Evening star., 1942-10-08
WpB Chiefs Laud
Labor-Management
Groups in War Effort
Lund and Nickerson
Discuss Problems Over
Stor Rodio Forum

Labor management committees
throughout the country were praised
bv two officials Of the War Produc-
ton Board over the National Radio
Forum last night as contributing
substantially to prosecution of the
war effort.
Wendell Lund, director Of the
Labor Production Division. and
John w. Nickerson, chief Of the
Management Consultant Branch.
discussed problems Of production in
the forum arranged by The Evening
Star and broadcast over Radio sta
ton WMAL and the Blue Network
Mr.. Lund declared the American
people had geared their determina-
ton to a successful prosecution OF
the war, regardless Of what sacrifices
may have to be made In manage.
ment or labor.
Does 1t Help War Effort.
To-day" he declared. "the Ameri-
can people are measuring every in
stitution, every technique, every idea
by one vital yardstick: Does it heir
the war effort?'"
President Roosevelt's recent to,r
OF the Nation found the morale of
the American people lis in fighting
TRIM" he continued. Our people
are ready to accept new things if
these new things can contribute to
the war effort. They are equally
ready to discard old practices and
old ideas-no matter how well thev
worked in the past-if those old
ways are not useful In the war effort
today"
Proof of this premise, Mr.. Lund
said, Is the new cooperation created
by labor and management through
labor-management committees.
Lauds Nelson's Record.
At the direction of President
Roosevelt, Donald M. Nelson, WPB
chairman, organized a production
drive that is bringing out the best
results of the Nations industrial
resources, the speaker said.
Through these committees, Mr.
Lund explained, labor and manage
ment meet on a common basis with
but one neutrality-suspicious. for
victory.
These committees, the speaker
pointed out, are not substitutes fol
collective bargaining and are not
used by management to displace
labor unions or to detract from thei,
standing or prestige.
Cites Worker Cooperation.
Citing several instances where
suggestions by workers materially
reduced working time for specific
operations, Mr.. Lund declared: "One
of the biggest contributions labor
management committees have &C
complished and must accomplish /.
in the solving OF our labor supply
Already we know that we face criti-
cal shortages In manpower anc
womanpower in the battle Of pro.
duction. "One way to solve thai
shortage is to get maximum effec.
tiveness from every worker. And the
best way to obtain that effectiveness.
is from the voluntary effort, the
initiative of the individual worker ir
trying harder and in seeking better
ways of doing the job. Labor man
agement committees can and viii
solve our manpower problem by
stimulating such effort and sugges'
ton and by determining what sug.
eestions are truly practical"
Mr.. Nickerson declared he hear.
tily agreed with Mr.. Lund in thu
statement that ''the American peo'
pie are today insisting on one thing
above all others here on the home
front-production and more produc'
ton of fighting tools needed by our
boys who are out there face to face
with the Japs and the Nazis."
Biggest Job in History.
"We're up against the biggest pro-
duction job in our history" sait
Mr.. Nickerson, "and we've got to d.
1t this time with limited man
power and carefully husbanded re
sources.
TT is right here that I believe tn.
techniques of labor management CO
operation for increased production
developed as a part of the war pro
duction drive come in"
Declaring there now were SOM
1900 labor management commit
tees in war production plants, mine
and mills, Mr.. Nickerson said he be
lieved in them because I've seel