The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-02-08
Facing the Facts
With PHILIP PEARL

The present Labor Board and it's
entire administrative personnel must
go!
This has now become the almost
unanimous feeling of the American
people and of Congress.
The courts also have had their say.
Here is cogent declaration from the
United States Circuit Court of Ap-
peals in Chicago:
"Time and experience have demon
strated that the public, as well as
litigants, will tolerate the honest mis-
takes Of those who pass judgment, but
not the biased acts of those who would
deprive litigants Of fair and impair
tial trial"
The court directed these words to
the National Labor Relations Board
in decision last week reversing one
of the Boards rulings.
1t was more than two years ago
that the American Federation of La
Dor first raised it's voice in protest
against the unfair tactics of the La
Dor Board. Since then abundant proof
has been adduced of the justice of the
Federation's charges. Day in and day
out we read in the newspapers rev.
elations by the House Committee in
vestigating the Labor Board which
bear out in every detail the complaints
of the American Federation of Labor
We read about officials of the board
who travelled through the country on
Government expense account re-
cruiting members for the C. |. o. We
read about agents of the Board who
secretly referred to the American
Federation Of Labor as the damned
A. F. of L." and spoke Of C. |. O..
cases as "our cases."
No Halfway Measures
In these circumstances, no half
way measures can be tolerated. APP
pointment of new board members to
replace those now serving will not be
enough. A complete cleaning
Of the entire Labor Board setup is i'm
perative. Such a house-cleaning is
provided for in one of the American
Federation of Labor Amendments to
the National Labor Relations Act now
pending before Congress. This amend
ment would abolish the present board,
purge its entire personnel and create
new Federal Labor Board of five
members.
Even this great forward step is not
sufficient to guard against a recur-
renee of Labor Board trouble. Con-
gress must lay down the rules of the
game which the new Labor Board
must follow. We have learned the
mistake of entrusting wide discretion
ary authority to quasi-judicial Govern
ment agencies. The inevitable conse-
quence is abuse of discretion.
The American Federation of Labor
has wisely provided for this con-
tingency. Its amendments contain
specific rules for the guidance of the
new board. These rules were designed
to guarantee fair play to all litigants
before the Board. They were not
fashioned just to protect the American
Federation Of Labor and the members
of its affiliated unions. They are just
as fair to c. |. o. unions. And they
guarantee equal fairness to employ
ers. We cannot have favoritism in the
law, because favoritism spells in
justice.
Thus the American Federation of
Labor amendments do not say that
the craft unit must be chosen by the
Labor Board as the appropriate col
lective bargaining unit. Nor do they
say that the industrial unit must be
chosen by the Board in every case.
Instead of any arbitrary, autocratic
rule, our amendments declare that it
shall be up to the workers themselves
to decide in each case by majority
vote who their collective bargaining
representative shall be, whether they
want to be represented by a craft
unit, plant unit, an industry wide
unit or geographical unit. That is
the essence of democracy. 1t is in
accordance with the the spirit of the
Act which was created to guarantee
to the workers of this country the
right OF Reorganization for col
lective bargaining.
Contrast this amendment sponsored
by the American Federation of Labor
with the one which the c. l. o. has an
nounced it will seek to obtain. The C.
l. o. amendment would require the
Board to fix the industrial unit in
every case regardless of the wishes of
the workers affected. Is that democ-
racy? Is it common fairness?
Furthermore, the c. |. O. wants a
new provision in the law to provide
Jail sentences for employers found to
have violated the National Labor Re-
lations Act. The American Fedora
ton of Labor is strongly opposed to
any such idea. We believe it violates
the fundamental principle behind the
National Labor Relations Act which
seeks to establish peaceful and friend
ly relations between employees and en-
ployers.
Instead of trying to imprison en-
ployers and thus possibly destroy the