Evening star., 1939-05-16

supposed from such a reading that
the coal operators refused to recog-
nized unionism. AS a matter of
fact, the words union shop" and
"closed shop" are virtually synony-
nous as applied in the contract
signed by some of the Appalachian
area operators.
The National Labor Relations
Act, popularly known as the Wag-
ner law, compels employers to rec
ognize whatever union has a ma
jority of the employees in given
unit, which may be an industry or
particular plant. 1t would indeed
be a violation of the law for coal
operator to refuse to recognize for
collective bargaining the union en-
ployes who have majority So any
impression that the coal operators
declined to grant the miners or
ganization legal recognition as a
union is erroneous.
Called Monopoly on Unionism.
Many newspapers throughout the
country, printing the words union
shop" without quotation marks, or
even with them for that matter,
have inadvertently given the public
tie belief that the coal operators
were simply against the prevalence
Of union conditions or unionization.
Now actually what John l.. Lewis
and the United Mine Workers
achieved by the latest contract,
which had the blessing of the Roose-
1elt administration, was monopoly
on unionlzation under the terms OF
the contract, not only are the coal
miners now employed members OF
the union, but the employers must
agree as a condition of employment
to require that any new workers
must join the union.
One of the reasons why this Is
often differentiated from a closed
shop" Is that, in some union con-
tracts the union makes the employer
agree to ask the union to furnish
workers when vacancies occur ano
the employer undertakes in advance
20 accept the union list for employ
Gent purposes.
Under the miners contract, the
unions need not furnish employees
and the employer can hire anybody
he pleases, but, when he does hire a
coal digger, the worker must agree
with the employer to become a
union member or he cannot have
the job.
Must Have Union Miners.
In the case of the miners con-
tract, some of the workers who are
employed at the surface OF the
mines are not obliged to have union
cards, but all coal digging must be
done by union workers. Hence the
term union shop" is really a con-
spicuous form of "closed shop"
Naturally, the union organizations
which use this term would prefer to
have every body call it a union
shop" because the words CLOSED
shop" have acquired a certain un-
popularity, whereas union shop
appears to most people as plausible,
and hence strikes carried on with
that issue would appear to preju-
dice the public quickly against the
employer side.
For years, the terms open shop"
and CLOSED shop" have been used
In labor disputes, but the differences
In application have often caused
misunderstanding and confusion.
Question Is Controversial.
The so-called union shop" which
Is the phrase used in the actual text
of the latest coal contract, is in
reality a monopoly granted to the
United Mine Workers of America
as against their competitors, the
Progressive Miners Union, an Amer
lean Federation of Labor unit.
The question of whether en-
ployers should or should not grant
the closed shop" by whatever name
1t is called, is one that has been the
subject of the widest controversy,
but, If it is granted throughout the
labor movement, it will mean, of
course, that a small group of men
will have monopoly over the supply
Of labor in America Such monopoly
powers have never been granted to
other classes of individuals without
some form of Government regula-
ton. Corporations, for instance, are
subjected to various kinds of gov
ernmental control nowadays, but
they are supposedly responsible to
the public interest through their
State charters, or through Federal
agencies. If CLOSED shops" are to
become more numerous, the demand
for public regulation of labor union
organizations, somewhat as is the
case in Great Britain, will doubtless
grow too.