The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-01-01
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with me-"
That is the succinct prayer Of a
Chinese Christian which President
Roosevelt quoted to the Representa-
tives of labor and industry at the be-
ginning of their recent conference.
Seems to me it is about as an ap-
propriate wish for the new year of
1912 as can be conveyed In this critical
times. Rather than the traditional
happiness and prosperity" of which
we know there can be little in 1912,
we Americans need courage to bear
the bad news we must expect, and
strength for the heavy tasks ahead.
And, in the spirit of the Chinese
player, we can afford to worry less
about the mistakes of the other fellow
and the sacrifices we think he should
make, and examine critically our own
obligations in this struggle to preserve
and perpetuate liberty.
Outcome of the conference of labor
and industry leaders to work out
program for industrial peace for the
duration was disappointing to me and
believe to many men in Congress.
The So-called agreement, for mo
strikes or lockoutS, peaceful settle
ment of ALL disputes, and creation of
War Labor Board by the President"
sounds all right, but actually does not
do much more than state the goal to
be achieved, with no practical charting
of the way to reach it, which is what
the situation demands.
After ell, that agreement, in essence,
supposedly has been in effect since
the defense program was inaugurated,
if the announcements Of both labor
and industry organizations and the
establishment of the National Defense
Mediation Board mean anything, and
it fell far short of achieving the goal.
Perhaps the fact there has been an
actual declaration war viii make the
formula work better, but that Is a
large question mark
80
On one of the gravest issues before
the conference, the question Of whether
the closed or union shop should be
frozen as it now is for the duration,
there was no agreement. Labor con-
| tended the union shop demand should
be submitted to arbitration, with ell
recent history of government media
ton on the subject indicating that
labor would win this organizational
goal in major part of industry, If not
all of it. The industry conferees, on
the other hand, held that, as In World
War I, this organizational demand
should be dropped for the duration
and union shop conditions frozen where
they are and demands for new ones
not made subject to arbitration. The
issue is involved In the two words
GALL disputes with industry con-
ferees objecting to the "all". The
agreement" finally announced was nc
agreement at all on this vital issue
but simply an order from the President
to accept it.
That action of the Executives, Is
simply riding roughshod over the pos
ition of industry and supporting labor's
position 100 per cent, is not the kind
which fosters the voluntary co-opera-
ton we want and does not augur well
for future peace on the industrial
front.
It seems to me the failure of this
conference to reach a real agreement
makes it essential that Congress legis-
late. Congress can and should re-
solve the closed shop issue by either
freezing closed shop contracts where
they are for the duration or by some
other method.
If Congress should go along with the
idea that closed shop demands be
submitted to arbitration, which vio-
lates a long-standing precedent in
labor relations, then We can assume
on the past record Of government
agencies that growth of the closed
shop in all industries win be tremen-
dously accelerated.
That being the case, I believe 1t
would then be incumbent upon Congress
to pass legislation protecting individual
workmen and union members against
possible abuse by union leaders of the
tremendous power which closed shop
contracts of unions would then become
imperative.