Evening star., 1940-01-14
Merely Exercise Of Rights.

tivity for mutual aid and protection
of labor.
Merely Exercise Of Rights.
Mr.. Pressman advocated as legal
approach to labor action "the grow
ing realization and acceptance Of
the fact that labor action is moth
ing more or less than the exercise
of constitutional rights"
Mr.. Padway described the recur-
rent picture of an employer, who has
bargained with a union designated
by the majority of his employees, be-
ing beset by exertion of economic
and social pressure on the part of
minority union-a legal activity
under the present statutes.
While recognizing the unhappy
plight of such an employer, the A..
F. of L. counsellor said that en-
ployer's troubles hardly begin to
balance the evils and dangers that
would attend judicial or legislative
repeal Of the right of a minority
group peacefully to strike and en-
gage in similar demonstrative &C
tivities.
Law Professor Disagrees.
Minority labor groups as affected
by the Labor Relations Act occupied
the exclusive place on the agenda
of the afternoon session of the con-
ference, which is to end today with
morning meeting at the Carlton
Hotel
Nicholas Kelley, counsel for the
Chrysler Corp, which has had more
than its share of labor difficulties
due to presence of minority labor
organizations within its ranks,
charged that under the act the mi
nority has no remedy against an
inhalation by the majority organiza-
ton.
Chester c. Ward, George Wash
ington University law professor,
later said the minority group is af-
forded even ingenious and gener-
Gus" protection by the act, but that
the administration of it's provisions
has failed to provide this protec-
ton.
How to Tell = Minority?
After describing complications
which arise when an effort is made
to determine the majority union
among employees of company di-
vided into units, either geographic
cally or within a confined plant
area, Mr.. Kelley asked the question
(Which he claimed. has been any
thing but answered by the Labor
Board:
How does one know minority
when he sees it?"
One answer was given by Louis B.
Boudin, chairman of the guilds
Committee on Labor Law, in his
address on a few of the basic mis-
conceptions of the Labor Relations
Act and their consequences.
Before certif1cation of a bargain
ing agent by the Labor Board" he
pointed out, there is no minority
or majority group within the mean
Ing Of this act
Mr.. Boudin further observed that
it was unfair labor practice for an
employer to refuse to bargain collec-
lively with any labor group among
his employes-whethe they repre-
sent a majority or minority-prior
to this certiflcation.
Rice Criticises Act.
In his discussion of minority
rights under the Labor Relations
Act, William Gorham Rice, jr.,
former general counsel of the Labor
Board, and the United States labor
commissioner, referred to the acts
answer to the problem of the closed
shop as mot only compromise but
also incomplete"
After criticizing the acts griev-
ance clause, pointed out generally as
containing break" for the minor
ity labor group within a company,
as a section which gives the ag-
grieved employe nothing new" Mr..
Rice stated:
After all the grievance clause
amounts to very little, whatever
meaning may be given to it, when
the statute allows minorities of dis
senters to be wiped out of the pic
ture by being swallowed into the
majority union on pain of losing
their job"
Losing your job is a grief that
ends all grieving," he continued
And If union won't take you in.
this is the grief you will suffer un-
der an all-union contract"
Forbid Closed Shop.
Mr.. Rice later declared that 1.-The
closed shop should be forbidden if
the union is not open to every one
desiring to join, or if the employe
electorate does not desire it,"
Chairman Mary T. Norton of the
House Committee on Labor, who
presided at the morning session,
characterized the Labor Relations
Act as a wonderful law" and pre-
dicted that current criticisms of the
act would "die natural death"
Other speakers yesterday included
Herman A. Gray, New York Uni
versity law professor, and Nathan
Greene, editor of the International
Juridical Association Bulletin and
co-author with Supreme Court JUS
tice Frankfurter of THE Labor In
junction"
Representative Patrick, Democrat,
OF Alabama was the guest of honor
and speaker at the conference lunch
con. He pointed out the necessity
for the continued alertness of pro-
gressive thinkers"
Merle D. Vincent is president of
the Washington chapter of the
guild, and Mrs. Claire Rosen Edes,
Social Security Board attorney, is
general secretarY of tha confArence