Evening star., 1940-07-12
A Harmful Strike

LAG SCIlhC Ol SOIllC CWU IluIkOIcu
and fifty employees of the smoot
Sand and Gravel Corporation, which
has tied up many Of the most
important construction projects in
the District, raises several problems
which merit most careful consider
alton.
OF first Importance, OF course, is
the adverse effect of the strike on
the Capitals public building pro-
gram, a portion Of which is directly
related to the national defense. The
Smoot corporation lis virtually the
sole supplier of sand and gravel in
the District, and when its output is
seriously curtailed or stopped most
building activity automatically is
halted. This is not healthy condi-
ton, and whatever solution of the
present strike is finally worked out
should aim primarily at insuring in
the future a continuing supply of
sand and gravel.
But the discovery of method to
accomplish this end will not be easy.
Assistant Attorney General Thurman
Arnold has announced that he will
ask the District grand jury to inves-
tigate what he calls the practical
monopoly" enjoyed by the Smoot
corporation and the reasons UNDER
lying the present strike. What will
come of this investigation remains
to be seen. The War Department,
from which permits to dredge sand
and gravel in the river must be
obtained, says the field is open to any
reliable concern, but that there are
no takers except the Smoot company.
IT that is correct, it would seem that
Mr.. Arnold, in order to enlarge the
sources Of supply, will have to estab-
lish that the Smoot corporation in
some illegal manner has been sitting
competition and will have to elimi-
nate such restrictions in the future.
If there is any evidence of such
illegality, it has not yet been brought
to public attention.
An investigation of the reasons
which brought about the strike may
produce interesting results. On the
surface, at least, it appears that the
employees in effect are striking
against the Wage and Hour Division
of the Labor Department because of
its refusal to classify them as sea-
men, thereby permitting them to
work in excess of forty-two hours a
week at straight pay. The strikers,
members of union affiliated with
the American Federation OF Labor,
say that they had an agreement with
their employer which was mutually
satisfactory, and that the Wage
Hour officials have arbitrarily dis
rupted this agreement to the preju-
dice of the employees. In reply, the
officials say that under the law, as
written, once a complaint had been
filed they had no choice but to issue
the ruling.
Unless the act is to be amended to
permit wider exercise of official dis
cretion in cases already covered by
an agreement between an employer
and a union, it appears that the con-
ciliators now attempting to settle the
strike are faced with the problem of
working out some formula which will
permit production of an adequate
supply of sand and gravel without
forcing the employer to work his men
overtime at a higher rate of pay,
particularly If he cannot do so with
out losing money on the contracts he
has already negotiated.
If the number of dredge operators
here Is limited, and that appears to
be the case, the solution will not be
easily found. There have been sug-
gestions that compromise might be
reached by classifying the men
actually working on the dredges, as
distinct from the shore force, as sea-
men, but, while that might bring
about an immediate settlement, it
should be remembered that such an
adjustment gives no assurance what
soever that the supply of sand and
gravel will not be cut of again if
another strike Sh0uld he called Of