Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-03-04

4ISllL VI PllVlSSO
is accorded, the persons who are
granted those rights necessarily
have some duty to perform under
those rights. It is we'll established,
for example, that workers may or
ganize into unions; that those
unions have the right to bargain
collectively which means that a.
committee representing the mem
bers of that union may speak. for it
in dealing with the employers, and
it is right undoubtedly of unions
to call its members away from work
on strike. I think there can be no
debate concerning these three
premises. But since these rights
have been granted to workers and
accepted by them on the same in
alienable basis as the right to vote,
the obligations that go with these
rights necessarily have been accept
ed by the workers.
We have just seen a settlement
of one of the great strikes of this
decade and the return of more than
one hundred thousand workers to
the plants of the General Motors
corporation. Immediately after
Governor Murphy of Michigan, had
announced that General Motors and
John L. Lewis and his Committee
for Industrial Organization had
reached an agreement, efforts
surged and swelled in a movement
on the part of each side to claim
victory in the settlement. From all
sources I have been able to tap,
from every trustworthy observer of
national affairs, I have obtained vir-
tually the same story about the Gen
eral Motors-C. I. o. strike settle
ment. AS far as I can see after
digesting all of the opinions within
my reach, it seems to me that
neither General Motors nor John L.
Lewis won. What is much more i'm
portant is that the American people
lost by that strike and they are in
a fair way to lose much more.
The General Motors strike was
one Of the costliest in history. I am
told that the workers alone lost
something like one hundred million
dollars in wages, and, of course,
the stockholders of General Motors
likewise lost because during all
those days, forty-four of them, that
the plants were closed, no new cars
moved into trade. That means that
all the thousands of dealers and
statesmen of General Motors auto
mobiles earned no income.
The truth about the settlement
seems to be that each side was will
;, a. ing near the end
ruin A0ouf to accept Cover
Settlement nor Murphys
proposition for
settlement as a face saving pro-
posal. 1t is undoubtedly true that
John l.. Lewis would have been
sunk without trace and his move
ment to break up the American
Federation of Labor and take con-
troll of labor for himself would have
been utterly ruined had there not
been some concessions by the Gen
eral Motors officials. He apparently
attempted to break up the A. F. of
l.. before he had sufficient union
men weaned away from the parent
organization and that is the, reason
why his position in the General
Motors strike was so precarious
from his personal standpoint.
On the other hand, it is quite evil
dent as well that General Motors
was forced into a position where it
had to make concessions or be
charged by the federal government
with responsibility for bloodshed
and destruction of property in
riots. Governor Murphy acted
throughout the strike negotiations
under the flag of President Roose-
welt, saying his movements were
at the wish of the President. Gen
eral Motors did not dare attempt
to run counter to the Presidents
commands because it could not
withstand public sentiment that
could and probably would be built
up against it should it be publicly
criticized by the President.
And to support my statement that
the settlement is a face saving
agreement and that neither side
won in it, it is necessary only to
consider that this agreement will
run just six months. 1t contains
no elements of permanency nor
does it show any signs of basic
understanding which will swing pub
lie sentiment to the Lewis faction.
Thus, there are many observers
who feel that another crisis will
arise along about
Another the first of July
Crisis and that in the
meantime Will
liam Green, President of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor, will have
built up considerable amount of
strength on his side of the factional
fight. What the future holds, there
fore, is difficult to guess. 1t can be
said only that in the recent strike
and In the controversy that seems
certain to lie ahead. General Mo.