Evening star., 1944-05-09
Ward Workers Vofinu
On Issue Of ALLOWING
Clio 10 Act for Them
By the Associated Press.

wv ~ All lVI IItEIII
By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, May s.-Whether
employees at Montgomery Ward
81 Co. want CIO union to rep
resent them in collective bar
gaining-a basic issue in a labor
dispute which led to Federal
seizure of the mail-order house
was being answered today as
workers voted on the proposal.
Approximately 5000 employees
were eligible to vote in the election,
ordered by and under supervision
OF the National Labor Relations
Board, with balloting to continue
from $50 am. to 7 pm, Central
war time. Results will be disclosed
by the NLRB tonight, on the eve
of the decision in the court fight
being waged by the company and
the Government over seizure of the
Chicago properties.
Federal Judge William II. Holly
is scheduled to rule tomorrow in
the Government injunction pro-
ceedings, a decision which is being
widely watched as test of the
Presidents wartime powers in labor
disputes.
Government Files Another Brief.
The Federal Court issue is on
the Governments petition for an
injunction to restrain Ward execu-
tives from interfering with Federal
operation of the plants and COM
pany motion to dissolve the Pc
tition. Yesterday the Government
filed an additional brief in support
of the Federal seizure. contending
that "if the Presidents power is
now struck down, labor will know
that peaceful settlements cannot
be enforced"
The properties were seized, with
the aid of Federal troops, on April
26, following the companys refusal
to obey War Labor Board order
to extend an expired contract with
the CIO union pending an election
to determine the collective bargain
ing agent. The company claimed
the union, United Mail Order, Ware
house and Retail Employees, no
longer represented a majority.
Both the company and union
have observers at the II polling
places in the Ward buildings. The
company, in newspaper advertise
ments, urged all employees to vote,
while the union, in advertisements |
urged the workers to vote .yes" on
the question of union representation
Units Voting Separately.
The ballot contains two spaces for
marking an TX" to signify the |
voters ''yes" or mo" to the question
of whether he wishes to be repre-
sented for purposes of collective
bargaining" by the CIO union.
" The election has been split into
two divisions. Voting in unit / are
employees Of Schwinn Warehouse,
the mail order house and the retail
store. Voting in unit 2 are employees
Of the Photographic department,
maintenance men, electricians, por-
ters, engineers, various repairmen,
painters and others. The vote in
each unit will be binding only orr
employees of that unit.
Eligible to vote are men and wom-
en- who were employed during the
April 1929 period and part-time
workers who have worked at least
20 hours week for a 10-week Pc
riod up to and including April "a. |
The NLEB ruled that eligible en-
ployes now in the armed forces can
vote IL they appear in person. I'll
also ruled that no employees should
be declared ineligible If they did not
work between April II and April 26.
During that time CIO unionists
were on a strike, but they returned
at the request of President Roose-
welt. The Illinois Labor Depart
ment yesterday denied the strikers
unemployment compensation for the
time they were out.
Gov. Dwight H. Green of Illinois
declared yesterday that Federal
seizure of Montgomery Ward was an
act OF the administration which |
aims at totalitarianism."
Returning from an Arizona vaca-
ton, the Governor made his first |
comment on the Ward case.
The New Deal has planned all
along to bring about a centralized
totalitarian form of Government"
he said. What was done in the
Ward caSe-Sendinp in troons IN
seize retail store and carry out the
chairman-follows the pattern
which has been becoming more evi-
dent. -
When bureaucrats refuse to use
the courts to settle disputes, prefer
ring armed force, nothing in our
country is safe. That is, it won't be
safe until the voters have turned
out of office the men who would
make a mockery of our constitu-
tional rights and protection"