Evening star., 1941-04-12

after there is an David Lawrence.
election held by the National Labor
Relations Board to determine
whether the majority of the workers
want to designate the G. I. o. or the
A. F. of L. or no union at all as the
exclusive bargaining agent.
Why, then. did a strike occur? The
answer to this question is not one
with which the public is familiar
and yet it is vital to understanding
why a small group of men feel they
have a right to interrupt defense
production so long as their own ends
are served.
Strikes of the type called at the
Ford plants are held for the purpose
of making a demonstration to fell
low workers and to secure union
members. The fact that millions
of dollars of pay roll are lost to in
nocent workers means nothing to
the strike leaders. The fact that
national defense work is interrupted
means nothing. The all-important
point is that a group of organizers,
who get high salaries and commits
sions, stand to profit by the in
creased dues running into many
millions of dollars
Chokes off Rival Unions.
Once a plant is organized and a
union designated as the exclusive
bargaining agent, the next move is
to insist on monopoly rights and the
exclusion of any competing union
from ever getting foothold among
the workers Some unions make it
extremely difficult for members to
resign and threaten to blacklist the
employees if they ever dare to with
draw.
Virtually all the evils which used
10 be attributed to tyrannical en-
ployers can now be attributed to
militant unionists. They employ
spies and strong-arm men who
openly carry on violence and they
use every form of coercion to get
their ends, including physical
threats against those workers who
venture to exercise an independent
Judgment about joining a union.
The Wagner Labor Relations
Law, which has been hailed as
Magma Carta of labor, has been
abused to secure these ends. The
Ford strike is an example of the
technique being used and so is the
Bethlehem strike. knowing that
the Labor Board machinery can
usually be withheld by collusion
with the board itself till union
Is ready for an election, the organ
izers do not Immediately petition
for vote. They hold their formal
request back because they know
they do not possess a majority.
They then call a strike and it takes
only a small minority to close down
a plant; for when the strong arm
pickets get on the job, the average
worker doesn't feel like risking a
broken head to 60 through picket
line.
Union Boasts of Victory.
State and Federal authorities,
afraid of the labor vote, allow the
violence to go on until it gets to
extremes and then they step in.
BY that time public opinion insists
on mediation of some kind, or else
the union leaders themselves urge
it. for they always get a concession
when there's a conference. In the
Ford case the leaders will now boast
that they have won. For haven't
the employees who stirred up the
rumpus been taken back? And
hasn't the company agreed to bar
gain with a union group for its
members even though it does not
possess majority; and wasn't the
strike an effective demonstration
of the power of the union to close
down a huge plant?
This is simply the customary kind
Of misrepresentation which precedes
what is misnamed as collective
bargaining election" The Labor
ing a definite time, either once or
the law to put an end to such friv-
olous use of the statutes, sits by and
allows 1t to go on. 1t could easily
put a stop to the outbreak of So
called organizational strikes by fix
ing a definite time either once or
twice a year, when elections must be
held, after which each plant should
be permitted an era of industrial
peace until the fixed date for the
next election. That's democracy in
an electoral system. The present
method resembles more the "plebis-
cites" held by Herr Hitler, where a
voter is permitted to vote yes or
mo" but he is intimidated against
voting no"
Liberty May Come.
When the Federal Government
some day undertakes by act OF Con-
gress to restore liberty to the in
dividual worker and corrects the
Misrepresentation that the Govern
nent favors compulsory unioniza-
sion, there will be real collective
bargaining and employers will sit
down with employe organizations in
a bruay friendly spirit for negotia-
hions. Today the bargaining process
ID m an atmosphere of resentment
stirred up by the unfair tactics used
by strikers.
But even when collective bargain
ing has been granted, as in the case
of the General Motors Corp, this is
not enough. The unions now are
threatening a strike at Americas S
biggest motor car plants because of
a desire to get the CLOSED shop y
and when that is given, then comes
the demand for company collection
of dues on behalf of unions by de-
duction from pay rolls-a series OF
steps that put the workers into a
straitjacket. The end of the cycle
will doubtless be a reaction against
unionism, and the many fine union
organizations with responsible lead
ers and fair minded officers will suf-
fer as a consequence. And all this
has IN on on when America is cry