Evening star., 1941-11-02
THE high importance Of finding a

yentjon at Seattle.
This is not the time for idle promises.
This is not the time to take chances with
the national safety through any stop
page of defense work or defense pro-
duction. -
In this hour when civilization itself
is in the balance. organizational rivalries
and jurisdictional conflicts should be dis
carded. Only by united action can we
turn back the Nazi threat. The estab-
lishment Of peace between labor organ
jzations would be a patriotic step for
ward of incalculable value in the crea-
ton of true national unity"
OP.M. Follows Suit.
This is not a crack down on labor for
! which the more aggressive advocates of
! anti-labor legislation had been hoping,
/ but from President of Mr.. Roosevelt's
| demonstrated friendship for labor it is
| strong language.
The President message was followed
in few days. on October q, by SINH
lar statement from the Office of PRODUCE
tion Management, drawn up as result
OF conversations between the President
| and William S. Knudsen, director general
of the Office of Production Management.
Unquestionably, the action of the o.
P. M. was inspired by growing concern
over the loss of man-hours through
strikes in defense industries.
II there is any single valid generalza-
zation about a problem whose complex
tiles become more apparent the more it
is studied. that generalization is this:
| The root OF the trouble is the immaturity
| Of the collective bargaining relationship
between management and workers.
Because of the neWness of the collec-
| tive bargaining principle and its appl-
cation to defense industries. We are still
beset with difficulties in this country
which England, through long habitua-
| ton to the principle. has been able in its
time Of crisis to surmount with com.
parative ease
Analysis of the Issue.
A penetrating analysis of the funda-
| mentals of the strike problem appears
In the November issue of the Survey
| Graphic magazine, in an article by Will
liam H. Davis, chairman of the National
Defense Mediation Board Mr.. Davis,
| successful lawyer was chairman of
the New York State Mediation Board
before coming into the NJ D. NJ B. The
| handspring of the board from the be-
| ginning, he was the logical successor of
| Clarence A. DykStra as its chairman.
| BY many he is regarded as the ablest
| mediator of labor disputes in the coun-
try. incidentally, the issue in which his
| article appears is encyclopedia in its
treatment of present-day labor relations:
| it deserves reading by anybody who is
| trying to grope his way to an UNDER
standing Of the subject.
Mr.. Davis makes the point that the
| defense crisis came upon the United
| States when collective bargaining be-
tween workers and management was at
various stages of immaturity. running
! all the way from early infancy to the
| confusions of adolescence"
The industry which is basic to the
! whole defense program-steel-stil Is in,
or is just passing out Of, the organizing
| stage of unionization,' he writes I'm
| no significant section OF the steel indus
try is there sufficient experience with
collective bargaining to have accumu-
lated precedents, developed traditions,
acquired habits of procedure-until the
| practice Of conference, the values of
the collective agreement and mutual
| respect and confidence have fully re-
| placed the unstable status of conflict.
The great mass production INDUSTRIES
automobiles, rubber, chemicals for ex-
ample-similarly are in state of lusty
immaturity in labor relations.
Coming up at this period of develop
ment, the emergency has done about
everything that could be done to upset
a growing youth"
The Contributing Factors.
Mr.. Davis lists the factors that have
| contributed to this upset. First, there
was the tremendous expansion Of pro-
duction with the accompanying trerlen-
dous demand for labor This is con-
dition that always gives rise to industrial
disputes Second, there has been an
|
threat of imitation. Third, there has been
the less clearly understood, hut tre-
mendously disturbing fact of job shifts.
| A man who has been working in x plant
| for 10 years enjoys favorable position
of seniority. Move him into some other
| plant and Immediately his seniority
rights become thorny issue" The fourth
| ie ho ey1it nf tho 10
movement into two factions. And finally,
says Mr.. Davis, all these disturbing fac
tors are present in a period when Con-
gress has declared that it is the national
policy to encourage collective bargain
ing. TT is hard to conceive of situa-
ton more fraught with difficulties for
bringing to maturity the complex, un-
evenly developed labor relations of
American industry
The basic question presented by the
succession of strikes in essential defense
Industries is whether or not labor has
been allowed to grow too tall; whether
or not the time has come to reverse the
building-up process. The whole contro-
versy over restrictive labor measures re-
wolves about this question.
There is not the slightest doubt that
Mr. Roosevelt can get restrictive legis.
lation from Congress by asking for it
If there was any doubt, it was removed
by the defiant attitude of John L. Lewis
in the captive coal mines strike.
The temper of large section of Con.
gress-a section that easily could, under
provocation, be made into a majority