Evening star., 1937-04-09

from the official record:
"Mr. Vandenberg: I desire to ask
the Senator question for information.
Am I correct in the assumption that
the employer cannot himself invoke
the Wagner act. Is this correct?
Mr.. Wagner: That statement has
been made. but it is not correct. On
the complaint of any one the Labor
Board may act; or it may make in
uury upon its own initiative -.
Mr.. Vandenberg: Am I correctly
informed that the Labor Board by its
own ruling has decided that 1t will
not, upon its own motion, invoke the
terms of the act?
"Mr. Wagner: I am not informed
as to that, but even if that were true,
1t would not prevent an employer or
an employe from going to the board
and registering protest against an
alleged violation of the law, and upon
that complaint an investigation might
be held ...
Question on Employers Right.
"Mr. Vandenberg: Let me go back
TO the law again, because l desire to
be sure that I correctly understand
the Senator. Do I correctly under
stand that an employer has the same
right that an employe has to invoke
the act?
"Mr. Wagner: I think so-simply
by appearing before the board and
explaining the difficulty, and upon
that action the board makes an inquiry
as to the violation Of law.
''Mr. Vandenberg: Whence arises
all this misinformation then?
'Mr. Wagner: I do not know. There
has been a great deal of misstatement,
even in some of the opinions of lower
courts 49,.
Mr.. Vandenberg: 81 understand the
Senator's own opinion to be that an
employer has the same right as an
employe to apply to the board under
the law"
Mr.. Wagner, ITO present his griev-
ances.~
II might be supposed that Mr.. Wag-
nsR would know what the National
Labor Relations Board is actually
doing under the authority which the
law he sponsored gave them to admin
Ntef. Here, however, is what the
National Labor Relations Board said
in Its last annual report, which has
been officially promulgated as public
document:
"It should be noted that only an
employe or a person or labor organi-
zation acting on his behalf may file
a petition for investigation Of con-
troversy concerning representation.
Thus employers of labor may not
request the board to undertake such
an investigation"
~True Meaning of Law"
30 1t would appear that the labor
board Is doing one thing and Mr.. Wag
ner, who drafted the law, thinks the
board is doing something else. And
when United States Senators cannot
discover in debate just what the true
meaning Of law happens to be in so
far as scope of administration of its
very simple terms is concerned, it need
not be wondered that the general
public is often befuddled, too, by the
multiplicity Of laws and provisions Of
laws put on the statute books by Con-
gress with the expectation of public
obedience.
Incidentally, the labor board has
washed It's hands of any possible con-
nection with large number of labor
disputes involving conflict between
labor organizations themselves 1t was
plainly stated in the Wagner law that
the board was to determine the
appropriate unit" for collective bar
gaining. Recently most all the ma jor
labor disputes of the country in which
sit-down strikes have figured have
turned, not on wages or hours, but on
epresentation-Who shall represent
the men in collective bargaining nego-
tiations. The board not only has
refused to hear employers who wanted
redress against conditions produced
by coercion Of their workmen by fellow
workmen-this, indeed, is the defect of
the law itself-but the board has
declined to designate the unit for COL
lective bargaining as between labor
organizations in dispute, as, for
instance, the G. I. o. unions and the
A. F. Of L. unions. In answer to three
different petitions, the board refused
to act in cases involving these juris-
dickional disputes. The reason given
by the board in its own words is this
TT Is preferable that the board
should not interfere with the internal
affairs Of the labor organizations
Self Of employees implie.
q policy OF self-management. The role
that organizations of employees even.
tuAlly must play in the structure
established by Congress through tha'
act Is a large and vital one. The,