The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-12-01
. BEHIND THE SCENES
 lN WASHINGTON | ROONEY DUTcHER-i Democrat Washington
 Correspondent
Labor Split On Wage-HOur
 Bill As Vote
 Draws Near

I spectacle that puzzles many people: a wage-and-hour bill intended to benefit the working man, yet which has the active opposition of one part of organized labor, and the lukewarm support of another.
 To understand this seeming
 paradox, keep in mind these
 things: such bill might help the A. r. of L., but it would prob
 ably help the c. I. O., even more.
 In just the same way, the Na-
 tiOnaI Labor Relations act helped the A. F. of L., but it helped the
 C. l. o. more.
 That helps to explain why A. F. of L. President William Green, who was hot for a wages-and- hours bill last August, is now against 1t. They also explain why Green, who was instrumental in getting the NLRB started, is now bitterly attacking it, while 0. I. o. criticism has been quite mild.
 Pressure on Leaders
 The tepid indorsement of c. I. O's Lewis as well as the op- position of Green to wages and . hours legislation, may also be in- fluenced by the fact that such legislation might even benefit low paid and unorganized workmen more than union members in better-paid fields.
 Green and Lewis are each in- fluenccd by groups within their organizations. The garment and textile workers are hot for law placing a bottom on wages and ceiling on hours, for they are the ones who have to worry about sweatshops. low-wage cOmpeti- ton, and towns which offer in- ducementS to firms seeking cheap labor markets.
 Through the Amalgamated Cloth ing Workers, United Textile Work CTS, and International Ladies' Gar mcnt Workers, all c. I. O. unions, there is pressure on Lewis which explains his support.
 But some of the powerful build- ing and metal trade unions behind Green appear to prefer no wage hour legislation at all. They lob- bied against the bill last summer, arguing in effect that higher wages for unskilled labor mean less chance of increased wages for skilled craftsmen, as If to say there is just as much money in the wage pot.
 Labor Board %Unsafe"
 Green then suggested three amendments, and indicatd that he would support a bill containing them. Late in August Green was demanding that Congress stay in session until 1t passes the wages and hours bill"
 Greens recent change of front Is based largely on his charge that the Labor Relations Board has so badly administered the Wagner Act that the A. r. of L. no longer considers 1t safe t0 cntruSt tO . government board the many de- cisions necessary under wage hour legislation as now written
 Greens most specific charge was that the NLRB has tried to abrogate contracts between ern- ploycrs and unions. The c. I. O. retorts that the contracts the NLRB is charged with abrogating were generally engineered by em- ployers with A. F. of L. organizers who represented very few em- ployes and who were simply capi- talking on the belief of many em- ployers that 1t is safer to deal with A. F. of L. unions than those of the c. I. O.
 The A. F. of l.. organizers in these cases followed the policy of their leadership in eagerly de- nOuncing the C. I. o. as q dam gerous, lawless group and cashed in on the resentment against the C. I. o. which was prevalent at the time in certain circles.
 The NLRB decisions in cases of A. F. of L.-C. I. O. disputes is im- portant because it colored the whole attitude of organized labor toward government boards, and 1t is in q government board that administration of the proposed wage-hour bill would center.