Evening star., 1941-11-12

lar more logic
and will stand
up better in the David Lawrence.
record than will the majority report.
This is because the board did not
forthrightly reverse the stand 1t
took in the West Coast shipbuilding
industry when it forced closed shop
on the Bethlehem Steel Co. Nor did
the board discard its union Sc
curity" position, which led to the
seizure of the shipbuilding plant at
Kearny, N. J.
About all the board really did was
to say that it couldn't recommend
A closed shop in this case because
the Wagner Labor Relations Law
did not contemplate that the Gov
ernment should force such system
on the employer. Yet the Wagner
law equally refutes any possible
construction of the union security
clause as being legal either.
For a governmental agency to
impose as a prerequisite to employ
ment that certain workers must pay
dues to a union or lose their jobs,
while certain other workers along
side of them are free from any pay
ment of dues because they happen
not to be union members is to
create a non-uniform condition that
amounts really to discrimination be-
tween workers in the same plant.
Muffed' Opportunity.
The Mediation Board had a great
opportunity to do a constructive
piece of work and satisfy both sides
in the labor dispute. 1t could have
granted the closed shop to the coal
miners engaged In the steel industry,
but on condition that organized
labor enter into truce for the dura-
ton Of the emergency never to raise
the closed shop issue anywhere in
the United States again.
The employers Of the coal mines
ownAd by the steel industry really
had no argument against the closed
shop If the principle applied by the
same board in the Bethlehem case
on the West Coast we're applied. In
the latter the Bethlehem employees
who we're not under the closed shop
constituted about 40 per cent Of the
total. while In the coal mines owned
by the steel companies In the East
the percentage is 95 per cent union
and per cent non-union.
The board failed to deal realisti-
cally with the problem by omitting
to point out what everybody in
Washington has known for some
time-that the real reason the steel
companies opposed the closed shop
in their captive coal mines was be-
cause they didn't want the closed
shop there to be used as an entering
wedge for lot of closed-shop strikes
and board cases in the rest Of the
steel industry.
The barrier to an agreement
therefore was the implications of
the captive coal mine dispute and
not the merits Of the closed shop
issue itself. The board chose to
avoid discussion of the implica-
tions and neglected to establish a
broad policy which would serve for
the duration of the emergency.
The boards first mistake was
several months ago, when it an
nounced that 1t would have no uni
form policy and that each case
would stand on its own footing
But this was a fallacy too diff
cult for either employer or employe
organizations to swallow.
The c. T. o. members of the
Mediation Board have resigned.
This is no surprise. Any board
which consists of four A. F. of l..
men and four C. I. o. men cannot
be impartial where their own rival
ries and disputes are involved. This
means that the three public men,
bers bear the burden of the de-
cisions anyway. A revamped medi-
alton board with only three public
members on it and with deter
mination to set policies that are
really uniform will be much better
for the cause of industrial peace
than the type of board which has
attempted to function in the past
SaIutary Experience.
The most unfortunate aspect Of
1t all is that Chairman Davis and
his colleagues have labored con-
scientiously and indefatigably in
the public interest, seemingly to no
avail. But while their mistakes in
Judgment are coming home to roost
tho whole experience has been salu-
tary in focusing the attention OF
the country to the tremendous
growth in economic power which
has been granted the labor union
leaders by the Wagner Act.
Senator Bridges of New Hamp-
shire has introduced legislation
which looks toward a safeguarding
of the workers rights against abuse
OF collective bargaining by auto
cratic leaders. The whole series OF
Interruptions to the defense pro-
gram throughout the country, de-
spite the frequent appeals by the
President, is causing Congress to
await from Mr.. Roosevelt a cue
to take action.
The c. I. o. members may fee
disappointed with the decision on
the closed shop but they hardly will
venture to shut down the coal
mines. II they do, legislation will
follow almost instantly and with