Evening star., 1938-02-10
Union Leadership.

Union Leadership.
Union leadership in industry today
faces real test. Fortunately for the
country and for the workers who make
up great part of the population this
leadership is giving serious considera-
ton to the need for aid to business"
The American Federation Of Labor,
through its executive council, has put
forward program for the improvement
Of conditions. It recommended that the
Government help business through the
repeal or modification of the undis.
tributed profits and capital gains taxes.
It asked the creation and maintenance
Of work and opportunities for working
men and women in private industry 1t
demanded the maintenance Of the pres
ent wage scale and adequate Federal
relief for the unemployed.
william Green, the president of the
Federation, said of the program advanced
that 1t was designed to bring about real
cooperation between the Government,
industry and labor, and that If it were
carried into effect, business would start
going"
This evidence of serious purpose on
the part of the leaders of the A. F. of
L. to deal with the conditions of in
dustry in helpful way has been
matched in part by the leadership Of
the c. I. o. in recent weeks. John L.
Lewis, chairman of the c. I. O., is of
the opinion that labor must look to
business and to itself for aid in these
critical times, according to reports. The
c. I. o. has concluded successfully nego-
tiations with the United States Steel
Corporation for a new working contract.
The year 1887 will 60 down in history
rs period of great industrial conflict,
with hundreds and hundreds of strikes
and a vast number Of employees involved.
This conflict has brought prosperity to
no one. It has played its part in the
recession-which is just another way Of
saying depression. The time has come
for intelligent craftsmanship as well as
leadership In the relations between
employer and labor If they are not to
destroy one another.
An important part may be played by
the Government. Indeed, an important
part is being played by the Government.
It is the fear of what the Government
may do, rather than any fear of what
labor may do, that has tied capital into
. bow knot and prevented expansion of
business and industrial operations. The
administration has given indication that
1t desires to be helpful The President
has called for cooperation between
business and the Government.
Business, big and little, has pointed
out what steps it believes may be taken
to help conditions Labor leaders have
done the same. Yet the Government 80
far has done nothing. No tax bill has
been enacted into law. There has been
no amendment of the Social Security
Act or Of the Wagner Labor Relations
Act. There have been demands from the
President that prices be lowered and wages
maintained at q high level. The single
accomplishment of the special session
which began last November and of the
present session, up to date, has been the
enactment Of the administration's bill
to stimulate housing program-and no
one knows whether that will work, or
whether, If it does work, it will not be
. great blow to other similar business.
The need for real leadership in the
deld Of labor was never greater than it
Is now. More important to the workers
today than politics is the improvement
Of conditions in industry, with more
business and more employment. These
things can be accomplished in only one
way and-let no politician seek to say
otherwise-they can be accomplished
only through the advance Of private
business.