Evening star., 1941-11-06


dues or be dis W
missed by the g
unions order David Lawrence.
which hereafter would be imposed
on the employer? Shall member
ship in a union supersede fitness
for a job as a means of hiring or
firing workers? Shall every union
be given a monopoly so that no
rival union can ever be chosen to
represent the wishes of the work
ers?
The issue of open shop or
-closed shop" has long been a
source of trouble in American in
dustry. In normal times, strikes
and threats of strikes are used to
attain the closed shop. Submitting
to economic pressure, employers in
some industries have accepted the
closed shop, but it has yet to be
proved that the system is as efficient
with respect to individual perform
ance as a system which depends
wholly on the right of the employer
to- hire and fire whomever he con-
siders efficient.
There are various kinds of closed
shops. All closed shops, however,
have this much in common-the en-
ployer is given the burden of keep
ing the union intact. This is a
strange contradiction because for
years the employers were accused
Of dominating unions Now it seems
to be all right provided the en-
ployer becomes party to the
monopoly system which keeps the
national unions and their locals in
power.
Avoided In Last War.
The National Defense Mediation
Board need not, of course, have
tackled the problem. The National
War Labor Board in the last war
side-stepped it by refusing to let
the national emergency be used to
exploit closed shops or open shops.
A system Of freezing the status quo
was introduced.
The present Defense Mediation
Board has yielded to union pressure
and has looked sympatheticauy on
the idea of forcing employers to
maintain the rolls Of union men,
berships. For refusing to accept
such a system, the Federal Ship
building and Drydock Co. recently
had its plant at Kearney, N. J.,
seized by order Of President Roose-
welt.
Today the Mediation Board is
face to face with a much more far
reaching aspect OF the closed shop.
John Lewis, head of the United
Mine Workers, wants the steel COM
panies which own coal mines to ac-
cept the closed shop. He argues
that all coal mines are on the closed
shop. 1t was, of course, not obtained
voluntarily but as a result of a
series Of strikes and threats of
strikes.
The steel men realize that even
IN their own so-called captive mines,
Is per cent of the workers are
members of Mr.. Lewis union. But
to agree to the closed shop in one
branch Of the steel industry merely
means opening the whole subject
to strife in the rest of the industry.
Solution Suggested.
When the Defense Mediation
Board refused to make recon-
mendations, Mr.. Lewis ordered a
strike. The President pleaded with
Mr.. Lewis to let the Mediation
Board try again It is now deliberat-
ing once more. It is officially
admitted that the renewed hearings
have not changed basic positions.
Yet the controversy must be settled
somehow.
This correspondent, after study
OF all the issues. believes that there
Is only one way to settle the con-
troversy on basis which will con-
form to the national defense situa-
tion's requirements and yet avoid
giving either labor or management
a humiliating position. That method
is as follows:
l. Since the miners in the steel
company mines are 95 per cent
unionized, the closed shop could
be granted for all coal mines only.
2. The award would be made on
the condition that both the C. I. o.
and the A. F. of L. agree in state
ment to the President that neither
organization will sanction another
strike or threat of strike during
the present national emergency if
the strike has for its object the at
tainment of the closed shop.
Peace Dubious Otherwise.
The National Defense Mediation
Board may develop such a formula
If 1t rejected the closed shop, it
would not mean peace among labor
unions. If it granted the closed
shops Internationally. the morals
OF the employers would be seriously
impaired and labor difficulties would
not diminish Disunity would be
intensified.
Would Mr.. John Lewis accept the
conditions set forth above? If the
board made such a recommendation
and the President concurred, II
would not take five days for the
Senate and House to write the
boards recommendation into Law
stating that on and after a GER
tain date no more closed shops
would be permitted. The plan
would remove the issue from the
defense situation and narrow all
disputes hereafter to matters OF
wages and working conditions, most