Evening star., 1934-08-22
Collective Bargaining in Jail.

Collective Bargaining in Jail.
Organized criminals and organized
crime perhaps have their own distinct
inches in some minds, but there seems
little real difference between them.
The recent threatened strike" Of the
prisoners at Lorton Reformatory may
suggest that the organized criminals
are to be found behind the bars. while
organized crime exists in the open.
The demands Of the organized crimi-
nails at Lorton, which included the fix
ing of wage scales and the control
and appointment Of q steward for
the institution, are shocking to those
who believe that penal institutions are
set up not for the pleasure Of the
criminals but for punishment. Surely
this latest effort toward collective bar
gaining is a perversion Of a principle
that has the sanction even Of the
Government of the United States.
The very fact that the criminals at
Lortoh Reformatory have demanded
the right of collective bargaining on
wages and working conditions, how
ever, is indicative that they are alive
to the spirit of the times. Their atti-
tude and demands, on the other hand,
are as clearly indicative of the ex-
tremes to which anything good may 60.
1t is not SO very long ago that the coun-
try witnessed strike of the police
the organized police--in q great State
of the Union. And 1t Is well within
the memory of the American people
that. the Governor Of that State was
applauded for his firm handling of q
situation which threatened the lives
and property Of the people Of the COM
monwealth. It was that action by
Calvin Coolidge. then Governor of
Massachusetts,, which FIRST centered
national attention upon the man who
was later to become President Of the
United States.
At the rate the spirit Of the times is
going today one wonders whether
such action as that taken by Mr.. Cool
idge during the Boston police strike
would have the sanction and approval
Of the powers that. be. Today the
people are reading Of the return to
his position under the Government of
an employe who was discharged for
insubordination by Gen. Hugh s.
johnson. He is returned by order of
the National Labor Relations Board,
which, in effect. raped Gen. johnson
over the knuckles- for improper inter-
ference with union activity"
There is an underlying demand on
the part of many of the advocates OF
unionism and collective bargaining for
the "closed shop" q shop in which
no worker not q member Of the labor
organization may be. employed. There
Is an increasing demand that the
closed shop be written into the Federal
law; that section 7 (a) of the national
recovery act, which guarantees to the
workers the right of collective bar
gaining be rewritten so as to provide
fatty for the closed shop. II that
provision Is ever written into the law
of the land every industry will be ut
the mercy Of any union which desires
to exert Its full power. The Govern
ment itself would be In a similar posi-
tion. II there Is o walkout, q strike,
the employers, under the law, would
commit q crime II they sought to
employ workers not members Of the
union. 1t would be an impossible
situation The writing Of such . law
would surely be accompanied by law
making arbitration of labor disputes
before a labor board compulsory. But
probably there is nothing so obnoxious
to organized labor as compulsory arbi-
tration, which it insists takes away
from the workers the right to strike, q
right which they say should be
inahenable.
Collective bargaining and organized
labor have great value and virtues.
But, like anything else in this world,
they may be abused.