Evening star., 1941-11-30

TO the neeOeQ pTOuuClloH VI ucichoo
materials To understand this issue
properly, a thorough familiarity with the
background of the closed shop move
ment is essential Below are some ele-
mentary facts in that connection.
In the broad sense, closed shop is one
in which. by contract of the union with
the employer, only union members are
permitted to work. 1t is thus closed
against non-members of the union. This
is the sense in which the term is used by
the employer and by the public generally,
whatever may be the particular method
bv which non-members are excluded.
The opposite of the closed shop, in popu-
lar understanding, is the open shop,
where workers are employed without
re"ard to union membership.
IN their special terminology. the unions
make a distinction between the closed
shop and the union shop. BY their
definition, a closed shop means one
where only union members may be hired
and where they must remain union mem-
bers in order to hold their jobs. The
printing trades. for example, are organ
RPC pN lIlS Alutl lNdll IttNI otAOAi Va
Labor on the closed-shop basis.
clio. Favors Union Shop.
Under the union-shop arrangement
which is the kind generally favored by
the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(the c. I. o., any one may be employed,
but in order to hold his job he must
become a member of the union after
short probationary period.
The miners in the captive coal mines,
owned by the steel companies, struck
for the union shop. In his letter urging
the steel companies and the miners
union to settle their differences, Presl-
dent Roosevelt did not employ the term
inologv of the union, but referred TO the
issue as that of the closed shop.
This is a true description of the basic
issue whenever union seeks TO OBTAIN
from the employer either the "closeo
or the union" shop.
The maintenance of membership
agreement does not compel any>empio.e
10 ioin the union, but it does require
that all who are members Of the union
at the time of the agreement, or who
NAV thereafter join. shall remain mem
bers in good standing or be discharged
from their jobs. The "malntenance-o1-
membership agreement is a long step
toward the closed shop.
Another near approach to the closed
shop is the .'preferential' shop where
the employer agrees that union members
shall be given special consideration IN
the hiring or laying off of employees, or
both.
The closed shop issue Is as old as the
Republic. The Rev. jerome L. Toner says
in his exhaustive study Of The Closed
Shop in America" soon to be published,
that from the Revolution to the Civil
War the closed-shop principle and prac-
tice developed and expanded The
principal unions of that period enforced
the closed shop whenever they were
strong enough to do so, and, IN some
instances. they required non-members
to ioin the union as soon as they came
to town"
Precisely as in earlier times, the A.
p. of L. and the C. l. o. unions of today
enforce the closed shop whenever they
are strong enough to do so.
Generally speaking. the employer re-
sists the establishment of the closed
shop as long as he is able to do SO.
Wagner Act No Bar
The Wagner Act Cthe National Labor
Relations Act of 1885, does not afflrma-
lively sanction the closed shop. 1t pro-
vdes, however, that nothing in the act
or in any other Federal law shall prevent
an employer from making a closed-shop
agreement arrived at by collective bar
gaining.
Senator Walsh, Democrat, of Massa-
chusetts, chairman of the committee
that reported the bill, said during a
congressional debate: "All this bill says
is that no employer may discriminate
in hiring man, whether he belong to
a union or not: but if an employer wishes
to make contract of his own volition
with his employees to hire only members
of company union or of a trade union,
he can do So
The same Interpretation was given by
Senator Wagner. Democrat, of New York,
whose name the act bears. while out
lawing the organization that is interfered
with by the employer" said Senator
Wagner this bill does not establish the
closed shop or even encourage 1t. The
much discussed closed shop proviso
merely states that nothing in any Federal
law shall be held to illegalize the con-
of to- o1o -cl,
ments between employers and workers"
Clause Called Endorsement.
The Chamber of Commerce of the
United States, in opposing the closed
shop provision of the Wagner Act, ex-
presses no doubt as to its meaning. The
chamber stated its opposition last year
in the following words: There should be
removed from the law the sanction of
the closed shop, which the law not only
indorses, but for the accomplishment
CT which it provides effective procedure y
In a referendum in 1910, members of
the chamber voted against the closed
shop by 1882 to g.
With regard to the closed shop, the
Wagner Act differs from the National
Railway Labor Act. which provides a
method for the adjustment of disputes
between the railroads and their employees.
The difference is often cited by those
who contend that the closed shop pro-
| vision should be stricken from the
Wagner Act. AS amended in 1894, the
National Railway Labor Act is generally
construed to prohibit a closed shop
among railroad employees. The railroad
brotherhoods-which form a group apart