Evening star., 1937-11-13


close up shop, and so might also all
the State governments.
For the National Labor Relations
Board has issued a definition of in
terstate commerce which goes far be-
yond anything the Supreme Court of
the United States has sanctioned. The
board comedies that the Consolidated
Edison Co. supplies its power to COM
panies wholly located within the State
Of New York, but the board insists that
these companies in turn do business
across State lines, and that the Con-
solidated Edison Co. buys materials
from companies outside New York
State.
This Is by far the widest definition
or Interpretation of interstate COM
merce that any Federal agency has
ever proclaimed, and along with it in
cidentally is the allegation that the
Consolidated Edison Co. uses the mails.
II the National Labor Relations Board
is sustained in the final decision by
the court of last resort. then all differ
ences between intrastate and inter-
state commerce will have been wiped
out.
Conformity to Act Dehatable.
The question of whether the Con-
solidated Edison Co. conformed to the
spirit and the letter of the Wagner
act when it recognized the A. F. of L.
union at time when no election had
been held to determine whether the
0f
majority of the employees, is something
on which judgments will differ 1t is
within the right of the National Labor
Relations Board to determine the facts
Of such controversy provided the
company involved is one engaged in
interstate commerce.
Assuming that the National Labor
Relations Board does have justifica-
ton, then its decision in questioning
the validity of the company contract
with the A. F. of L. union is entitled
to more consideration. Does an en-
ployer have right to sign a contract
with an alleged minority of his en-
ployes and give such a minority the
exclusive bargaining privileges when
1t has not been legally determined
which union does have the majority.
Under previous rulings all employers
are cautioned to withhold recognition
till they have ample evidence Of which |
union possesses . majority and they
are, moreover, forbidden to encourage
their employees to join one union as
against another. If contract is en-
tered into with an alleged minority |
and it turns out on investigation that |
the company influenced the election in |
any way or improperly designated the |
minority union as the bargaining |
agent when a majority willed it other
wise, then the contracts entered into |
with the minority are null and void |
because they were consummated as a
part Of an illegal action in the first |
place.
The evidence in TIE Edison case
shows that the management did not !
know which group had the majority |
but used its judgment as to which |
group it thought would have q major |
tty when the membership drives con-
Quoted by the A. F. of l.. union were |
completed. The National Labor Rela- |
tions Board might much better have
insisted in its decision that the work.
men who thought q wrong choice of |
bargaining agent had been made
should have petitioned the National |
Labor Relations Board to hold an
election or conduct an inquiry under its
broad investigation powers. The work.
men in the Edison company belonging
to the c. I. o. had a remedy in law but
did not avail themselves of it.
No Inquiry About Sentiment.
Even as matters turned out after the
hearing where the board found that |
the company had favored the A. F. of |
l.. union, the decision might have been |
TO order an inquiry or an election to |
discover whether the workmen were |
content with the present contract and |
whether they wished to vote for some |
other bargaining agency and then ap-
peal to the board or the courts for an |
invalidation Of the contract.
The fact that the National Labor
Relations Board invalidates contracts
when it does not know the wishes of a
majority OF the workmen is on a par
with the action Of the management
which also guessed which group repre-
sented majority. The board guesses
In favor OF the C. I. o. and the man.
agement guesses in favor of the A. F.
OF L., and a contract is ordered
scrapped on grounds that involve no
more than an analysis by inference of
what went on In the minds of the
workmen who accepted the contract.
Were the workers of the Consolidated
Edison able to take care of themselves
and repudiate . union that did not rep