Evening star., 1937-09-07
MADDEN PLEDGES
LABOR RNEUTRAL|TY
N. l.. R. B. to Be Fair to
A. F. L. and C. |. O. in
Strife. He SAYS.

j. Warren Madden, chairman of the
National Labor Relations Board, last
night pledged the board To complete
neutrality with regard to the bitter
labor strife between the c. I. o. and
the A. F. of L.
Speaking on the National Radio
Forum, sponsored jointly by The
Washington Star and the National
BDadcasting Co., Madden did not
mention specifically the accusations of
favoritism which have been hurled at
his agency by A. F. of l.. spokesmen
during the last week, but he outlined
the duties and responsibilities of the
board in the face of the factional
rivalry.
When an employer coerces his
employees into joining q union which
has not been chosen by a majority of
his employees he violates the law and
we will order him to stop" Madden
declared. 1T will make no difference
whether the union which the employer
prefers is a union limited to his own
employees or c. l. o. union or an
not lie with the employer. nor with
the board. The choice lies with the
men themselves, and the boards duty
is to protect them in that choice.
Any other holding would have the
effect of repeating the law and of re-
turning to employers the power to
make or break the unions at their will.
If any such sabotage of the law shall
occur 1t will not be committed by the
present board"
Praising thousands of employers who
have accepted the labor relations law
in the spirit intended, Madden voiced
strong condemnation of those who
"are wasting their energies in thinking
up schemes to evade this law"
Vigilantism, he said, must be a
passing phase, a silly season." and a
kind of lynch Law that is too crude"
for modern America.
Text of Address.
The text Of Madden's address
follows:
I shall discuss the statute of the
United States officially known as the
national labor relations act, and popu-
larly known as the Wagner act, or the
Wagner~Connery act. Although the
statutes of the United States are nu-
merous and voluminous, this particular
one has provoked a good deal of
popular curiosity and some misunder-
standing. and therefore, perhaps, de-
serves this comment on Labor dav.
or labor's day, as this day might well
be called.
For this statute is labor's statute.
Its observance by employers of labor
and its enforcement against those who
do not voluntarily observe it have
brought and will bring to employed
people in America in the numerous
enterprises which come within the
scope of the statute a new freedom-a
freedom which has never been theirs
before in this land of the free.
This new freedom Is the right to
form or to join labor organizations of
their own choosing, such as trade
unions or other associations. and to
have their chosen representatives
recognized and received by EMPLOYERS
for the purpose of collective bargain
ing. 1t is just as simple as that. And
yet every informed person knows that
the absence or presence of this free
dom marks the difference between
economic helplessness and independ-
ent self-respecting economic manhood
for employed people.
The question arises as to whether
this freedom Is a new freedom. MANY
people, having heard and read about
the activities of labor unions for
several decades, may have had the
impression that if group of work.
men wanted to form a union. or par
ticular workmen wanted to ioin a
union, they were free to do SO. This
impression is erroneous. In truth.
the determination of whether they
might form or join a union Law en-
tirely with their employer, so far as
the law was concerned. If the en-
ployer called them in one by one or
IN group and discharged them be-
cause they had Joined union, he was
formerly well within his lega, rights.
Urge for Organization.
Some employers did not use this legal
power. Others did, in former years.
but the urge for organization among
their employees was so strong and their
spirit so dauntless that over a period
Of years, by a succession of strikes.
the employees won recognition of their
right TO have union and some such
industries have had comparative peace
on a mutually self-respecting basis