Evening star., 1934-06-10
TEST OF COMPANY UNION
SEEN In PRESENT CRISIS
True Industrial Democracy Predicted
as Result of Effort to Avoid
Federal Regulation.

plant union"-called the "Autolite
Council"-in communication to the
at Washington. His state
ment is believed by certain govern
mental observers on the spot to be
accurate He said:
The Autolite Council was formed
several months ago. 1t
consists of the majority Of the en-
ployes of the Autolite plant Nearly
10 per cent of the Autolite employees
have been and are eager to continue
their employment. These employees
have most of then. been with the
company for an average of seven
years and many of them have been
on the same job continuously for 10,
l8 and 20 years. They did not want
this strike and they did not join it.
They are in accord with the principle
that any man may decline to work
under conditions unsatisfactory to
him, but they are also convinced that.
when a great ma jority of the en-
ployeS are willing to work under ex-
isting conditions, they are entitled to
continue to work in peace and Sc
curity. Our appeal to you is for your
protection in upholding our funda-
mental right to work. We ask you to
prevent further harm to labor
through the activities of an organized
Can't Be CIassed as Fakes"
Now, 1t is quite impossible TO dis
miss all such communications as
fakes" proceeding from company
stool pigeons They are arriving here
too frequently to be subjected 20 any
such broad total discount. 1t is i'm
possible to reject the conclusion that
certain plant unions" have passed
beyond the "smoke-screen" stage and
have become valid bona f1de crgani-
cations which prefer plant negoti-
ations with their employers TO mem
berships in A. F. of L. national labor
groups
In the well known Weirton Steel
Co. case, for instance which the Gov
eminent has taken into the Federal
courts, ii Is undeniable that a certain
considerable number of Weirton en-
ployes are as violently opposed to the
American Federation of Labor as is
Mr.. Weir himself. These employees
claim to be majority, and. whatever
their motives may have been. they
Joined Mr.. Weir in declining to accept
the terms and conditions laid down by
the National Labor Board for the
collective bargaining" election" in
the Weirton plant. We thus arrive
at the central point Of the dispute.
The A. F. of L. representatives in
Government circles here simply can
not believe that the members Of any
of these plant unions" are truly free
agents. increasingly. however, there
are plant union" representatives who
vigorously maintain they are, indeed,
free agents. How shall the contradic-
ton be resolved?
1t can be resolved, II would seem.
only through secret-ballot elections"
and this writer has reason to believe
the great steel manufacturers and al
most all OF the great automobile man.
ufacturers are, in fact gradually
reconciling themselves to the prospect
and actively preparing for it.
U. S. Steel Held Generous.
Their preparation falls into two
parts. In the first place, they are be-
ing extremely generous in hours and
wages Gen. Johnson is statistically
beyond reproach when he points, for
example. to the improvement in the
wage scales of the steel companies.
The prices at which those companies
sell their products are still some per
cent below the 1929 level. Meanwhile.
their wage rates to their employees are
some 6 or per cent above the 1929
level. And this has been done while
the biggest unit in the business-the
United States Steel Corporation-was
worked at a deficit of $1,000, 900 for
the stockholders during the first quar-
ter of this year.
What is the reason for such a
policy? Is it without connection with
the thought that the steel employees
should be induced to side with their
employers against A. F. of L. "unioni-
zation"?
But the second part of the prepa-
ration now being made by steel man
ufacturers and automobile manufac-
turers is even more significant. They
are in many instances building up
their so-called company unions" into
active institutions which vote by true
secret ballot and which conduct "col-
lective bargaining negotiations with
a zeal formerly unknown.
Some governmental observers here
are now of the opinion that, as soon
as these preparations are completed,
the steel manufacturers and the au-
tomobile manufacture will them
selves request elections" in their
plants and will confidently take a
betting chance that their plant
union" candidates will beat the ma
tonal trade union" candidates.
Industrial Democracy Seen.
But what will that sort of victory,
If it should occur, mean? 1t would
mean that the employers had con-
ceded enough industrial democracy
to organizations of their own en-
ployes to be able to save themselves
from the industrial democracy of the
American Federation of Labor.
What seems utterly certain Is that
an expanding industrial democracy of
some sort lies Immediately ahead of
us. Only truly free democratic
plant union" will be able to defeat
a national trade union" in a plant
election supervised by the Govern
ment. And only free democratic in
stitutions of some variety In the in
dustrial plants Of the country will
be able to save the owners of those
plants from governmentalization Of
their working conditions.
Adventures in industrial democracy
thus tend to become, in fact. advan-
tageous to plant owners in compari-
son with the limitless evils that might
otherwise befal them. And it there
upon becomes reasonable to suspect
that. possibly in the Immediately
coming years, the relations between
employers and employees in this coun-
try, instead of being increasingly en-
hitterpd NAV IN fart hannilv he in