Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-29
BY HUGH S. JOHNSON

IN MULTIPLYING its units
for mediation and concilia-
ton of labor disputes. is our
government making the best
use of the machinery it already
has? Many of the strikes which
are most effective in holding up
production for defense are of
the so-called jurisdictional" va
riety.
That is. they are not disputes
between management and labor
at all. They are fights between
rivat labor unions as to which
shall be the exclusive represen-
tative of all the workers for COL
leetive bargaining for all en-
ployes - whether all are MEM
bers of the union or not. Both
usually also demand the CLOSED
shop contract, by which the
employer agrees not to employ
workers who are not members
of the fighting union or do not
join il.
: Now this rarely presents the
usual circumstances for tradi-
tional mediation or Cancellation.
It requires some kind of action
to settle the question of what
union the workers themselves
desire to represent them.
How can that be determined
by mediation" between Off
Gals of rival labor unions?
There is only one just and OBJ
vious democratic way to settle
that. 1t is to let the workers
vote or otherwise express their
choice. After they have done so,
there is no reasonable room for
any violence or even peaceful
strikes on that question at least.
Public demands are growing
for laws with teeth in them to
stop this kind of interference
with national defense But on
this particular question. which
is at the heart of most of il.
there is already law on the
federal statute books-the bold
est and most biting labor law
ever enacted. II is called the
Wagner Labor Relations Act. 1t
says. among other things. rep
reSentatives designated or Sc
lected for the purpose of collec-
tive bargaining by the majority
of the employees in a unit appro-
pirate for such purposes shall be
the exclusive representative of
all the employees in such unit.
Nothing could be palmer than
that
1t also says, whenever a
question affecting commerce
arises concerning the represen-
tation of employees, the. (Na-
tional Labor Relations) board
may investigate such contro-
versy and certify to the parties
in writing the name or names of
the representatives that have
been designated or selected"
There are no strings on that
broad authority either.
A FTER such a selection and
"a certification by the board
1T shall be an unfair labor prac-
tice for an employer to re-
fuse to bargain collectively with
the representatives of his en-
ployes' lchosen by the methods
lust described in quotations
from the law. The law pro-
vides adequate penalties for
unfair" labor practices.
Here certainly is a law with
sufficient teeth TO deal W { h
the principal trouble. w h Y
doesn't it work? 1t is a long
story
Although there is no restric-
ton whatever on the boards
power TO investigate a dispute
and certify a majority and TO
DO so whenever or wherever 1t
decides that there is a contro-
verSy, and although it is plain
common sense TO say that It
could do so at the suggestions
of the government or the en-
ployer or on its own motion,
the board has been very reluc-
tant to move in on any contro-
verSy except only at the pc
tition of one of the diSputing
4 I. q
appears probable that The Pc
titioning union will poll a ma
iority.
DIGIT there is the monkey
IL wrench in this machine.
Most of these jurisdictional rows
arc .organizing strikes. That
is, they occur where neither
side is sure of a majority and
one is trying by striking and
picketing TO intimidate the
other or unorganized workers
into its own membership.
Naturally it will not petition
for an election until it feels
sure that its tactics have been
successful. and that it has
forced a majority Under the
handS-off policy of the labor
board full range is given to this
method.
Tho country suffers in do.