The Wilmington morning star., 1943-03-11
Kaiser Production Dow11
Because OfLabor Mixup

the A. F. OF L. peacemakers
thought it was to mean, the A. F.
of L. Executive Council was forced
to instruct its peace committee to
seek a new agreement with CTO
preventing "raiding' of establish
ed unions At the insistence Of the
Metal Trades Unions, the Execu-
tive Council also sent a telegram
of protest to President Roosevelt,
urging him to use his powers as
Commanderin-Chief to stop tn e
perfect cooperative relationship
which has been established be-
tween Labor and Management at
the Kaiser Shipbuilding company
plants Nothing happened in
either case.
The CIO wasn't interested in
further discussions. The National
Labor Relations Board went right
ahead with its hearings on CIO
protests of unfair labor practices
in the Kaiser yards. And the CIO
now has 18 similar protests filed
with the NLRB against shipyards
having A. F. of L. contracts.
The legal rights under which
the CIO organizers take shelter is
the National Labor Relations Act
of 1895, commonly referred to as
the Wagner Act, which declares
in Section 7:
Employees shall have the right
to reorganization, to form, join,
or assist labor organizations, to
bargain collectively through repre-
sentatives of their own choosing,
and to engage in concerted activi-
ties, for the purpose of collective
bargaining or other mutual aid or
protection
If this section is interpreted to
mean that labor unions shall have
the right to raid each other for
members, instead of stabilizing la
Dor conditions, the net effect will
be to guarantee continued disrup-
ton and leave employers with no
assurance whatever that when they
sign contract with one union it
Will continue in force for the pc
riod specified or be worth the pa
per on which it is written.
In Washington, this situation
raises again the question of i'm
mediate revision of the Wagner
Act to make it cover jurisdictional
rows between unions and to meet
wartime conditionse. New de-
mands for revision of the Wagner
Act would be based on the grounds
that the labor situation in the Unit
/ ed States has SO changed that it
is necessary to bring the law and
its administration up to date.
When the Wagner Act was
passed in 1885, there was only one
major labor organization, the
American Federation Of Labor.
The act sought to protect laboring
men in their rights to organize In
unions of their own choosing. En-
phasis was placed on the unfair
labor practices of employers, chief
of which was then considered the
company union"
H Now the company union" has
been virtually wiped out, but in
stead of one dominant A. F. of L.,
there are now two major groups,
with the CIO fighting A. F. of l..
for supremacy And since organ
| ization Of CIO-which was orig
| inally composed of 10 industrial
| unions under leadership of John
Lewis, and expelled from the
II A. F.: of. L.-CIO itself was split
in 1941 by the withdrawal OF Lewis
and the United Mine Workers OF
America. Hence, there are In re-
ality three rival labor groups-not
counting the affiliated railway
brotherhoods and the Independent
unions.
Out. of this A. F. of L., CIO and
u. M. w. rivalry and internal
strife has grown complex, hy-
dra-headed political-labor situation
which was, in no way envisaged at
the time the Wagner Act was pass
ed. Labor leaders are jealous Of
each other and suspicious. They
have been drawn together some.
what by the war emergency; they
serve on joint committees with
representative from government
| management and the public. But
four major attempts to bring the
rival groups together-the last be-
ing the peace committee meeting
of Dec. 2-have failed, and there
is nothing in the Wagner Act te
bring them together or restore sta
bility to labor conditions.
Copyright, 1943, NEA Service, Ind