The Wilmington morning star., 1940-02-28
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
BY PRESTON GROVER

the testimony before the house committee in.
vestigating the national labor relations board
indicates that the cause of trouble is no great
er in the board itself than in the fact that
stubborn leaders of two rival labor organiza.
tons won't make peace.
Many of the amendments to the Wagner act
suggested during the two months of hearings
are directed t solving problems which prob
ably would solve themselves except for the con.
flicting ambitions of A. F. L.. and c. I. o.
A primary complaint from employers has
been that they must supinely suffer losses while
rival unions strike and picket each other in
disputes over who is to be the bargaining rep.
resentative. That has prompted certain of the
amendments designed to give the employer the
right to appeal directly to the board.
Dispute Over Craft Unions
The principal charge that the ALL. makes
against the board is the assertion that the
board has handled too many cases in a way
that benefited the CLIO. President William
Green of the ALL. outlined four detectives
to be sought by amendments, at least three Of
which were prompted by the inability Of the
two great labor organizations to reach an I'm.
derstanding without the board.
Green insisted that craft unions should be
permitted to bargain Independently of other
workers if they chose. Right or wrong, the
board has ruled frequently that skilled crafts
men and unskilled workers alike should be re.
CURED to bargain together. Because without
the craftsmen the unskilled are in weaker po-
sitions.
Green didn't hide his reasons. Skilled crafts.
men who bargain independently get more than
when they are Jumped in with the unskilled
brackets-and the A.F.L, pushes organization
by crafts.
Because of the boards disposition in this
regard, Green asked that the whole board be
removed and a new one substituted whose
no1ioNy u-o111d no tn 1ot craftsmen harOatn Whnn
they chose.
AS a sample Of what was happening to his
crafts, Green said that all longshoremen on
the entire Pacific coast had been directed to
bargain as one group-under Harry Bridges
CLIO. unit-with the result that Green's ALL.
unions at Tacoma. Wash, San Jose, Calf, and
elsewhere were submerged. ALL. carried the
case to the supreme court but the court held
against it, saying congress must remedy the
trouble.
Other Complaints
To help remedy the situation, Lloyd K. Gar
rison, dean of the Wisconsin law school and
former chairman of the NLRB, suggested that
the board be deprived of its power to decide
whether ALL. or CLIO. should be the bargain.
ing agent. Let the labor leaders settle that be.
fore coming to the board, he advised.
Momentarily, the idea was popular, but on
second thought many suspected it would be
Oil OPVl " q VI AlNoiAy LIN
with the board powerless to intervene. Garrison
said, however, that it worked successfully in
England. But there, he conceded, the rival
labor leaders sit down together and argue
their cases. CLIO. and ALL. will not do that.
There are complaints against the board out
side of the A.F.L-C.I.O. group. Members of
the house Investigating committee think the
boards rules of evidence are too loose. Almost
anybody can say almost anything at a labor
hearing, committee members have said, and
the testimony will be considered. The board
says such evidence is considered only for
what it is worth.
Again, members of the committee feel the
board has gone far beyond it's powers IN some
respects, notably in imposing penalties. For In
stance, the Waumbec Mills of Manchester
N. H, were ordered to employ and give back
wages to a man who never had WORKED Tor
the company. The board found that he had
been refused a job because of union afflliation'
The case is now on test.