The Washington herald., 1921-01-10
LABOR'S FIGHT
ON OPEN SHOP
UP IN SENATE
La Toilette Asks Recall of
Anti-Strike Bill Passed
By Fluke.
LAUCK SAYS ROADS
MENACING UNIONS
Asks l. G. c.. to Protect
Workers-Farmers May,
Also Intervene.
BY ROBERT BARRY.

I
shop" and denial of the right to-
strike will bcglr in earnest today
when the La Toilette motion against
the Poindexter anti-strike legisla-
tion affecting railroad workers en-
gagged in interstate commerce will
be fought out on the floor of the
Senate.
The Machinists' Union will Cd be-
fore the Interstate Commerce Com
mission with a demand for an in
quiry into an "open-shop" move
ment attributed - railroad and
steel officials alleged to contemplate
closing of railroad shops to give
the work to allied corporations for
| the dual purpose of delivering a
body blow to railroad unions and to
milk" the National Treasury of
$3.50, 100000 this year under the
guaranteed income sections of the
Esch- -Cummins transportation act.
W. Jett Lauck, attorney and con-
sulting economist. announced he
would present to the commission a
petition on behalf of William H.
Johnston, president of the Interna-
itional Association of Machinists,
charging that the railroad manage
ments, especially those affiliated
with J. P. Morgan and Company. are
closing their repair shops, thro%-
! ing thousands of union men out of
work. and giving locomotive and
freight car repair work, at extor-j
! tionate rates, to large private equip
ment companies in which the "rail-
road capitalists or banking groups
are heavily interested"
Alleges "sqaeeze-out.'
! The Lauck petition, it-was stated,
! alleges that 10000 union men al
ready have lost their jobs under this
plan and can return to the shops
| only upon surrendering their union
ea2ss, BY these IAethods. IL is
| Charged. railroad managements
! hope to send the unions on the
rocks and charge the bill to the pub
! lie through taxation to pay sub
| sides guaranteed by the Federal
I government or by maintaining pres
/ ent high rates to shippers and the
travelling public" 1t was stated
| further that shippers organizations
!
/ pected to intervene in the case be-
| fore the commission as parties to
! the workers petition.
DEPRESSING from the immediate
question Of railroad policies alleged
! to contemplate large profits for al
! lied shipment companies at public
expense, Lauck charges the drive on
I shop craft unions to be but a phase
of the open shop" movement which
has for its real object disruption of
all legitimate labor organizations
and trade union agreements"
Outlines Program.
He cites as evidence Of the SCOPE
of the supposed program:
First. The wreck of the Inter-
/ church World Movement because it
/ dared to advocate collective bar
| gaining in the United States Steel
Corporation.
! Second. Recent revelations before
/ the Lockwood committee in New
! York to the effect that the United
States and Bethlehem Steel corpora
tiOns refused to furnish fabricated
steel to construction companies in
New York City employing members
| of labor unions.
Third: The recent refusal OF an
by Morgan & Co, to grant complete
union recognition to Mine Workers.
Fourth. The present depIorable
situation in Mingo and Mcdowell
counties, w. Va. and in the Birm-
tpgham' district in Alabama, where
! there has been . complete break
down of civil government, due to the
refusal of the coal and steel COM
ranies, dominated by the United
States Steel Corporation, to grant TO
the coal miners the right of colIec-
tive bargaining"
Claims Fund Misuse.
These same interests" the I.auck
petition adds, now are attemptfnp
Yby the unwaranted methods we
have described, to deprive railroad
workers of their right of collective
action. We realize fully that your
honorable body has no jurisdiction
over industrial relations in general
or over the relations between rail-
way employees and railway man
ayers. We do claim emphaticalIy,
however, that you cannot permit
railroad companies under your juris-
dictiop to take funds paid by the
public for effective transportation
machinery and to use these funds
lllegltimately and fndefensibly for
the purpose Of disrupting the or
ganizations of railway employees
which received governmental sane
tion and commendation during the
war.
aside from the considerations of
labor policy, it is obvious that the
law contemplated that revenues de-
rived from transportation services
must be economically, efficiently
and honestly accounted for or ex-
pended. and that it is the duty of
your honorable body to scrutinize
the expenditures of the railroad
companies to see that the public
interest is fully protected" Mr..
Johnston has charged that the
Pennsylvania Railroad intended
turning over all its shop york to
the Baldwin Locomotive Works.
The Lauck petition urges the
Interstate Commerce Commission to-
adopt the following policy,
Il. That no railroad company he
permitted to enter into contracts
for repair work on locomotives or
cars by outside companies unless
given a permit to do so, and
"2. That as condition to securing
such a permit, the. railroad COM
panies must show (a) they can not
do TN work which they wish to