Evening star., 1938-08-02

labor unions. and any boycott here
after or expulsion of members fol-
failing to participate in a boycott can
be eliminated.
The doctors have society which
is as much entitled to protection
under the Wagner Labor Relations
Act as any other association Of serv-
ice workers. The law defines a union
as any association of workers COM
bining for self-protection.
The National Labor Relations Board
tust recently, in the case of mari
time unions on the Pacific Coast,
ruled that workers in an entire re-
gion may constitute a bargaining unit
even if they work for different en-
ployers. The medical societies would
seem to stand on all fours with such
regional associations.
Simple Plea May Win.
Perhaps all the American Medical
Society needs to do,i therefore, to
checkmate the latest adventure of
the Department of Justice into the
realm of antitrust" prosecutions is
to ask the courts for a restraining
order on the ground that, even if the
acts complained of were true, they
are protected under the Wagner Labor
Relations Act.
To understand how closely the pres
ent suit parallels conditions in in
dustry or among white collar workers
who perform professional services as
clerks in various business enterprises
and who. therefore, sell their services
just the same as do doctors or lawyers,
one needs only to take the Depart
ment of Justice announcement and
substitute for the word doctors"
the language of present-day labor
controversies. Here is how the Off
cial statement would read verbatim
new text being put in parentheses:
THE exclusion from Washington
hospitals factories and plants and
business Offices of the Group Health
Association staff doctors (employer-
dominated unions Of employees has
been accomplished either in combina-
ton with the various hospitals (em-
ployers) or by influence, which may
or may not have amounted to CO.
ercion, upon them.
This exclusion (of workers) has
made 1t impossible for doctors (em-
ployes or workers. affiliated with the
Group Health Association (employer-
dominated unions) to practice their
profession in the hospitals Ito get
jobs in closed shop plants or busi-
nesses) and it has prevented men,
bers of the association who enter
the hospitals as patients from having
the physicians of their own choice
(members of the company union from
having the employer of their choice
or the employer from selecting the
employees of his choice.
In the opinion of the Department
OF Justice, this is violation of the
ANTITRUST laws because it is an at
tempt on the part of one group of
physicians tunion workers. to prevent
qualified doctors QUALIFIED clerks,
union workers, etc. from carving
on their calling, and to prevent men,
bers of the Group Health Associa-
ton employers generally or CO.
operative associations like the Asso-
ciated Press) from selecting physicians
(workers) of their choice.
Free Market for Services.
The department interprets the law
ss preventing combinations which
prevent others from competing for
services as well as goods"
The last sentence requires no in
terpolation. 1t states fatty a theory
which existed before the Wagner Act
was passed and upheld by the Su-
preme Court of the United States
Evidently the Wagner law actually
permits combinations and "closed
shop" agreements, which unequivocally
bestow on organizations of workers
. monopoly power.
Examining the departments state
ment about the doctors a bit further
1t will be seen how much more ex-
tenSlvely the administration words
can be used against it in labor con-
troverSies
The department believes that the
antitrust laws make it illegal fol-
medical societies Oabor unions) o,
individual practitioners (union organ
1zers or executives) to obtain or re-
tain for themselves a monopoly oi
the community's medical services
(skilled or unskilled labor services)
so long as adequate standards are
maintained in the treatment of pa.
tients among those doctors who are
willing to serve cooperative or Other
groups $50 long as efficient standard.
are maintained by those employees OF
workers who are willing to serve CO.
operative employers or other groups
Of employers.
mo combination or conspiracy car
be allowed to limit a doctors free.
dom "a workers freedom) to ar.
range his practice (arrange his day!
work. as he chooses.
On Extension of Control.
organized medicine should not b.
allowed to extend its necessary anc
proper control over standards having
to do with the science and art o.
medicine. to include control over meth.
ods of payment for services involving
the economic freedom and the welfare
Of consumers and the legal rights o.
individual doctors. (Organized labol
should not be allowed to extend it.
necessary and proper control ovel
self-organization to include contro
over wage scales involving the eco
nomic freedom Of employers and tn.
welfare Of consumers who pay tn.
cost of manufactured articles and th'
legal rights Of individuals who wan
protection for their right to work.
If the new forms of organization
should result in inferior standards o
therapy. as is feared by their medi'
cal opponents, that fact can be re