Evening star., 1934-09-08
STRIKE IS TERMED
UNION STRATEGY.
Textile WaIkout Is Seen as
Labor Move to Gain
z Members.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

be short lived. The strategy OF tht
labor leaders is just being revealed. L
indicates that the principal purpose
was to make demonstration of unior
strength and q membership drive.
This view, long suspected in the
National Capital, now Is officially con.
firmed by a reading of one paragraph
in the formal letter addressed tc
President Roosevelt by Lloyd Garri.
son, chairman of the National Labor
Relations Board, recently created BY
resolution of Congress
In the course of these discus
sions,'' writes Mr.. Garrison with re-
spect to recent efforts by the board
to persuade labor leaders not to strike
at became apparent that no action
which our board might take with re-
spect to these cases would in itself
prevent the strike The board con-
cluded, therefore. that nothing would
be gained by any final action on its
part until the strike was either
averted or terminated"
Seen Ready for Mediation.
Now. however. when the strike has
been called and labor leaders have
had several days in which to demon
strate conspicuously to the employers
as well as to hesitant non-union en-
ployes what the real strength of the
union is, the labor leaders are dis
posed to agree to the mediation of a
special board such as has just been
appointed by the President.
4 pr7L. I1nf l0H
leaders all along intended to accept
mediation and that they would have
been sorely distressed If some move
in that line had not been made. They
probably motivated 1t themselves, for
they did not wish to subject their
members or their union funds to any
greater expense than absolutely neces-
sary to make the demonstration.
George Sloan, representative Of the
employers, is quoted as saying he can
not understand what a special board
can do that the National Labor Re-
lations Board could not do. But Mr..
Garrison's letter shows it plainly. 1t
is that the labor leaders we're not
ready for mediation q week or q
month ago, but figured that the call
of the strike, the counting Of the
number Of men and the publicity
given would help the membership
drive tremendously. Thus, for in
stance, one of the demands of the
union which now are to go before
the Special Mediation Board for set
tlement, incldes written understand
ing, to which employers are to agree,
whereby the union dues may be COL
lected on the premises of the mills
and factories and during working
hours.
This is quite parallel to the So
called 'check-off" which the coal
miners unions, as a result of many
strikes and threats of strikes, have
succeeded in forcing, so that employ
ers deduct the dues before the pay
envelopes are distributed.
The necessity for these steps is quite
apparent to the labor leaders who, by
these methods, can keep their mem
bership intact. The cost of collecting
dues would be immeasurably increased
II the labor union treasures had to GO
to the workers homes, or if they had
to persuade them about the merits of
unioniSm every time q pay envelope
was handed out. Through the ar
rangement for deduction, however, the
laboring man soon forgets that he
ever had the dues in his wages, and
that's what the proposition now being
advanced by the textile union leaders
eventually will bring. For it is a short
step from collection on the premises to
the "check-off" system.
There can be nothing but sdmira-
ton for the diplomatic skill of the
labor leaders, looking at the matter
entirely from their standpoint of get
ting and keeping members The argu-
ment as to whether so or so per cent
of the men went out on q strike is
largely academic today. The labor
leaders know they did not poll the
full strength They never believed
they would, in spite of their publicity
and boasts to that effect. If the truth
were known, the number of men who
followed the unions was much larger
than the unions really anticipated.
H And, from the labor union view
point, it doesn't matter much whether
the total was so per cent or so per
cent or any other figure. The purpose
was entirely one Of demonstration, 50
that labor organizers can now ap-
proach non-union men and point out
how strong a factor in collective bar
gaining the union organizations real
ly are. Also, when the Special Board
of Mediation brings about some con-
cessions to labor, as it inevitably will
the labor leaders will have added am
munition with which to get new men,
bers and make converts of the doubt
ing workers.
Administration in Accord.
All this strategy has been fully
known to the Roosevelt administration,
which goes along with these maneu-
Vers more or less on the theory that
the labor vote is a group worth
keeping on friendly terms, espe-
cially before the Autumn congressional
elections The economic loss to the
country OF even few days of stoppage
Of work is not calculated by the ad-
ministration, especially as it throws
monkey wrenches in the recovery
machine.
During wartime. the National Labor
Board, with men like Samuel Gompers
and William Howard Taft on it, &C
tually prevented such Interruptions
and strikes. Mr.. Roosevelt's numerous
boards are formed for the principal
purpose of aiding the union workers
to organize their fellow workers, re-
gardleSs of the economic cost of the
process. And the reason for all this
is political expediency, which nova
days is more important than economic
recovery.
Employers. of course, to no small
extent have been asleep at the switch
Many of them in certain sections o.
the country have permitted working
conditions TO reach a point which
made union agitation a natural de
velopment. Also the mythical ad
vantages of employer combination
through the suspension Of the anti
trust laws were accepted by busines
under the N r. A. and now it is bein,
discovered that labor got It's shar,
of the trade, namely collective bar
gaining and the complete co-opera
tion of Government tribunals ant