Montana labor news., 1937-04-22
Beware Incorporation Wolf In
Sleeps Clothing

Those who fdlsifY history in order 10
fortify reaction ore particularly busy dt
the present moment trying TO prove tndt
American industrial unions should pc
incorpordted, taking as q tdultY parallel
the alleged incorporation OF British trace
unions.
According to these gentlemen, strikes
do not occur in England. rdcketeerlng
ond violence are absent from labor
troubles and the lamb OF labor lies down
with the lion Of capitalism because the
British unions enjoy the benefits OF gov
ernment supervision. Admiring eyes
ore cast upon the 'scdbs charter cor
RED through in 1927 by the vested inter
ests who had been frightened by the
General strike in support OF the miners
in 1926.
Registration Of the British trdde unions
with the government which hos been in
terpreted here as amounting to incoIpor-
alton, is necessary only to secure the
leqdl safeguarding Of unions friendly
benefit" funds. While it involves q re-
port of membership dnd finance, it is
purely voluntary and does not IN dnY
wdy Give the government the right to
interfere with the administration OF the
unions.
Comparing the position Of labor in the
two countries, these differences ore out
stdndinq: trade unionism in Greet Brl-
tain hos q consecutive history OF over
200 yedrs; yer thirty per cent OF the
workers ore in trade unions as compared
with ten per cent in the United States.
Unions ore ON established port OF the
British picture. Collective bdrgdining is
token for granted, and q strike Tor rec
oqnition," with the employers ticking q
reculcitrQnt position would be dlnOst IN
thinkuble. The unions there administer
government unemployment insurance,
old ace pensions and other social secur-
ity benefits for their members.
Company unions Gre practically III
known in Greet Britdin except as they
hove been started by branches Of Ameri-
can firms. Spies, finks, thugs dnd profes-
siondl strikebredkers, as revealed here
by the LdFollette inquiry, are happily
missing from the British scene.
Terrified by the immense show Of Ia
Dor solidarity in the general strike OF
1925, jittery Conservatives jommed
through Parliament the Trades Dispute
dnd Trdde Unions Act Of 1927, popular
" known as the scdbs' charter. 1t de-
cldres sympathetic strikes dnd lockouts
to be unldwful if they "inflict hardship on
the community or coerce the govern
ment." The attorney general is given
power to issue q court order restraining
the use Of unions funds in such strikes.
The terms Of this measure ore SO vogue
end indefinite thdt the government hos
preferred to hold the law as q sword Of
Dumocles rather thon bring it TO q test,
dnd is uncomfortdblY dwdre thdt dt-
tempts to enforce it would be followed
by retribution at the polls end in all prob
ability the establishment Of labor gov
eminent.
Greet Britdin is not the ldnd Of indus
trial peace thdt it hos sometimes been
painted, but there is q high percentage
of workers organized there, dnd big bust
ness is not allowed to escape the Gle
mental decencies Of collective bargain
ing.
incorporation is no cure for the ex-
ceptiondl cases Of rdcketeering in Amer
icon unions. An enlightened and hedlthy
labor movement alone CON cut the con-
Ger Of rd~cketeering from its body. Cham
~zu.A~u~ .-