Evening star., 1934-03-25
AUTO PEACE TODAY
HOPED BY JOHNSON
N. R. A. Chief Calls Remain
ing Issue in Strife
"Damned Nonsense"
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
any announcement of shorter hours
in the automobile industry when 1t
is made, not in the form of an aver
age. but a definite announcement in
a plant of a reduced hourly schedule
applicable to a single week"
Until this breakup last night. with
the question at issue Shrouded by the
secrecy displayed by johnson and
Green. the automobile dispute seemed
to have been narrowed to the single
point of whether the manufacturers
or the Government would be given
union lists of workers to check against
company pay rolls for the purpose of
selecting workers spokeSmen in in
dustrial peace-time negotiations be-
tween emloyer and employe. Whether
that still held good, and remained
the only bone of contention was not
certain.
Previously. the workers represent
atives said that was the issue; the Ma
tional Automobile Chamber of Com
merce, in a formal statement. said:
If that is the only remaining issue,
let there be no misunderstanding as to
what 1t means. 1t means the union
refuses to tell the manufacturers whom
the union represents
Labor Attacks Statement.
Even the issuance Of the formal
statement by the Automobile Chamber
of Commerce led to further dispute
Labor men charged it was violation of
an agreement by both sides with Presi-
dent Roosevelt, that neither side
should make any formal announce
ment but that such statement should
be for the President to make.
To the manufacturers proposal that
the companies be allowed to check the
union list against the pay roll, the
workers contended they had no assur-
ance the manufacturers would not use
names ON the list to discriminate
against the members.
On the contrary" the Automobile
Chamber statement replied, the man.
:ufacturerS have agreed to an impartial
board to pass on any cases of alleged
discrimination and to have its findings
Thus there is no warrant for the
unions claim that there will be dis
elimination"
The manufacturers statement also
said in retort to the proposal for a
Government check of the union list,
shat no outside agency can check the
Anion claims against the pay rolls and
some to any fair decision without dis
closing the names to the manufac-
furers"
Hartman Sees a Crisis.
The afternoon was marked by pub
licatlon of a letter from Henry I. Har-
Ilman, president of the United States
Chamber OF Commerce, to the men,
bership of the organization, which
said:
Efforts to unionize all of American
industry at whatever cost. through the
threat of strikes and by means of
legislation, have brought major crisis
in the progress toward national re-
covery."
Harriman's statement to the United
States chamber membership contained
reference to both the current auto
mobile controversy and the Wagner
National Labor Board bill, measure
tG strengthen the legal authority of
that agency. The board, of which
Wagner is chairman, was created as
an enforcement adjunct of the re-
covery act.
Most of the labor troubles since
the inception of the recovery act,
Hartman said, have been the direct
result of misunderstanding or de-
liherate misconstruction of the labor
provisions of the act
In the automobile industry where.
as this goes to press, a strike is
threatened" Hartman said, trade
union organizers are charged with
conveying the impression to workers
that they must become affiliated with
the so-called standard unions in order
to obtain the improvement in employ
mCnt conditions contemplated In the
act.
To combat this the employers have
emphasized that the act guarantees a.
free choice in the selection of methods
for collective bargaining and that 1t
IMPOSES no TeSITlCllOllS dS W Vic wv
of employe representation organiza-
tions.
Sees Unions Only Issue.
I'm the automobile industry the is
sue does not seem to be any contro-
versy between employer and employe
over hours or wages. Spokesman for
the industry point out that the ques-
tior is whether union labor can by
force impose itself upon the indus
try"
Hartman said the Chamber OF
Commerce viewed the Wagner bill as
"inimical to the public interest"
"'The national industrial recovery
act" he said, was written as an
emergency measure. If not extended
by Congress it will go out of exist
ence in a little over year.
In spite of this, the labor unions
now come forward in an attempt to
make a part of the act permanent and
in such drastic form as to be wholly
unacceptable Certainlyia single part
of the emergency act aspuld not be
superseded by permanent provision