The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-04-27

For long time, frank, friend
ly and cooperative attitude existed
between the tire wings of the
War Labor Board, representing
industry, the public and labor.
Roger Lapham, head Of the Amer
ican-Hawaiian Steamship COM
and George Mead, head of the
Mead Corporation, paper company
of Dayton, Ohio, werer especially
cooperative. But now Lapham has
has lefto be Mayor of San Fran
cisco, while Mead has been yir-
tually shuntad off the board as
result of wire-pulling from the U.
S. Chamber and the National
Manufacturers association.
These two organizations have
decided to dominate the industry
members OH the War Labor Board.
Fred Crawford, former president
of the Manufacturers Association,
whose Thompson Products, Inc,
of Cleveland has a reactionary la
Dor record, has now organized a
joint committee of the NAM and
U. S. Chamber.
This committee is for the pur-
pose of virtually instructing
WLB industry members how to
vote. In other words, industry
members no longer are to decide
an issue as they see it, but as
the joint committee of the U. S.
Chamber and the Manufacturers
Association sees it.
In addition, the joint committee
has appointed William Frew Long
as executive assistant to WLB in
dustry members. The industry
members have a tight to keep all
executive assistant or the payroll,
at Government expense, but the
significant thing about Long is
that he has a labor-baiting rec
ord which takes up almost a vol
ume in the LaFollette report.
According to the LaTcllette in
vestigation, Long was ore of toe
chief hatchCv men for anti-labor
industries IA Ohio. So tn gov
eminent has now refused to put
Long on the payroll. Thus, he is
serving WLB industry members
without taking the oath of office
and, in a strict sense, illegally.
QUESTION OF UNION
MEMBERSHIP
AS a result of all this tension
between industry members on one
side and public-labor members on
the other has steadily increased.
1t reached a boiling point re-
Gently over the question of the
maintenance of membership
clause in labor contracts.
This is a compromise whereby
employers agree that, if worker
joins the union, he must remain
in the union for the period of the
labor contract, of one year. How
ever, there is nothing to compel
him to join the union. He may
work indefinitely as a non-union
man, and he is even given two
weeks to resign from the union
before the union maintenance"
agreement takes effect.
Previously, industry WLB mem
bers have voted for this as fair
wartime compromise. But re-
Gently a hot fight has developed
over the case Of the Humble Oil
company, subsidiary of Stand
ard of New Jersey. And for the
first time, industry members
have deviated from their previous
desire to cooperate with labor on
union maintenance.
This time, obviously acting ON
instructions from the new joint
committee Of the Manufactures
Association and the U. s. Cham
Der, the industry members have
prepared a blistering minority
report urging Humble Oil to
defy the War Labor Board and
60 to court. Their minority de-
cisiOn hasn't been made public
yet. But unless they change
their minds, the WLB will be
pretty much in open warfare
when 1t is.
NOTE: Considered significant is
the fact that James Tanham.