Evening star., 1938-09-02

Ing no recommendations, may prove
OF great help in bringing about labor
peace inside the United States. The
President says the report ought to
be read through" To help in that
direction this correspondent has OBJ
talned large number of extra copies
OF the full text and will be glad to
send one to any reader if he or she
will send self-addwssed envelope
bearing cents postage and directing
it to me at my office at Twenty
and NJ streets.
The report does not necessarily
mean that the British laws would fit
Americas industrial situation, but
simply that another English speaking
nation, possessing our own standards
of justice. has evolved through years
OF experience certain approaches to
the solution of labor problems which
thoughtful Americans would do well
to study.
Trust Laws Differ.
Quotations to support a particular
point of view on collective bargain
ing. arbitration and Cancellation can
be found in the report but it is i'm
portant to bear in mind that in
Great Britain there are no such anti
trust laws as exist in America and
that England permits nationwide COL
lective agreements by employers in
the same line of business and. indeed,
defines trade unions" as embracing
combinations Of employers as we'll as
hi Nf
the relations of employers and work.
ers, or among workers, or among en-
ployers"
There IS vested also, in the mat
ter Of minimum wages, control in va
rlous boards in which final decisions
are not made by the Government but
by the boards chosen by the workers
and employers acting together.
1t is interesting, too, that collective
bargaining agreements in Britain
rest upon moral force rather than
legal compulsion.' and that neither
side wants them legally enforceable"
While the acceptance of arbitration
awards Is rarely stipulated as bind
ing. they usually are accepted, the
reason for omitting the binding fea-
ture being to encourage negotiations
rather than the passing Of the buck"
to an arbitration board.
Intimidation Defined.
On the subject of coercion" the
British, of course. do not have our
dual system of Federal and State law,
so the general statutes prohibit intimi-
dation Of workers by fellow workers
or by employers and define the words
ITO intlmidate" as Ito cause in the
mind OF person a reasonable ap-
prehension of injury to him or To any
member Of his family or to any of his
dependents or of violence or damage
to person or property.
Provisions to ban strikes or lock-
outs while negotiations are pending
usually can be found in the collective
agreements. The handling of inter-
union disputes is especially pertinent,
since "in the case Of strikes involving
only a portion Of a plant, the plant
may be operated with the men who
remain at work, but they are not
usually asked by the employer to do
the work of the men on strike. Order
IS generally preserved, and the men
are not forcibly prevented by picket
lines from going or coming from their
work"
Emphasis is placed on the concilia-
ton machinery Of the British gov
ernment. America has splendid
and effscient conciliation service. but
1t is not large enough and does not
have the funds it should have to take
care Of the thousands Of misunder-
standings which arise nowadays
through unfamiliarity with the clauses
Of the Wagner Act.
Although the new report does not
say so one Is led to infer that ma
tional employer groups in England can
adjust selling prices in accordance
with labor costs without being prose-
cuted as trusts" or 'monopolies"
Here. for instance. is a quotation from
the American commissions report:
Thus the constitution of the Joint