Evening star., 1937-10-14

This business of attacking judges
the members of the National Labor
Relatio Board act in a judicial ca
pacity in countless cases-has become
rather popular these days, having
been formally initiated BY a Nation
wide radio address By the President
OF the United States on February
last If YOU don't like the way a case
Is decided it now is considered ethical
and proper under the New Deal to
call the judge by any name you choose
or at least to contend that he is Senile
because he is over 10 years of age or
that he was once so intelligent that
he actually earned decent income
In the practice OF his profession.
Clumsy Provisions.
But the c. I. o. and the A. F.. of L.
are attacking the judges in the labor
board mostly because the latter Go not
interpret the law in their favor 100
per cent of the time. The sympathy
Of the country might we'll be extended
TO the members of the labor board.
who after all are trying to administer
the clumsy provisions Of the law,
which is really unworkablc if an en-
deavor is really made to administer
1t impartially. The labor unions think
the wagner act is a great thing when
It helps them get members, but when
II gets IN their way then it is a very
poor piece of legislation and needs
amendment. The kick of the two
10 ;r
administration of the law, but their
protest in reality is against the ambig-
uous and arbitrary phrases written
into the law itself.
The Wagner act says
The board shall decide in each
case whether, in order to insure to
employees the full benefit of their right
Of organization and to collective
bargaining. and otherwise to effectuate
the purposes of this act. the unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining shall be the employer unit,
craft unit, plant unit, or subdivision
thereof
Here is case of delegated power
which makes the labor board omnip-
Otent. IT can. look over a labor situa-
tion and decide upon the vertical or
industrial union as the proper unit for
bargaining. thereby helping the c. /.
O. or it can say the craft unit shall
be separate and independent from the
rest Of the employees in the plant and
thus favor the A. F. of l.. Such a
delegation of power might be thought
TO be unconstitutional because no
standards of measurement have been
prescribed by Congress. but until the
Supreme Court Of the United States
passes specifically on this phase of the
law. the labor board has full power
TO use its own discretion.
Letters State Issue.
The labor board has tried TO bal
ence its decisions in the sense that
It has tried 10 look at each case sepa-
rafely on lis merits and the result
mas been that the c. l. O. sometimes
rins and sometimes it is the A. r. of
l. But the issue is best stated in an
exchange Of letters recently between
john p. Frey. president of the A. F.
o1 LIS metal trades department. and
Chairman Madden of the Labor Board.
M. Frey vrote as follows:
In many o. thc industries. and par
tcularly those. employing Semi-skilled
and so-called mass production work
ers, there are also employed skilled
craftsmen. In most instances, some
Of the latter are members of the in~
ternational union of their craft or oc-
cupation. In other instances all of
the skilled craftsmen are members of
their respective organizations. Almost
Invariably these skilled workmen have
verbal or written agreements with their
employers.
I'm many of the industries, these
skilled workers are in minority. per-
haps a small one, the outnumbering
majority being so-called mass produc-
ton or semi-skilled workers.
1T is obvious that if a vote of all
the employees were taken on the uues-