Evening star., 1934-09-02
AUTO RULING SEEN
VICTORY YFORLABOR
Issues in Textile Strike May
Provoke Further lmpor-
tant Decisions.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Momentous decisions vitality affect.
ing labor stood upon the books or ims
pended today as the Nation moved into
a traditional Labor day week end
blurred by threatening general tex
tile strike.
Issues brought to focus by the tex
tile strike-the power Of the new
Labor Relations Board; the worth OF
walkouts to gain N. r. A. code re-
visions; the principle of Federal relief
aid for strikerS-all may write new
chapters in labor history.
AS the Labor day week end began,
organized workers in general already
had recorded another important vic.
tory-an upholding of ma jority rule"
The National Labor Relations Board
ruled yesterday that since the Auto
mobile Workers Federal Union won
an election among the employees by
l los to SAT. the Houde Engineering
Co. of Buffalo must deal with that
union on wages and hours instead Of
the company" union.
Backs Majority Rule.
"This board stands upon the ma
jority rule" said the formal opinion,
after stating at length the purposes
behind the recovery act.
And 1t does so the more willingly"
the board added, because the rule is
in accord with American traditions Of
political democracy, which empower
representatives elected by the ma ior-
ity of the voters to speak for all the.
people"
The eve of the textile strike and
the start of the Labor day week end
found the country with only one other
major labor disturbance on its hands.
nearly 10000 employees of the Alumt.
mum Co. Of America were striking for
a written contract, collection of union
dues by the company and a universal
wage scale. Government supervised
negotiations to end that walkout were
to be resumed in Pittsburgh Wednes-
day although they failed TO produce an
agreement here this week.
There were indications that al
though the American Federation Of
Labor had made important gains since
N. r. A, all was not peaceful within
the organization itself.
Next month the A. F. Of L. has its
annual convention in San Francisco.
There will be re-opened the old squab-
BILE of horizontal" VS.. vertical" union
organization. The A. F. of L. origi-
nally was formed largely on "horizon-
tai" lines-meaning that workers in
each trade should belong to Nation
wide union of that trade.
But new problems of organization
stimulated agitation for the vertical
plan, under which every employe in a
single industry, regardless of his job,
would join a single union.
In its decision yesterday on the
Houde case, the Labor Relations Board
said that when section Ia spoke of
collective bargaining" that could be
interpreted only to mean "that long
| observed process whereby negotiations
are conducted for the purpose of ar
irving at collective agreements govern
ing terms Of employment for some
specified period"
And in prohibiting any inter-
ference with this process" the ruling
continued, 1T must have intended
that the process should be encouraged
! and that there was a definite good
to be obtained by promoting the
stabilization Of employment relations
through collective agreements"
Manufacturers Protest.
Industry, however, through the
National Association of Manufac-
! turers, reported in a statement that
the Houde decision virtually nulli-
fles the right of collective bargaining
! guaranteed to all employees" under
N. I. r. A.
"The effect Of the decision" that
statement continued, 'is that where
a majority of employees have voted to
! bargain collectively through one or
ganizatiun all other employees are
hound by the act of the majority.
This is not in conformance with
President Roosevelt's own stipulations
protecting minorities when he settled
the automobile controversy"
The statement promised, too, that
the ruling would not contribute to-
ward "allaying the troubled indus
trial situation" And there was an
other administration decision draw
ing some flre-the announcement
that striking workers in need would
be fed unless the Labor Department
or National Labor Relations Board
held their walkout was unjustified.
Harry L. Hopkins, relief adminis-
| traitor, repeatedly sought 10 halt
, arguments that his decision was en-
couraging strikes by emphasizing that
the walkoutS must be justified. But
there were replies quoting his own
admission that so far no strike had
been ruled unjustifled by the Federal
agencies mentioned.