Evening star., 1942-11-20
NLRb Accuses Three
Kaiser 5hipyards Of
Illegal AFt Contracts
Boord Orders Hearings
On Closed Shop Poets
At Portland Dec. Ia
By the. Associated Press,

oy tne AASOCiAteu FSHkA.
The National Labor Relations
Board has accused three Pacific
Coast shipyards operated by Henry
j. Kaiser of making Illegal closed
shop contracts with AFL unions and
otherwise Illegally aiding them to
the exclusion Of the CIO.
The board ordered hearings to
begin at Portland Greg, December
IA. If the charges are sustained,
the contracts will be invalidated and
the way opened for election of a
collective bargaining agent by
secret ballot.
The boards action spotlighted one
OF the. bitterest phases of the juris-
dictional warfare between AFL and
CIO unions. AFL leaders antici-
pated the complaint more than a
month ago, when officers of the
Metal Trades Union at the AFL
convention in Toronto denounced
the NLRB for what they termed
interference with the war produc-
ton program on the West Coast.
Acknowledge AFL Protests.
Board Chairman H. A. Mills in
ferentially acknowledged AFL pro-
testations through the unusual
procedure of issuing a statement
along with the routine announce
ment of the complaint.
Mr.. Mills said the complaint and
hearings were intended to investi-.
gate the charges that the companies
and AFL unions have entered into
illegal contracts, which have had
the effect Of interfering with pro-
duction of vital war materials and
the misuse of available local man.
power. These contracts are alleged
to have resulted in the discrimina :.
tory discharge Of at least TOO known
employees and to have led to the
discriminatory refusal of the COM
panies to hire many others unless
they joined the AFL unions or
received a work permit from one
Of them.
Cites Lack of Employees.
"The alleged illegality Of these con-
tracts, which make membership in
the AFL unions a condition of en-
ployment, arises from the fact that
they were made at a time when, in
one instance, the companies had no
employees In (one) shipyard and
only 66 employees in another, when
1t was known that within six months,
more than 10000 employees would be
on the payroll Under the National
Labor Relations Act, contracts max
ing membership in a union a con-
dltlon of employment are illegal un-
less they are entered into by a union
which has been designated by at
least a majority of employees as their
bargaining agent"
The companies named in the
complaint. brought by the CIO Ma
rine and Shipbuilding Workers are
Kaiser Co., Inc, with yards at
Vancouver. Wash. and Swan Island,
Portland, Greg, and Oregon Ship
building Corp, Portland.
The complaint alleged the Kaiser
Co. had no employees at Swan Island
and only 1911 at Vancouver when
1t entered the closed shop agree
ment last April with 16 AFL unions
In the case of the Oregon Shipbuild-
ing Corp, the agreement was en-
tered into in May, 1941. when ap-
proximately 66 employees were at
work, the complaint alleged
1t was further charged that Ore
gon Shipbuilding discriminatory
discharged 554 employees and the
Kaiser Co. at least 147 and that both
refused to reinstate or re-employ
most of them, and refused to en-
ploy any person who was not an
AFL member, and did not have a
work permit card from one Of the
AFL unions.