Evening star., 1943-08-19
Strikers Take Notice

Strikers Take Notice
The capacity of the War Labor
Board to enforce its orders, chal-
lenged in several recent cases, should
be materially increased as result OF
the latest executive order issued by
the President.
It became necessary for the board
to strengthen It's enforcement arm
after its authority had been flouted
by John L. Lewis in the coal case.
There are those who contend that
Mr.. Lewis is not defying the order
Of the board. and in narrow tech
nical sense this may be true. The
fact remains, however, that Mr..
Lewis has prevailed upon the miners
to return to work under a truce"
extending to the end Of October, and
even this working arrangement is
subject to termination by the mine
leader If the Government returns the
mines to private operation. BY no
stretch Of the imagination can it be
said that these conditions imposed
by Mr.. Lewis are compatible with the
intent OF the boards order, and it
can hardly be doubted that it is this
successful defiance by the president
OF the mine workers which has en-
couraged several employers to EMU
late him in challenging the ability of
the board to enforce orders which
are distasteful to them.
Faced with this serious condition,
the board appealed to the President
for help, and the language Of his
executive order conveys the impress
sion that Mr.. Roosevelt is standing
squarely behind his wartime labor
relations agency.
The order, in his application to
noncomplying employers, is very
drastic. Mr.. Roosevelt retains to him
self the power to take over the plants
OF employers who refuse to obey
the boards orders. But the board
now is empowered to call upon the
Director Of Economic Sterilization to
impose indirect economic sanctions
on recalcitrant industrialists. In
cluded among these sanctions are
the revocation of war contracts, the
Withholding OF essential materials
and the denial Of access to trans
portation and fuel. On the face of
the matter it seems evident that,
henceforth, no employer can hope
to defy the board without being
promptly driven out Of business.
The penalties provided in the case
OF union noncompliance are less
drastic, but they are significant to
the extent that they mark a definite
stiffening Of the Presidents attitude
toward violators of the no-strike
pledge. A rather mild sanction Is
provided in the form of an authoriza-
ton to withhold union dues checked
OF in a plant under Government
operation. The coercive effect Of this
provision is largely vitiated, however,
by the requirement that the dues be
held in escrow for the union, to be
delivered to it upon compliance with
the boards orders.
1t is in the final paragraph of the
executive order that one finds the
more effective sanctions which now
may be invoked against strikers
Under the language of this para
graph the Director of Economic Sta
bilization may be called upon to seek
the cancellation of draft deferment
OF strikers, or their employment
privileges, or both. In effect, this
latter provision, If enforced with
determination, might well amount to
q Government blacklist of striking
war workers. And this can be done
without taking the plant away from
the employer. The mere existence Of
this provision should prove extremely
helpful in discouraging wildcat
strikes, and If 1t should be enforced
In a few instances the probabilities
are that this form Of production
stoppage would soon be reduced to
q minimum. The irresponsible work
man may be expected to hesitate
before leaving his job if he is made
to understand that the Government,
for the duration of the war, intends
to see to 1t that he is denied employ
snent elsewhere.