Evening star., 1942-01-13


in what was David Lawrence.
termed an unauthorized strike"
No dispute existed between the own
ers of the commercial mines and the
c. I. O., but serious interruption
to the Nations fuel supply was ac-
complished.
A strange sequel to that episode
has just come to light. Although
the C. I. o. never officially or pub
licly admitted that it had brought
about the sympathetic strike in the
commercial mines, now, when the
employers seek to invoke the penalty
for unauthorized strikes. the c. I. O.
says the strike was authorized and
that their position was sustained by
an arbitration board appointed by
President Roosevelt.
Too often those who differ with
the labor union technique that
makes scraps of paper Of formal
contracts are charged with omitting
some extenuating circumstance. but
the record in this case is written
over the signature of the C. I. O.
national union executives in letters
to owners of the commercial mines.
1t says, first of all, that the So
called Appalachian agreement. signed
June 10. 1941, has in it protective
wage clause which gives the United
Mine Workers "the right to call and
maintain strikes throughout the en-
tire Appalachian area when neces-
sary to preserve and maintsin the
integrity and competitive parity of
the agreement"
Claims Notice Given.
Now it appears that the C. I. o.
claims it gave notice under date of
September 16, 194l, Of its intention
to invoke this clause. 1t will be re-
called that subsequent to September
is, the President intervened and the
captive issue was laid before the
National Defense Mediation Board.
At no time thereafter, when the sub
ject was taken up by q Government
mediation agency, was any cogni-
zarce taken Of a strike call alleged
to have been given to workers In
commercial mines. But the c. I. o.
says Of its notice Of September 16:
This constituted reasonable notice
by the international union. Later
the strike was approved by the Pol
Icy Committee of the international
union. Finally, our position was
tration appointed by the President
of the United States. Therefore. I
am requesting that the fines Illegally
assessed against our membership be
refunded without delay"
This is the type of evasion of re-
sponsibility which makes disinter-
ested persons lose confidence in the
forthrightness OF some labor union
heads today. It Is this sort of thing
which is losing friends for the labor
movement anG causing manage
ment to refuse to sit with the c. I.
o. in the making of production
plans wherein labor and manage
ment are supposed to share respon-
sibility.
Will the owners Of the commercial
mines accept he set Of claims put
up by the C. l. o. in its attempt to
conceal the fact that it authorized
a strike which at no time during the
period of the strike would it admit
having called And can Congress
sit by and see the closed shop or
union shop used to enforce this kind
of one-sided Interpretation of con-
tract with employers?
Criticized by New Dealer.
incidentally. the c. I. o. comes in
for a scathing denunciation by
Charles E. Wyzanski, jr., a New
Dealer who has just been confirmed
as United STATES district Judge for
Eastern Massachusetts. Mr.. Wy
zanski was one of the public men,
bers of the National Defense Me-
diation Board which refused to
grant the compulsory union shop In
the captive mine controversy. In a
speech delivered last night in Chi
cago. he said:
Il have no intention of reviewing
the coal dispute. But I may say
this: The problem there was COM
plicated by special facts. The ques-
ton at stake was whether a coal
miner should be required to join
union which or it's record had shown
irresponsibility by calling strikes in
a great emergency: which had col
lected large sums for political pur-
poses and activities having no rela-
ton to coal miring; which was pre-
pared to exercise a complete un-
regulated labor monopoly through
out the whole of the coal industry,
and which on the record showed no
need to have union shop to pre-
serve its existence. In denying the
unions demand for a union shop,
the board was governed to a large
extent by these special facts
It would seem that many special
facts" are just coming to light which
were not known during the coal
strike of last autumn.
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