Evening star., 1942-03-12

of American in David Lawrence.
dustry. who have learned the hard
way how to get production, must
now take lessons from workers
committees selected in the usual de-
vious ways of labor politics.
Mr.. Nelson did not avail himself
Of the opportunity he had in his
radio broadcast to explain why his
labor management committees must
be confined to representatives OF
unions and why the union must be
the unit for conference instead OF
men chosen for their skill and
knowledge Of production. He has
not explained either why the Muir
ray council plans espoused by the
C. 10. and which were plainly a
well-planned effort to usurp the
MANAGEMENT function, are now be-
ing spoken Of publicly by Mr. Muir
ray himself as the same thing as
Mr.. Nelson's proposal. The c. I. O..
Is tremendously enthusiastic be-
cause 1t has taken Mr.. Nelson in
camp.
Intense Pressure Seen.
There was much applause when
Mr.. Nelson was chosen as produc-
ton chief. 1t was assumed that he
would steer clear Of labor politics
and New Deal politics. But events
since then indicate that pressure
by New Dealers must be intense to
give the labor movement the oppor-
tunity to exploit the war to its own
advantage despite public protesta-
tions to the contrary.
The plan which Mr.. Nelson has
announced calls basically for in
creased production by labor-man-
agement committees. This in itself
is unobjectionable. In fact, it has
always been the custom OF enlight-
ened managements to give workers
O chance to help speed production.
But there is no reason to suppose
that the man who has been engaged
in labor union politics is necessarily
best equipped from technical view
point to sit down with manage
ment and discuss production sched-
ules and speed-ups. Yet this is
what Mr.. Nelson demands. Here,
for instance, is a quotation from
a tentative draft of book Of in
structions to be distributed shortly
to employers throughout the coun-
try engaged in defense work:
"A Government official has been
instructed Ito call together proper
representatives Of labor and man
agement in the plant to establish
q Joint committee to direct the pro-
duction drive in your plant. He
has been instructed to make sure
that this joint committee truly rep
resents both management and labor
and that this committees function
be made permanent for the duration
Of the war. He has been instructed
to see to 1t that in those plants or
departments where the workers be-
long to a labor organization the
union representatives will consti-
tute the labor half Of the joint COM
mittee"
Raises Series Of Questions.
How will the Government official
70 about the task Of making sure
that this joint committee truly
represents" both management and
labor7 Does this mean there must
be an election, that minority opin-
Ion will be disregarded. that labor
union politics is to be tied in with
regulation Of output, as the C. I. o.
has clamored for the last two years
TO accomplish by means Of SLOW
down" tactics? And what of the
situation In plants that are not
unionized? Are the Government
officials" to start encouraging union
ism?
From what group. 1t may be asked,
will the Government representatives
be chosen? The answer is from
Sidney Hillman's division inside the
War Production Board. And that
group, be 1t known, consists of A. F.
l. and c. I. o. men who get paid by
the Government and by their unions,
too. A group of management men
also operates as part of the staff
but the top executives of the whole
division are strong trade unionists
who believe the independent union
must be squelched at all costs.
Labor's Golden Opportunity"
Already it has been decided to
send two Government men to the
plants-one a union man and the
other a management representative.
Just why labor union politics has to
be dragged into the matter of patri-
otically urging production is difficult
to see. Mr.. Nelson may think this is
an innocent plan to arouse produc-
ton morale. The C. I. o. and A. F.
L. spokesmen hail it as q golden
opportunity. President Murray of
the C. I. o. in his broadcast speech
earlier this week said:
1--WE take courage and renewed
inspiration from the fact that our
production chief Is now urging steps
which we have long advocated. The