Evening star., 1937-09-02
Labor
Continued From First Page.)

NOohAeAAuSo Aoll dsCt
ances to labor and is destined to have
serious repercussions upon all progress
sive legislation"
I'VE are not pessimistic when we
predict that the willful course now
pursued by the Labor Board will ir-
reparably injure labor" Tracy said in
a statement. The board has declared
invalid a legal contract between q le-
gitimate union and an employer. AS
a result, employers will seize upon the
situation and refuse to enter into any
contracts at all with labor unions
Moreover. II the board continues
in Its ill-considered course, there can
never be any settled, orderly relations
In a plant. Factions will arise which
will continue to bicker. electioneer
and quarrel, and production will suffer.
Even as I make this prediction C.
I. o. electioneers are at the plant of
the National Electric Products Corp
in Pittsburgh bawling through loud
speakers, buttonholing workers and
spreading innuendos and propaganda,
making it impossible for any workman
to make up his mind as to the merits
of the case"
Effective operation of the law and
the board was in distinct jeopardy as
the result OF the attack from the A. F..
OF L.
At the same time. the authority Of
the board as balanced against that
Of Federal District Court faced a
legal test not previously foreseen.
Long fearful of becoming embroiled
in organized labor's factional strife,
the board apparently was more con-
cerned about yesterdays double bonn
bardment from A. F. of L. spokesmen
than about its legal criss-cross with
the Federal District Court for West
ern Pennsylvania.
From the beginning, and with in
creaslng insistence. spokesmen for the
board have emphasized its neutrality
in the bitter split between the factions
OF William Green and John L. Lewis,
but that it would be caught eventually
in position where one or the other
faction would feel itself aggrieved by a
board decision has been inevitable.
Court. Board Rules Vary.
The anticipated situation arose this
week in connection with union rivalry
within the Ambridge, Pa. plant of the
National Electric Products Corp, as
the Federal District Court upheld a
closed shop contract signed by the
company and the A. F. of L. union
almost simultaneously with a ruling
by the board that the contract was
invalid and an order that an election
be held to determine the employees
bargaining unit
The rival unions are the Interna
tional Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers and the United Electrical and
Radio Workers of America, = c. I. O
union.
The boards ruling of invalidity OF
the contract is based upon their find
ings that representatives of the man
agement had coerced employees into
joining the A. F. of L. union rather
than that OF the c. l. o. and that no
indication Of majority for the con-
tracing union had been shown.
Their pronouncement precipitated
the double declaration Of war from the
A. F. of L. as Tracy and the Executive
Council each released biting attacks
upon the integrity of the board.
Accusing the board members of being
petty bureaucrats, would be dictators
and prejudicially minded muddiers OF
the waters" Tracy charged it with
undertaking ito designate an official
labor movement in this country" in
other words with designating the
c. I. o. as the omcial labor movement
Tracy claimed the contract was en-
tered into only after majority OF
the employees had of their own free
choice afiliated with the I. B. E. W.
The union, he added, will resist