - News from Jan. 28, 1986

Major collective bargaining settlements in 1985 provided first year pay increases averaging only 2.3%, the lowest ever recorded, the Labor Department reported. With December-to-December consumer prices increasing 3.8% last year, economists looked upon the figures from the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics as further evidence of waning of union power. “There is greater realism at the bargaining table,” said Roger Brinner of Data Resources Inc.