Evening star., 1941-08-09

wa A (
wanted to per- &aa
suade Congress David Lawrence.
to drop the Connally amendment
and anti-strike legislation. The
ruse succeeded.
Today, with much legislation
brushed aside by the combined eff
forts of Republicans and Demo-
Gratis in Congress plus administra-
ton support, there is a recrudes-
Cence of strikes. The strikes at
Kearney, N. j., involving $3.50 ,000.-
600 of defense contracts, namely
warships and merchant ships, has
developed a grave crisis on the la
Dor front.
The showdown is about to come
as between the demands of LABOR
unions for monopoly or closed
shop. and the right of workers in
America to keep Jobs without pay
ing dues to a union.
The National Defense Mediation
Board has muddled the situation
badly. Timid about taking full re-
sponsibility for cleaning out all
such eXtraneous issues as closed
shops or open shops, the board al
lowed one of its divisions or panels
to reach by 2-to-1 vote a recon-
mendation' favoring a form of
closed shop. The panel consisted
of three memberS-One of them
secretary general of the C. I. Q.
itself and one of them an employer
who disSented. Thus the third men,
Der of the panel-Justice Stacy of
the North Carolina Supreme Court
decided a momentous issue in
American industrial history and his
act precipitated a battle that will
affect the entire defense situation
for months to come
Situation Is Serious.
The original concept of the Me-
6iation Board was that it would
mediate and that if it recommended
settlements it would con1ne itself
to wages or hours or grievances and
would not try to settle fundamental
issues of unioniSm or non-union-
ism, open shops or closed shops.
The full Mediation Board did not
proclaim the recommendation in
favor of a virtual closed shop but
the effect is just the same as if 1t
had The union is now clamoring
for troops to take over the plant
because of a belief that the boards
panel which recommended a form
of closed shop will be sustained by
the authorities which take over the
plant, namely the Army.
What makes the situation in
eredibly serious from the standpoint
of maintaining confidence in the
impartiality of the Mediation Board
hereafter is the fact that its panel
is on record as sustaining a union
which has broken a contract. Two
months ago the c. I. o. unions in
the shipbuilding industry in the
East signed with management a
contract barring strikes or lockouts
for two years. Notwithstanding the
fact that collective bargaining con-
ferences were proceeding, the dis
pute was certified to the Mediation
Board. 1t is assumed that the union
leaders felt the board would sustain
them on the closed shop issue and
then the company would be COM
PEELED to accept and that the strike
would be short-lived.
But the company baked. 1t in
sisted that the employer should not
be compelled to make his workers
pay dues and remain members of q
union. The boards panel had de-
cided that the employees of the Fed
eral Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.
who we're already members of the
union and those who voluntarily
Joined, must remain tied to that
union and must give up their age
old American right to decide for
themselves whether they want tc
remain members of a union.
Coercion on Employer.
Congress never authorized any
governmental agency to bring about
compulsory unionization or the con-
tinued membership of a worker ir
any union. Under the boards find
ings, if a worker wants to resign
from union and cease paying dues
to a union, he must be discharged
by the employer. Though the Wag-
ner Act which has been stressed a.
Magma Carta for labor forbids ar
employer from aiding in the main
tenance of any union by giving II
financial support or by discriminate
ing against those who refuse to be-
long to a union or those who are
members, the law does not object tt
q voluntary agreement between the
employer and a union to maintain
a closed shop. In the Kearney
IN. j. case, however, the Govern
ment authority is being used to COM
pei an employer to sign the equiva-
lent of a closed-shop system oi
maintaining members and If he re-
fuses, he may have his plant seized
Thus does governmental coercion
without any act of Congress to sup
port 1t put the employer in the posi-
ton of violating the principles ol
the Wagner law. President Roose-
velt publicly asked workers anc
management not to stop work or
defense projects pending negotia.
tions for settlement of differences
The c. I. o. union has violated thu
Presidents plea and importan
naval work is being interrupted. Blu
the National Defense Mediation
Board apparently knows of only on.
way to settle it-namely, to yielr
100 per cent to the demands of th'
union leaders and to penalize th'