This Day In 1970's History: Tuesday December 6, 1977
- The stalemate over abortion continued as the House of Representatives defeated, by 200 to 170, the latest compromise effort. For the first time liberals who found the draft too stringent joined conservatives who found it too permissive in voting the compromise down. A compromise by Friday morning is needed if the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor and of Health, Education and Welfare is to be passed in time to pay their employees before Christmas. [New York Times]
- The Carter administration plan to aid steel, protecting the depressed industry against competition from imports and helping it raise more capital through loan guarantees, tax breaks and other assistance for modernization, was unveiled in Washington. The balanced package drew general endorsement from Japan, Western Europe, the domestic industry and the United Steelworkers of America. [New York Times]
- Stock prices plummeted amid concern over the dollar's slump in foreign exchange markets and warnings of a liquidity squeeze facing domestic banks. The Dow Jones industrial average suffered its biggest decline since July, dropping 14.12 points to close at 806.91. [New York Times]
- Union members and local leaders of the International Association of Machinists at the Lockheed plant in Sunnyvale, Calif., are working in defiance of the nationwide strike called by the union's leadership against the company. Rebellions are also taking place within several other major unions. Each case is individual, but together they may be a warning of changing attitudes among the rank and file and local union leaders. [New York Times]
- A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that a female employee may not be deprived of accumulated seniority because she takes an uncompensated maternity leave. It held that the employer had not only refused women a benefit that men cannot and do not receive but had imposed on women "a substantial burden that men need not suffer." The Court also reaffirmed its 1976 finding that an employer is not required to let a worker use accumulated sick leave to remain on the payroll when taking a maternity leave. [New York Times]
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