Detroit evening times., 1945-09-27
WESTBROOK
PEGLER
Fairr'
Enough

7 RECENTLY asked a Repub-
i lican whose business is labor
relations counsel" how he could
manage TO get along in that
strange new speciality in compe-
tition with New Dealers who
were professional labor takers
in the Roosevelt government
and then got out to operate as
trouble-shooters for industry.
Even some Democrats con-
cede that this is the makings OF
a racket directly comparable TO
the system by which neighbor-
hood gangsters sell protection"
His reply might be another
lesson in your education in a
subject that ominously affects
the lives, liberties and liveli-
hood of all law-abiding Ameri-
cans.
"Your suspicious could be
well-founded," he writes. II
have no positive knowledge Of
cOllusion or conspiracy In which
the consultant and his old union
friends deliberately created q
condition In order to solve it
for fee. Human nature being
what Ii is, or worse, I would
not be surprised"
lam sorry to suspect that IL
i is sometimes worse. ] recall
a great liberal" friend of labor
who hoped out of his Washing
ton office TO town about two
hours away where union trouble
was brewing. knocked over a
few drinks with some old pals
who were running the union.
negotiated" a small raise and
charged the employer $4,000
for his counsel"
Going but a step further. he
could have telephoned his union
friends 10 foment the dispute"
in the first place in return for
favors he had shown them IN
the past. / can't say he did but
could be.
I'm n broader sense" the la
bor relations counsel adds,
what you suspect IL true.
Many Of those who helped cre-
ate the condition In employer
employe relations from which
We suffer are now living hand
-someiy.- Some have come from
government agencies dealing
with some aspect of labor, some
from unions. some from both.
- CONSIDERABLE number
"A Of employers have hired
such people as regular employees
at substantial salaries. Gener-
ally. think, they have not
worked out well. Mutual faith
and understanding have been
hard tn achieve. Some have
seemed 10 do what they were
hired 10 do, for "A while. They
have avoided strikes. have
suspected, although do not
know this 10 he a fact, that
they seemed to succeed tenn
pOrarily by the simple device Of
giving away the management,
piece by piece. There will come
time when there will be moth
Ing To give away. When the eN-
pensively eferred trouble
comes, those Of whom we have
been speaking will return
whence they came. IL Is still
true, believe. that you can't
work both sides OF the street.
As a rule, employers are not
qualified to deal with the pro-
fessionals whom the unions send
10 negotiate They cannot he
expected 10 be so qualified.
They get themselves into bad
trouble being too tough or too
soft or not understanding tho
real meanings of things they do
OF say or agree 10. They are a.
well qualified as anyone 10 deal
with human elements. There IL
nothing mysterious about hui
man elements.
But the technical complex
ties make 1t easy TO trap an
employer who has not devoted
To the study OF the. subject
more time than most men with
wide responsibilities can afford.
Some very innocent and rea-
sonable-soundinL phrase In
union contracts turn out to
have unsuspected meanings
when issues arise.
81 PERSONALLY, devote
considerable time to legis-
lative matters because much Of
the trouble call, labor dis
putes IN artificial and has It's
roots In Washington. II IL the
result of the labor policy Of
the government or the lack Of
n policy and the Inconsistencies
OF the governments attitudes.
Labor relations legislation Is in
n fluid state despite efforts Of
the unions and their political
fronts to 'reeze the present
condition.
THE Wagner act Is not full
expression Of public policy.
Those who proclaimed that
organization would diminish dis
putes were fools or liars. Every
one who knows anything about
II knows that increased organ
ization inevitably leads to moro
disputes and strikes. That was
especially true of industries that
had been unOrganized, such as
farm implements, automobiles
and steel.
Il think soon there may be n