Evening star., 1942-05-07

rolls. just as the David Lawrence.
Government itself collects payroll
taxes, means an assurance of finan-
cial stability to the unions that they
could not possibly achieve by their
own efforts.
This alliance of the administra-
tion and the office-holding execu-
tives of the unions and the or
ganizers, who also benefit financially
by the virtual guarantee of income
by the Government, cannot fail to
be reflected in the political lineup.
Maintenance of memberships for the
unions means maintenance of New
Deal votes.
Attorney General Biddle sees
nothing wrong in an alliance be-
tween the labor unions and the
Government in politics and has said
so in his public speeches, and 1t may
be assumed that he is speaking in
behalf of the New Deal.
Synchronized Attacks.
The alliance is, of course, operat-
Ing In other directions, too. There
seems to be synchronization OF
attacks from the administration on
business concerns at the very time
that important labor union demands
are being made on the same cor
porations.
Thus at time when the War La
Dor Board is examining demands
from the United Automobile Work
ers. q public smear against General
Motors corp. or a whole is issued by
the War Production Board. The
corporation. in the period of con-
fusion last January when auto pro-
duction was being curtailed and
stopped. was guilty OF technical vio-
lations in q small part Of its opera
ton. But the incident Is being used
to attack the attitude of the General
Motors Corp. as a whole.
Thus when r. j. Thomas and Wal
ter p. Reutfler of the Auto Workers
Union found the General Motors
Corp was not ready to accept their
demand for continued payment Of
double time on Sundays and hoi-
dayS-something, incidentally, which
has been declared taboo by President
Roosevelt-the union 6ficials issued
a blast, as follows:
"Only q few days ago General
Motors was found guilty of defying
the War Production Board by using
critical war materials to manu-
facture passenger car parts. We do
not understand how General Motors
gets the idea it is above the Govern
ment Of the United States"
Certainly this Is strange way to
describe the refusal of a company
to accept = demand which In. itself
is out of harmony with the Presi-
dents own pronouncement against
double time. Certainly the sudden
series of attacks on large corpora
tions for minor and technical viola
tions creates suspicion that there
Is an effort under way to force all
the big companies to accept the de-
mands Of the labor politicians or
suffer attacks from governmental
agencies interested In fostering the
labor union Government alliance.
Court Test Possible.
The War Labor Boards power to
compel maintenance Of membership
In unions may soon be questioned
IN the courts by the Inland Steel Co.
Reports are current that injunctions
may be sought on the ground that
maintenance Of membership pro-
posals put into employer contracts
under duress contradict provisions
Of the Wagner Act. which declares
that such agreements discriminating
between workers must be voluntary
to be lawful.
The War Labor Board has been
blazing q trail on union issues In
more ways than one. The board
recently introduced shivers of ap-
prehension into industrial establish
ments by its support of the check
Of" Of union dues. The board ruled
that "in view Of the fact that the
company has made voluntary dues
deductions for purposes other than
social security taxes as required by
law" the checkoff must be granted
BY the employer. It so happened
that the company in question once
checked of 10 cents a week for a
sn~tal rI,Ih N, one Of its pIantS Does