Reagan, in Boost for Bush, to Allow Plant-Closing Law : Complains of Political High Jinks

President Reagan, slipping out of a political corner by not lifting his pen, said today he will allow a bill requiring employers to give 60 days’ notice of plant closings to become law without his signature.

Reagan, who had vetoed a massive trade bill containing the same provision, denounced the new law and lashed Democrats for using the issue to punish Vice President George Bush in the 1988 presidential campaign.

“In order to end these political shenanigans and to get on with the business of the nation,” Reagan said, “I have decided to allow the plant-closing bill to become law but without my signature.”

Automatic Action

Without a veto or a signature, the bill becomes law automatically Thursday.

House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas, one of the Democrats who has trumpeted the issue as reflecting the Administration’s callous attitude toward working people, said he was “very pleased the President has seen the light.”

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Reagan was bowing to “political realities,” but said: “This is bad legislation. It’s bad for the economy and it’s bad for employment and jobs.”

But Fitzwater said the plant-closing question has stalled action on a trade-reform measure too long already, “and in that context, it’s better to let it go into effect.”

Desire for New Bill

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, who had advised Reagan to let the bill become law, said the President was motivated by his desire for a new trade bill. With less than a month of working time left on the congressional calendar before the fall campaign hits high gear, Dole said, Reagan realized that even if a veto of the plant-closing law were sustained--a doubtful outcome at best--the measure would have been added to some other vital legislation.

Vice presidential nominee Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas said the Democrats still will use the bill as a campaign issue.

“It is obvious that we (Democrats) did it,” Bentsen said of the effort to enact the plant-closing bill. “The Administration’s opinion is that a pink slip in the mail is enough.”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) called Reagan’s action “a victory for millions of American families . . . who will be able to adjust to the changes in our economies.”

Met With Leaders

Fitzwater said Reagan reached his decision after discussing the issue with congressional leaders and Bush, who is scheduled to pick up the Republican presidential nomination for President later this month.

But Reagan stressed his distaste for the bill, saying that it violates his efforts “to reduce the intrusion of the federal government into the lives of all Americans.” He warned that the 60-day disclosure of planned closings could jeopardize efforts to save faltering companies.

The Senate passed the bill requiring advance notice in cases of plant closings or mass layoffs by a 72-23 vote, more than enough to override a veto. The large bipartisan majority was a reflection of the bill as a major election-year issue.

The law requires businesses that employ more than 100 workers to give 60 days’ notice before they shut down or lay off workers for more than six months. In the case of plant closings, it requires 60 days’ notice if 50 or more workers at one site lose their jobs.

Companies also have to pay the equivalent of a day’s pay and fringe benefits for each day the required notice was not given and make payment to local communities of $500 a day, up to $30,000.