Evening star., 1941-10-14

unions them David Lawrence.
selves in which the employers are
innocent third parties.
Thus important parts in the man
ufacture of tanks are held up due
to c. I. o. and A. F. of L. conflict
because the c. I. o. refuses to
accept work from another plant
where the A. F. of L. won an cleo
ton supervised by the National
Labor Relations Board.
When an outrageous situation like
this occurs, not a syllable of protest
comes from the White House. If
an employer refused to accept
National Labor Board election, the
hue and cry that would issue from
President RooSevelts Office would
burn up the wires and the headlines
from coast to coast.
Why is the President so timid
about labor difficulties? He makes
a speech or a plea every now and
then and the trade union leaders
seem to think it is perfunctory and
that he has TO do it every now and
then to placate the critics. But
they know nothing will come of it.
80 StOppageS Last Week.
Last week there were 80 strikes
and one lockout. OF these, nine were
A. F. of L. stoppages involving
9265 employees. The C. I. o. had
"a stoppages involving 32,105 en-
ployes. Almost consistently for sew
eral months the C. I. o. has had
more strikes than A. F. of L.
Whether this is due to the aggres-
siveness of their organizers or to
influences at work in the c. I. o.
known to be unsympathetic with
the defense program cannot be
established All that one can OBJ
serve is that the G. I. o. keeps the
strike weapon going, notWithstand-
ing the pleas from the President.
Sidney Hillman, who boasts that
he alone makes the labor policies of
the administration, has lately tried
to bore from within the A F. of L.
and keep that organization at peace.
He recommended that the Govern
nlept pay a higher sum for certain
building contracts in order to favor
employers with A. F. of L. rather
than c. I. o. union contracts. His
argument is that the building
trades are about SO per cent A. F.
Of L. and that TO favor their unions
Is to insure an END to strikes for a
tUo-year period The fact that
paid union official who sits in
Washington and wields authority on
behalf of the Government finds it
necessary to buy labor peace by
awarding bids to employers who
favor certain unions is not some
thing that Congress ever has sane
toned or ever would sanction. It's
q dangerous precedent to use the
power of Government contracts to
buy stability on the part of certain
groups of citizens.
Generates Distrust.
Employers throughout the coun-
try are criticized every now and then
for their labor policies, but when
they see official Washington operat-
ing outside the law they wonder
urHy- c11cIo on i,oac,,i+oola ci+,,o+io,,
is permitted to continue. Confidence
in the fairness of an administration
in wartime depends on how fairly
1t treats al groups and particularly
how well it keeps the balance be-
tween labor and management. But
today there is widespread distrust
of an administration which makes
no pretense of fairness as between
employer and employe interests.
Normally such a discrimination
end unfair policy would be the
subject of protest but Congress,
being mindful of the way the labor
chiefs can exert pressure on elec-
tIoll OdJ, w IlOt4l444S dCOiI H. 4Oudy
Congress waits on the leadership of
the President.
Situation a Paradox.
There is certainly a paradox here.
Nearly every week the administra-
ton proclaims to Britain and even
to Russia how much the American
democracy is seeking to aid them
in their life-and-death struggle.
This week the President is asking
also for legislation to arm merchant
ships. One would think from such
requests that the administration
really wants an all-out effort on