Evening star., 1937-04-06

Se, puDuCly given dt blle nedIluSS, W
make the national labor relations act
two-sided and persuaded the United
States Senate to asccept his change
OF heart.
Indeed, there would be no need
today for discussion in the Senate
Of the Byrnes amendment or the Pitt
man resolution, or any of the other
proposals to denounce "Sit-doWn'
strikes when arising in business en-
gagged in interstate commerce if the
Senate had acted on proposal made
In May, 1885, by Senator Tydings OF
Maryland to prohibit coercion or in
timidation from any source"
Wagner's 1884 View.
On March 26, 1884, Senator Wagner
at the public hearings responded to
comment from a witness who wanted
coercion from any source prohibited.
Wagner said:
so far as your proposition is con-
cerned, think the bill ought to be
amended so as to include the intimi-
dation or coercion from any source,
If there is any question as to whether
the courts have not already ruled time
and again that they will restrain any
such acts when the worker exercises
them. l want to have that there.
'Now I think the act ought to be
amended just as you suggested; that
Is, intimidation, when it comes from
any source, either a trade organiza-
ton, or company union, or an en-
ployer, or to be made an unfair labor
practice. so that we are in agreement
on that"
The witness happened to be some
one who is an important figure SO far
as employers are concerned, James
A. Emery, general counsel of the Ma
tional Association of Manufacturers.
In the same hearings the point was
subsequently made even more spe-
cific in the following, which appears
In the official record:
Senator Wagner: Mr.. Emery, if
we amend the act as suggested, it
should be amended so that any intim-
idation, coercion or anything of that
kind is an improper labor practice
Mr.. Emery: Unfair labor prac-
tice.'
Power to Restrain.
Senator Wagner: Unfair labor
practice from whatever source it may
come then this power would go to
1oL. ,vat
the power to restrain coercion, intlml-
dation, or these other unfair labor
practices. With that amendment, of
cource, your criticism, etc.
What Emery sought at the time was
the inclusion of language used by
President Roosevelt in the settlement
of the automobile dispute in March,
1894, when the President in a public
statement said:
The Government makes clear that
1t favors no particular union or par
ticular form of employe organization
or representation. The Government S
only duty is to secure absolute and un-
Influenced freedom of choice, without
coercion, restraint or intimidation
from any source"
Believing that the President had ex-
pressed the principle correctly and that
Senator Wagner himself had accepted
it at the hearings during the same
month, the employers sought a year
later when the Wagner bill was up for
passage the inclusion of an amendment
embodying those views. Senator
Tydings proposed it on May Is, 1885,
and his amendment would have pro-
hibited coercion or intimidation from
any source"
Unions Voice Opposition.
But labor unions opposed it and
administration leaders, including Sen
ator Wagner, combined to defeat the
proposal. The argument used was that
the courts already had sufficient power
to restrain coercion. The late Senator
Couzens of Michigan was amazed at
Senator Wagner's refusal to stick by
his original pledge. Mr.. Couzens is
quoted in the official record as follows
"Of course, the Senator from Mary
Ad1ld hA4O"oy DO AOCo Vic NC1ldUO1 11Clll
New York-and that is the reason
why am astonished by the objection
of the Senator from New York to this
amendment-that in every big indus
trial community there is competition
between one union and another. There
is just as much fight, there is just as
much effort, there is just as much
salesmanship, there is just as much
force used in many cases to induce
workmen to join one union as to join
another For the life of me I do not
understand why union should be
enabled to coerce worker into ar
organization which he does not choose
TO join.
What the Senator from New York
Is trying to do is to support the con-
tention of the Senator from Mary
land that coercion between union and
union should be prohibited. 1t i
not enough to say that in 48 juris-
dictions there is sufficient remedy
If there is sufficient remedy, as the
Senator from New York contends
let us put it in the act"
Amendment Defeated.
Senator CouzenS was friend o1
labor and one of the liberals" in the
Senate. But the Tydings amendment
was defeated and thus the matter wa
turned over to State courts on the
assumption that they could deal with
coercion Of workmen by fellow work.
men. Today as result of the failure
Of Senator Wagner and the Roosevelt,
administration to permit his own Law
to be amended there is no Fedora
prohibition OF coercion by workers o1
fellow workers and the State of Mich.
tgan has found itself powerless tt
enforce the laws that Wagner had in.
sisted were the real remedy for thu
\