The union times. (New Haven, Conn.) 1941-1948, 1944-02-12
Voorhis, Delaney
In Sharp Dissent

0OAASA O0OAAAssA AAOW0AO w
Smith { Dem, Va.), one of the
most vicious foes of labor i'm
the House, wound up another
s'smear" probe this week with
a report to Congress which
SHIPPED at the National War
Labor Board and called for
new shackling legislation.
The report is the result of a
long investigation conducted by
Smith, as chairman of a House
committee to investigate execu-
tive agencies, during which he
sought to get" something on the
board as a basis for clipping its
powers.
Smith induced four other mem
bers of the committee, all of them
reactiOnaries, to sign the report.
They are Congressman Hugh Peter
son (Dem., Ca.) Fred A. Hartley.
yr. (Rep., N. j.; John Jennings,
yr. (Rep., Tenn.), and Clare E.
Hoffman (Rep., Mich.).
Two other committee members
jerry Voohis (Dem., Calif.) and
John ]. Delaney (Dem., N. W
entered a blistering dissent, in
which they charged that if Smith
put over his scheme the war effor,
would suffer seriously.
Smith leveled FIVE charges against
the board. He said that it fixed wages
without regard to the ability of an
employer; made retroactive wage
awards, without authority; compelled
bosses to sign contracts with unions
against their will violated the law by
granting union security" through
maintenance of membership" awards,
and went beyond its jurisdiction in
handling all types of disputes.
Significantly, to support his
accusations, Smith had to fall back
upon testimony given by some of
the most bitter anti-labor corpora
tions in the nation, including Mont
gomery-Ward, which have been
moro concerned with warning
against unions than against Hitler.
Voorhis and Delaney not only
riddled every charge made by
Smith and his associates, but
warned gravely that If the proposed
legislation went through the board
would be paralyzed and become "a
useless and Intellectual piece of ma.
chinery."
The United States would then be
deprived, in the midst of this war, of
any effective machinery for bringing
about the settlement of labor disputes
they declared.
'sThe chaos that would result
is something this country simply
could not stand in the face of this
war;"
In awarding wage increases, or re-
troactive pay, the board complied
fully, the Congressman said, with the
law and with established practice in
industry. AS matter of fact, most
employers, far from resisting WL.B.
wage decisions, have usually urged
the board to grant more than it said
it could give under the law
The two solOns reserved most of
their ammunition to lombard
Smiths key objective - that of
stripping the board of power TO
make maintenance of member
ship" awards, under which workers
who voluntarily join unions must
remain in good standing for the life
of the contract that a union makes
with an employer.
Smith sought to picture such
"union security as a form of
Sclosed shop and declared it is
prohibited by the repressive Smith
Conally law.
"A great deal of transformation has
been spread as to just what the War
Labor Boards maintenance of men,
bership formula provides" Voorhis
and Delaney emphasized. 1T has no
relation to the closed shop, for there
is no interference with workers who
are not members of the unions, nor
with the employers freedom to hire
anyone he chooses"
In reply to Smiths claim that
maintenance of membership
awards are barred by the Smith
Connally law, the two solons
pointed out that Smith had tried
i'm the House TO tack ON an amend
ment specifically forbidding such
awards, but was beaten by an over
whelming vote.
AS for the boards requirement that
its decisions must be incorporated
into signed agreements, that's no more
compulsory on bosses than on unions,
they stressed.