Evening star., 1941-03-27

ventlon leglsla-
Jay Hayden. tion, believe
Murray did just that, and they are
waiting only for the Bethlehem
situation to be referred to the Me-
diation Board before making this
charge
The conveyance Of events on
TUESDAY, tending to support this
hypothesis is, to say the least, in
teresting. Almost at the exact hour
the members of the N D. M. B.. in
cluding Mr.. Murray were assemb-
ling for their first meeting the Beth
lehem strike began Coincidentally
dispatches from Detroit were an
nouncing that strike in Midland
Steel. another of the Little Steel
anti-closed shop group, had forced
the Lincoln automobile plant to
shut down and that a National La
Dor Relations Board examiner had
issued subpoenas, summoning both
Henry and Edsel Ford to testify.
Seizures of Industries Hinted
In his initial statement to news
paper reporters Chairman Clarence
VI. d
broadly that recalcitrant industries
may be seized
He recalled that the Selective Serv-
ice law, which he formerly admins
tered, authorized President Roose-
welt to conscript industries as we'll
as men He said he assumed the
Mediation Board could make to the
President whatever recommenda.
tionS it feels are warranted, includ-
ing invocation of the draft-industrv
clause" but he expressed hope no
such compulsion would be required
Yesterday 1t was announced that
within the next few days Secretary
OF Labor Perkins would certify to
the board first test case, and it
probably would be the Bethlehem
controversy.
The Bethlehem and Ford situations
are essentially alike in that they
stem from employer defiance of Ma
tional Labor Board orders, designed
to force the companies to bargain
with G. I. o. unions. The Bethlehem
strike is promised on the c. I. o.
contention that an alleged COM
pany union" ordered by the N. L.
R. B. to disband but still fighting for
its life in the courts, was about to
hold an election.
c. I. o. Recognition Is Issue.
The Ford issue Immediately at
stake is whether a c. I. o. demand
for employe elections for designa-
IF ho fy-iy1
sentatives shall be granted and II
so, what the collective bargaining
units will be. Presumably the C. I.
o. will ask that all Ford employees,
the country over. be placed in one
basket, while A. F. L. trades and,
perhaps. employees of particular
plants. insist that they should be
polled separately.
In both Bethlehem and Ford
plants. of course, the attempt to
force bargaining with the union is
preliminary to the really decisive
move, probably featured by more
strikes and picketing. to compel the
companies fully to recognize the c.
I. O. and accept their terms
Just as Ford has stood as the one
obstacle to complete unionization Of
the automobile industry. the Little
Steel" group, headed by the hard
boiled trio, Eugene G. Grace Of
Bethlehem, Tom Girdler of Republic
and Ernest r Weir of National, SO
far have defeated every attempt of
Murray's Steel Workers Organizing
Committee to bring all steel workers
into the c. I. o.
Murray Roosevelt Talks.
During three or four days imme-
diately preceding formal announce
ment of the new mediation board,
Murray was repeatedly in confer
ence with President Roosevelt. The
purport of these discussions may be
indicated in the makeup Of the
boards labor panel. Thomas Ken
nedy, secretary treasurer of the
United Mine Workers. not only is
a lifetime associate of Murray's in
the mine union, but the two have
collaborated in the effort first to
organize the captive mines" owned
by the steel companies, and secondly,
organize steel plants themselves.
George M. Harrison, head of the
Railway Office Workers, is ostensi-
bly, an A. r. L. representative, but
he has been the leader Of the ele-
ment of that branch seeking re-
union with the G. I. o. and served
with Murray and Sidney Hillman
on joint committee to this end.
George Meany, general secretary
of the A. F. L. and its only blown
in-the-bottle representative on the
Mediation Board, is not aggressive
and scarcely can be rated top
dog in the union movement.
Hillman Also an Intimate.
Murray also may be helped by the
fact that Mr.. Hillman, who divides
direction of the Office of Production
Management with William 8.
Knudsen, has been one of his most
intimate associates. Murray and
Hillman, for example. managed the
reorganization of the United Auto.
mobile Workers Union, following
the bitter split between the Martin
and Thomas factions.
Little Steel and Ford may or may
not have been mentioned in the
talks between Murray and Roosevelt,
but 1t Is a safe statement that these
two are as one in the desire to put
Ford, Grace, Girdler and Weir, to-
gether with all other industrialists
of the same individualist ilk, In their
places
Final decisions of the Mediation
Board probably will rest largely with
its public representation panel-two
State university presidents, Mr..
Dykstra Of Wisconsin and Frank P.
Graham of North Carolina, and
William H. Davis, lawyer and for
mer member Of the New York State
Labor Mediation Board. But for the
club to compel compliance with its
decisions the board, in the last
analysis, must turn to the power Of
plant confiscation which only Presi-
dent Roosevelt is empowered to do.
CReleased by MANA. Ins.t