Evening star., 1945-04-11
New Labor Charter
Urged to End Row
Observer SUGGESTS Leaders Draft
Code Without Ambisuities
Bv David Laurence

By David Laurence
Instead of charter or code to govern
management and labor relations In the
postwar period, the document drafted
by Eric Johnston Of the Chamber OF Com
merce of the United States and william
Green of the AFL and Philip Murray
of the CIO has succeeded only in start
ing a new controversy between two i'm
portant segments of management.
Whether Mr.. Johnston made pre-
mature release or whether he gave ex-
preston to his personal views or whether
Ira Mosher, president OF the National
Association of Manufacturers, did or did
not see the draft or have an oppor-
tunity to discuss it with his directors
before it was announced to the press,
are all beside the point.
The most important fact Is that
among management's leaders there is
today disagreement and dissension. A
code offered to the public as backed by
management which isn't in reality
backed by leaders of management is not
respect.
New Document Needed.
What ought to be done now, there
fore, is to have each of the management
groups appoint small committee to
meet with committees from the AFL
and the CIO, respectively, to draft a
charter or code of principles The docu-
ment already made public might serve
as starting point. Plainly If there
are antiquities in it, they ought to be
resolved before more controversies arise
out of the proposed code itself.
The real barriers to the writing OF a
charter are the antiquities in the laws
OF labor relations and the inevitable
confusion that arises between wartime
and peacetime procedures.
What some of the members of the
National Association of Manufacturers
say is that the Johnston-Gree Murray
charter would put management in a
straitJacket so far as amending existing
legislation is concerned 1t could be in
terpreted as barring any amendments
to the Wagner Act on the ground that
these are mere discouragements to the
collective bargaining process. Does an
amendment seek to nullify or interpret
the collective bargaining law? Ger
ta1nly code Of principles which insists
that every law is perfect and must
never be amended, even though it works
out ultimately to the disadvantage of
the public, is not good code
But nobody has submitted any proof
that such amendments would be consid-
cred necessarily destructive of the COL
lectlve bargaining process. Perhaps the
best way out is to concede that both
management and labor at all times have
a right to petition Congress to change
the labor laws and then try to get an
agreement on the principles behind the
changes needed. For one side to oppose
all changes and the other to insist on
what amounts to repeal in the g,lise of
change gets nowhere.
| What is vital is that the seeds Of dis
trust between management and labor
| should be removed. Abuses Of the COL
lective bargaining process can be cor
rected, but some impartial tribunal of
Government must be allowed to deal
with such abuses. At present the Ma.
tional Labor Relations Board may have
indubitable proof of the abuse by an
irresponsible unit of labor or its ON.
GERS of the collective bargaining pro-
cedures, but can do nothing about 1t.
Affirmative Approach.
There is an Affirmative approach to
this problem. Bargaining between man
agement and labor is not novel affair.
Negotiations have quite a background
OF history and experience behind them
and the National Labor Relations Board
ought to be empowered to deal with
abuses by either party. This would tend
to increase the sense of responsibility
OF both management and labor repre-
sentatives.
Despite the public discussion Of the
defects in the code offered by Messrs
Johnston. Green and Murray, one thing
has been achieved Public opinion has
focused on the need for code or char
ter to which the people as q whole can
give approval. This means that there
are many things which cannot be
reached by the statutes, but can be cor
rected by management and labor acting
together through organizations that CO.
operate at the national as we'll as the
local level.
For if there is no such cooperation,
friction can increase to the point where
chaotic conditions would merely bring
more and more legislative controls. Or
ganized labor has considerable political
influence, but it is today in some in
stances overreaching itself, Just as
management has done in the past.
The formulation of a code Of princi-
Piles that would have the wholehearted
support of the CIO, the AFI,, the Cham
ber of Commerce and the National As
sociation Of Manufacturers would be the
best award that could be made to the
men in the armed forces when they
come home.
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