The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1943-12-02
LABOR FREE OR FORCED?

TF AMERICAN labor had made determined
stand against the ''job-freeZng edict OF the war
Manpower Commission, it would probably not now
be confronted with the attempt to introduce
slavery which is imbodied in the AuStln-WadS-
worth labor draft bill. For governmental en-
croachment on the liberties of the people is pro
gressive and the time to stop it is IN the begin
ming The iob-freeZing order which has the
same legal force as if it had been passed by Con-
gress-n effect suspended the Thirteenth Amend
ment to the Federal Constitution, by enabling en-
ployers to penalize workers in war industry who
want to quit their Jobs through Withholding the
Certificates Of availability" without when Ihey
cannot take other employment for period Of
sixty days.
This is certainly form OF involuntary serVI-
tude for there are few workers who can forego
two months wages without great hardship The
regulation encourages q caprcouS ana aiDtfaly
use by employers Of their right to detaln WORKERS.
And workers right Of appeal to the War Man
power Commission from an employers adverse
decision is little protection; for he is likely to have
lost several weeks by the time the decision IS re-
versed. In other words; the WORKER not the en-
ployer pays the penalty if the Commission IndS
that the employer has violated It's rules.
The job-freezmg order IS not only unc0nSt-
tutional, but its effect ON the war effort is pre-
A cisely the opposite OF that Intended; 1t enables
employers to hoard labor in period OF acute labor
shortage 1t involves q loss OF sixty days work
in the case Of every worker who leaves his JOB
without a certificate of availability. And it re
duceS the efficiency or workers Us any form Oh
coercion ineyitabIe reduces efficiency.
There is only one effective remedy for this
situation, and that is not as the advocates OF
RECOMMENDATION would have it, the substitution OF
complete slavery for the modified slavery OF the
Job freeze The remedy is for both the admins
tratve and legislative branches Of the government
to respect the Constitutional safeguards of free
dom and through equitable measures of wage and
price control, to protect the working population
from undue hardship and oppression masked as
wartime necessity. In other works, the remedy
lies in a loyal effort by government to retain
through Justice the WhoehcaIted voluntary CO.
operation which labor has accorded it through
patriotism.
Over-zealous burcaucrats and Tcactionary
legislators might do worst than to study IN this
connection the record Of organized labor in raising
funds for community and war relief. Until the
AFI. entered the relief field through the Labor
League for Human Rights, employers had usually
levied contributions their workers, sent them
in and taken the credit for them. The natural
result Of this procedure was that labor regarded
the evies as forced and were either indifferent or
hostile But when the League offered them pro
gram of participation in the humanitarian work
of war and home relief on equal terms with other
groups in the community, they responded with an
enthusiasm and generosity which surpassed all
expectations
Need we point the moral? The facts are there.
They speak for themselves