The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1941-05-31
THE STRIKE MENACE


conditicrs which threoten its future.
Labor dictatorship which con force
men to leove their job REGARDLESS OF
their own wishes, the welfare Of the no.
tion, and in defence Of government it.
self, is inexcusoble.
After all, it is the men, women and
children in the United Stotes whose
lives, liberty and happiness are at stoke
in our preparedness drive. No labor die
totor con save them from an oeeressor,
if his octs cause q breakdown in our
defense ability. Witness the fallen
countries of Europe.
The public fovors good woees. foir
hours, the best working conditions.
end everything within reason that labor
hos stood for. But, it will finolIy turn on
corruption and arrogance in labor man.
oeement which threaten the life of
nation, onc the right to work for the
sofety of home and fomily.
Hundreds of thousands of boys from
homes throughout the land are train
ina for the army. Ask them if they
hove enough rifles, machine guns, dir
planes. Turks, onti-tonk guns, onti-
oircroft guns, enough ammunition for
proctice-enoueh Of anything?
The boys in training ore offering
their lives for the nation. Strikers who
ore deferred from militoy service at
high pay. who shut off coal supplies
and manufactured products which ore
indispensable, actually imperI the
lives Of the boys who ore serving their
country for $2l to $50 month.
Commenting on methods for rem
edyino this intoleroble situation, the
New York Times says editoriolly thot
the President should permit the No
tionoI Defense Boord to intervene in
any existing or threatened labor dis
pute on it's own motion without having
to wait for the Secretary Of Labor to
certify" q dispute to it.
Second, Congress should enact q law
for defense industries porolIeine the
RoiIwoy Labor Act which requires en-
ployers or representatives Of workers
to give "ot Ieost thirty doys' written
notice Of on intended change in oeree-
ments offectine rotes of pay, rules or
working conditions, during which
time collective bargaining conferences
should he held or the services Of the
Mediation Boord utilized. While no
positive legal penalty is suggested for
striking in defiance Of such provision,
it is pointed out that q negative legal
penalty seems essential. namely, thot
workers striking in defiance Of such
provisions should lose the right under
the Wagner Act to still be considered
employees Of the company against
which they struck.
Concluding its suggestions, the
Times said: while strikes should not
be outowed, neither should they be
encouraged by governmental policy.
Stote and federal labor laws should
be revised where necessary to embody
the principle thot while men are free
to quit their jobs at will, they ore not
free to forcibIy prevent other men
from tokiro those jobs. On the some
principle employers should not be pre-
vented from offering those jobs to men
willing to toke them. This means thot
mass picketine and violence to workers
who otternpt to enter plant must not
be tolerated by local authorities or by
local law. 1t means also the federal
law should not in effect condone or
encourage such violence"
These ore moderate suggestions that
our lawmakers must heed if they hon.
estIy want to curb the strike evil and
reduce the danger Of irreporoble loss
to our country.