Evening star., 1941-06-21

of labor to bow ~ III
to the principle sg
Since the Con- @'~
greSS of the David Lawrence.
United States has not seen fit to
protect management against the in
cursions of labor control through
the closed shop, Americas auto pio-
neer evidently decided that he could
not do otherwise than to submit to
the union pressure.
Having tried to persuade his work
ers that union monopolies were bad
for them, having made the record,
the Ford company now accepts the
law of the land as interpreted by
the National Labor Relations Board.
The labor board has been haraSSing
the Ford company with suits charg-
ing unfair labor practices" and the
Presidents chief labor adviser, Sid
ney Hillman, has carried on cam
paign to withhold Government con-
tracts from the Ford company un-
less the latter complied with the
labor boards Interpretation of the
Wagner act, so Henry Ford un-
doubtedly came to the conclusion he
could not fight labor government.
1t will be recalled that General
Motors objected as long as it could
during the recent mediation negoti-
ations to the acceptance of the c.
I. o. demand for 10-CentS-an-hour
increase and the closed shop, and
finally gave way on the first be-
lieving that it was more important
to prevent the establishment of the
second.
Sensational Event.
Now, however, with Ford going
into a closed shop agreement and
signing a contract also permitting
the union to receive dues by the
cheCk-off system whereby the COM
pany deducts the money from pay
rolls-thus turning about S1200,000
a year over to the union. the whole
situation in the auto industry has
been reopened What will the other
companies do? VIII they sit by and
see Ford cars carrying the union
label and the Ford statesmen boast
ing about the way Ford has given
the union their best contract in
years?
1t was recalled here today that
Mr. Fords position in the past has
been that labor trouble is often in
stigated by competing employer
interests and that unions play one
competitor off against the other.
Certainly by accepting closed shop
agreement, the Ford company Gre
ates a sensation in industrial his
tory. From the extreme of being
considered labors most persistent
foe, Henry Ford becomes on the
record its best exponent and most
trustful friend.
But what of the Governments
position? The closed shop means
trouble in defense plants. The
House Military Affairs Committee
reported favorably the other day an
amendment to the Selective Service
Act which provides that it shall be
unlawful to prevent or attempt to
prevent by force or violence or
threats thereof any person from ac-
cepting or continuing in employ
ment in defense industries. Such an
amendment protects the open shop.
Will it make Mr.. Fords new con-
tract Illegal?
There is possibility that Henry
Ford is giving the country a con-
spicuous example of what the Wag-
ner Act logically means. Instead of
being a mere instrument for collec-
tive bargaining as claimed by its
proponents from the beginning, 1t
has been construed by the Labor
Board to be an instrument virtually
compelling union membership. BY
granting the majority the right to
bargain for the minority and by
refusing to safeguard the rights of
the minority against threats and
coercion by union organizers, the
workers are practically forced into
union membership. The right to
work is no longer protected by the
Government.
Join or Lose Job.
1t may we'll be that Mr.. Ford is
demonstrating to the Nation the
sequence that come first from rec
ognition of a majority as bargain !
ing agent and then its right to
force minority members to be fired |
unless they join the union. Like
wise, while the individual workers |
may hesitate to pay dues and might |
even choose to withdraw from a |
union, the new contract which is
incidentally sanctioned by the Wag- |
ner law really compels a man to |
remain q member of a union or |
lose his job.
With union organizations given |
vast control of funds derived from
workers pay and with the right to
order strikes at moments notice |
and the right also to have a worker |
dismissed if he doesn't pay union |
dues, the control of the destinies |
of millions of workers has now been
turned over to a few union leaders |
who may exploit them at will How
long will the workers submit to this |
without insisting themselves that
the Government must control the |
operations of labor unions? The |
fiction that the economic power of |
union organization must be exer-
- o~,,oI of tIo