Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-05-29


illegal under State law is guilty Of
an unfair labor practice.
3. That an employer. has no right
to communicate in any manner
whatsoever in writing or orally with
his employees even If he has reason
to think the collective bargaining
agents are misrepresenting his po-
sition to the employees.
The language used in each of
the three foregoing points is not
that of the board, but is easily to
be derived from reading of the
decision covering many thousands
of words in the case of Reed &
Prince Manufacturing Co. and c..
I. o. union.
The facts show that the employer
recognized the union, began negotia-
tons in good faith, signed a pre-
liminary agreement, that a strike
was called while further negotia-
tons were in progress and that
the employer, during the strike,
offered a contract, but that the
terms were displeasing to the union
and subsequently seemed to the
labor board not to offer any con-
cessions and hence constituted a
refusal to bargain" or an unfair
labor practice" This curtails free
dom of contract, hitherto safeguard
ed by centuries OF, common law.
The Court Declaration.
The declaration of the Supreme
Court of the United States original
ly upholding the Wagner Act was
that an employer is obliged to sit
down and negotiate with his en-
ployes or their agents, but that he Is
not compelled to sign a contract.
The labor board says under certain
circumstances, to be judged as to
their merits by the board itself, the
employer can be made to sign.
The attitude of the Supreme Court
Of the United States in the so-called
Fansteel case relating to shutdown
strikes is also disregarded by the
board, which undertakes to say that
the high court did not mean what
1t said at all but meant to limit
its references concerning participa-
ton of employees in illegal strikes
only to those strikes involving physi-
cal violence.
This means that the board does
not accept the spirit or letter of the
Fansteel case, but feels itself privi-
legged to narrow the decision so that
an employer who sees his employees
arrested for alleged illegal action
cannot use such action as a basis
for discharge even though the en-
ployes were not cleared of the
charges by court.
The right of free intercourse be-
tween citizens is denied by the la
Dor board as is also the right of
free speech if it is engaged in by an
employer who has controversy
with some of his employees or their
agents. Thus in the case just de-
cided, the employer merely gave to
his employees directly some copies of
correspondence he had with the
union, but the board penetrates the
mind and motives of the employers
and decides that he transmitted the
documents only to discredit the
union or its management. So the
right of intercourse between en-
ployers and employees now is limited
only to such communications as will
pass the censorship of the labor
board.
Law Permits 1t.
On its face this might seem to
be arbitrary action by the labor
board but quite the contrary is true.
The present Wagner law permits
Of every one of the foregoing in
terpretations. 1t Is an ambiguous
statute which Congress passed and
which many members now are try
ing to blame on the board. The
latter is composed of clever and
competent lawyers who know how
to prosecute 100 per cent what they
deem to be certain rights of labor
unions. A one-sided statute neces-
sarily yields one-sided decisions by
a board which feels it has only one
side to deal with under the law.
Congress is talking of adjouring
and postponing amendment of the
Wagner Act till next session. The
hearings being held to consider
changes have resolved themselves
into battles on such technical ques-
tons that the broad outlines of
danger arising from the operations
of the Wagner Act have been lost
sight Of The defenders of the act
who want no change in it at all
naturally wish to have the amend
ments squelched ''for lack of time"
at this session.
But Congress, which is response
BILE to the people, can easily amend
the Wagner law to remove most
of its evil features by three simple
and understandable amendments
such as these:
l. That nothing in the Wagner
law shall permit the board to deny
the freedom of speech or of the press
or the radio.
2. That nothing in the Wagner
law shall permit the board to con-
slider an unfair labor practice" the
free communication directly between
employers and employees once recog
milton has been extended and the
collective bargaining process has
begun.
8. That elections to select bargain
ing agents shall be held automatic
ally, at the request of either en-
ployers or employees, within the first
week in January or the first week in