The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-03-07

Ivy VI Dai gaming poWCl lhiooSi WI
lective action. To make this right eff
fective, the law forbids employers to
interfere with it by coercion or intimi
dation.
"The Act provided for the creation
Of a National Labor Relations Board
composed Of three persons to admin
lister it's provisions. 1t gave this
Board no punitive powers. Congress
sought to limit the Boards authority
The Board could issue cease and de-
sist orders against employers found
guilty of violating the Act and order
them to take such affirmative action
as would 'effectuate the policies of the
Act including the reinstatement of
employees, with or without back pay,
who were found to have been dis
charged unfairly for union activity.
MaladministratiOn Charged
"And now consider what this Board
has done since it was created! Be-
hold the dissatisfaction it has created
by ridiculous and far-fetched inter-
pretations of a plain, ight-forward
law! Comprehend if you can the in
dustral turmoil it has aroused by
vengeful and destructive application
of constructive principles.
"a few weeks ago, when | appeared
before the House Committee Investi-
eating the Labor Board | charged that
this Board, it's members and it's agents
had been guilty of every administra-
tive crime in the calendar. | repeat
that charge now. And l will submit
bill of particulars in support of it.
"First, the American Federation of
Labor indicts the National Labor Re-
lations Board for failure to function
adequately Many cases have unnec-
essarily been held up for one, two and
three years because the Board failed
to act when prompt action was essen
tial to the administration of justice
In certain cases delay was directly
traceable to the desire of the Board
to favor one party in the dispute. In
other cases, the Board acted over
zealously and over-rapidly and OBJ
viously for the same reason. Just as
often the Board failed to perform its
duties promptly and with due dill
gence because it's members and its
staff are incompetent and inefficient.
"This brings us to the second
charge, which is maladministration
because of bias and prejudice. The
Board and it's agents have shown di-
rect hostility to the American FEEDER
alton of Labor and amazing favori-
tism to the c. l. O. This is the in
contestible truth.
members of the Board have at
tempted to cite statistics to defend
themselves from this charge. These
statistics are nothing more than plain
deception. The question involved is
one of principle and not mathematics.
A decision in one case relation to a
vital fundamental principle such as
the invalidation of contract or the
selection of an appropriate bargain
ing unit may mean more than deci-
siOns in hundreds of cases which re-
late to mere administrative procedure.
"The undeniable fact remains that
in practically every case where i'm
portant issues were at stake between
the American Federation of Labor
and the c. |. ON the vital prece-
dent-making test cases on which thou
sands of other future decisions would
depend-the c. |. o. won and the A.
+. of L.. lost.
"Now for the third charge, which
is that the Labor Board has attempted
to control and decide the form and
character and structure of labor
unions. At least one member of the
present Board makes no secret of the
fact that he is an ardent advocate of
unrestricted industrial unionism i
mean Edwin S. Smith-and his deci-
sions reflect his convictions. Thus
the Board by it's rulings on what con-
stitutes the appropriate bargaining
unit has attempted to destroy hun
dreds of established, functoning Am
erican Federation of Labor unions
and disfranchise thousands of loyal
members Of these unions.
Fourth the members of the Board
have never acted in fair, judicial
way but instead have taken sides and
become partisans. They have, through
maladministration, impaired the pur-
poses and principles of an Act, which
they were required to judiciously ap-
ply.
Fifth, the Board has exceeded it's
legal authority. 1t has assumed pow
ers never granted to it. BY decisions,
interpretations and rulings it has built
up an arbitrary set of administrative
rules which threatens to choke to
death the original law Chief Of the
assumed powers to which the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor objects is
the practice of the Board to abrogate,
on flimsy preteXts, contracts between
bona fide unions and employers.
"rhe sixth and final charge is of
more recent origin although we have
been cognizant Of the facts for more
than a year. This relates to the al
| Ill. II