The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-07
Leaders
Rebutfed bV
ROOS eV 1t
Union Drive is Pledged
by Chiefs Who Renew
Faith in F.D.R.
Continued from Page u

hsld fully the Auto Labor Board
and told the A. F. of L. to keep its
hands OF all his decisions which
have entrenched the company
union in the auto industry.
The letter Of President Roosevelt
upheld all the snti-labor acts of the
Auto Labor Board and showed that
at this time Roosevelt is directly
and openly working through the
company unions and is disregarding
the A. F. of l.. officials completely.
Roosevelt said, The Board was
established by the government and
not as a board of arbitration created
by the parties to an agreement" "
This was in answer to a letter of
Ogburn, which declared that since
the Auto Labor Board was set up
under a pact on March Is, 1884, to
which the A. F. of L. officials were
a party. that the withdrawal of the
A. F. of L. officials from this pact
makes the Auto Labor Board il
legal.
OkayS Company Union
THE principles of settlement
said Roosevelt of the March Is,
1894 pact, which prevented the auto
strike, at that time not only rec
ognized the possibility but the
probability that groups of employees
in this industry might choose diff
ferent representatives or organize
lions to act in their behalf. Provi-
sion was made for the N.R.A, to set
up a beard responsible to the presi-
dent of the United States and in
the principles of settlement it was
stated that the government makes
it clear that it favors no particular
union or particular form of en-
ployee organization or representa-
ton
Roosevelt's letter is in direct line
with the pact of March 25, 1884,
which legalized the company union,
Roosevelt continues, The Board so
established is responsible to the
President and it is for the President
to determine whether the board is
fulfilling its duties and how long
the existence Of the board should
be continued. The board was not
established in the code. But it will
be noted that the authority under
which the board and the code were
both established expires June 16,
1885"
The authority of the Auto Labor
Board was confirmed and con-
tinued by President Roosevelv's de-
cree of a few days ago which ex-
tended the anti-labor auto code
with the open shop merit clause"
included.
Backs Strikebreaking
In yesterdays letter, Roosevelt, in
effect, approves every strikebreaking
act of the Auto Labor Board and
gives presidential backing to the
driving speedup and the extension
of the company union carried
through by the board. The cleo
tions held by the board, which were
framed up in order to defeat the
A. F. of L. unions, are given en-
dorsement in Roosevelt'S letter. He
declares that the Auto Board lis
engaged also in the very important
work of holding secret elections,
whereby through secret ballot, I'M
der government supervision, all en-
ployees are being given a full and
fair opportunity to designate their
representatives, choosing them either
as individuals, or as representatives
Of labor organization. The result
Of these elections must be to provide
for the first time conclusive evil
dence of how and by whom the
employees desire to be represented"
The March Is pact and the sub
sequent union smashing actions of
the Auto Board, legalized the COM
pany union, allowed these employ
ers' unions to spread reign of ter
ror IN the auto plants, and framed
the elections so that individuals"
and company unions, and not the
real unions Of the workers won"
in the framed up balloting so far
held.
Roosevelt, on the basis of these
elections" challenges the right of
the A. F. Of L. to speak for the
auto workers. He says, Under
these circumstances it would seem
that any organization of employees
IN this industry or any organization
claiming to represent such employees
would avail itself fully of the op-
portunity to establish the authentic
character of its representation"