Evening star., 1939-06-06
Lewis Demands
u. ). Shun Firms
With Job Spies
Urges Contracts and
Looms Be Denied All
Wagner Act VioIotors
BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND =
For about tUo years special Sen.
ate subcommittee Investigated
practices OF labor espionage and
Strtke-bredking as found In Ger.
tain segn,ents OF American in.
dnstry. Although publicity at.
tending inquiry had curatius
eject at time. permanent tn,-
proUement is being sought
through legislation Which Uould
severely restrict industrial nu.
nitioning and the operation OF
spy and strike-breaking services.
By the Associated Press.
C. I. O. President John L. Lewis
asked Congress today to enact,
without delay" measure denying
Federal loans, contracts and SUBJ
sides to industrial employers who
use spies, strikebreakers and armed
guards against organized labor.
Within recent weeks, Mr.. Lewis
testified, "a West Virginia coal
operator in hotel in the City
of Washington boasted in the
presence of members of Congress
that his corporation had five ma.
chine guns, rifles, ammunition and
nauseating gas, and that he exc
pected to use those to shoot him.
self some miners in the month Of
May
"A ghastly contribution! COM
mented Mr.. Lewis, who is presi-
dent of the United Mine Workers.
1t was Mr.. Lewis latest attempt
to win congressional support for
the blacklist in labor legislation
against what he termed anti-union
employers.
Would Refuse Contracts.
To broaden it's application, he
suggested that loans. contracts and
subsidiaries also be denied violators
OF the Wagner Labor Act.
His proposals we're contained in q
statement for the Senate Labor
Committee in support of a bill by
Senator La Toilette, Progressive, of
| Wisconsin to outlaw use of spies,
guards and munitions in industrial
disputes.
The bills provision to impose eco.
nomlc sanctions against corporation
vlolators was termed by Mr.. Lewis
as the essential part of the bill
"Outlawing the labor spy. the
professional strikebreaker, the op.
pressive armer guard. the corruption
OF police and the private arsenal Is
not enough" he said.
! 1T Is necessary to make all these
measures evasion-proof by putting
economic as well as statutory teeth
into the bill
This can be done by making II
absolutely clear that the United
States will not assist violators OF
the law by continuing to award
them profitable contracts while they
break the law"
Would Protect Labor Act.
AT this point he suggested that
the scope of the provision be wild
ened Ito deny such help to all vio-
lators of the National Labor Rela-
tlons Act, which has basically the
same functions as this bill"
Last year Mr.. Lewis made two
| dramatic but futile visits to Con-
| gress to recommend the addition
OF the blacklist provision to the
Walsh-Healey Act, which estab-
fishes labor standards in the per-
formance of Government contracts
above $4,000.
In supporting the La Toilette bill
the c. I. o. head assailed corpo-
rations which he said were denying
labor its basic rights. He described
them as the very men and the
very corporations which profit most
from our economic and political sys-
tenn"
In another part of his statement
he said:
Such anti union corporations
must be curbed"
He coupled his testimony for the
bill with demand that the Senate
provide more funds to continue it's
Civil Liberties Committee, headed
by Senator La Toilette.
Job Held Incomplete.
"Its job is not yet completed,
he said The conspiracy against
American rights is so vast and so
ramified that it will require many
more months of work before the
whole network is uncovered"
Mr.. Lewis referred to use Of in
formers by industrial concerns as
the dirty trade of labor spying"
and he hkened the combination of
the spy and the strikebreaker to
the storm troop armies of Fascist
nations"
In letter to Senator Walsh. DEM
ocrat. of Massachusetts, Emil Rieve,
president of the Textile Workers
Union of America. urged amend
ment of the Walsh -Healey Act to
deny Government contracts for q
three-year period to employers ad-
judged in the courts to have inter-
fered with employees collective bar
gaining rights.
The Walsh-H -Healey law sets up la.
Dor standards which must be OBJ.
served by companies dealing with
the Government.