The Wilmington morning star., 1945-09-26
By WESTBROOK PEGLER

VI u4oh1hS pcOpAe u1AAA.I
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1945, by King Features Syndicate J
| NEW YORK, Sept. 25-l recently asked a
republican whose business is labor relations
COUNSEL how he could manage to get along
in that strange new speciality in competition
with new dealers who were professional labor
takers in the Roosevelt government and then
got out to operate as trouble-shooters for in
dustry.
Even some Democrats concede that this is
the makings of racket directly comparable
to the system by which neighborhood gangs
ters sell protection to the merchants against
window ashing, stink-bombing and, in the
cleaning and dyeing business. the conceal.
ment of capsules of acid in valuable patches
of garments entrusted to their care.
His reply might be another lesson in your
education in a subject that ominously affects
| the lives, liberties and livelihood Of all law.
abiding Americans.
'Your suspicious could be well-founded," he
writes. Il have no positive knowledge of col
lusion or conspiracy in which the consultant
and his old union friends deliberately created
a condition in order to solve it - for fee.
Human nature being what it is, or worse. !
would not be surprised.''
| l am sorry to suspect that it is sometimes
worse. ! recall great liberal friend OF
labor who hoped out of his Washington Of
flee to town about two hours away where
union trouble was brewing, Knocked over a
few drinks with some old pals who were run
ming the uniion ''negotiated' a small raise and
charged the employer $45, ,oO0 for his ''coun-
sell" Going but step further he could have
telephoned his union friends to foment the dis
pute" in the first place in return for favors
he had shown them in the past I can't say
he did but, could be.
'In broader sense,' the labor relations
counsel adds, what you suspect is true. Many
of those who helped create the condition in
employ relations from which we
suffer are now living handsomely. Some have
come from government agencies dealing with
some aspect of labor, some from unions, some
from both
"A considerable number of employers have
hired such people as regular employees at
substantial salaries. Generally, l think they
have not worked out well, Mutual faith and
understanding have been hard to achieve.
Some have seemed to do what they were hir-
ed to do. for a while. They have avoided
strikes. / have suspected although I do not
know this to be fact, that they seemed to
succeed temporarily by the simple device of
giving away the management, piece by piece.
There will come a time when there will be
nothing to give away. When the extensively
deferred trouble comes. those of whom we
have been speaking will return whence they
came. 1t is still true, believe that you can't
work both sides of the street.
'This specialized counseling supports fair
number who earn their fees by their know
ledge of the real meaning of the laws and reg
ulations, the history and customs Of organiz-
ed labor the techniques Of organization and
negotiation, the elements and attitudes in a
contractural relationship which discourage and
minimize disputes and those which lead to
trouble, what management must have to sur
vive and what employees are entitled to.
"As rule, employers not qualified to
deal with the professionals whom the unions
send to negotiate They cannot be expected
| to be so qualified. They get themselves into
bad trouble being too tough or too soft or not
understanding the real meanings Of things
they do or say or agree to. They are as well
qualified as anyone to deal with human ele-
ments. There is nothing mysterious about hu-
man elements. But the technical complexities
make it 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 reason
able-sounding phrases in union contracts turn
out to have unsupported meanings when is
sues arise.
Il, personally, devote considerable time to
legislative matters because much of the trou-
BILE called labor disputes is artificial and has
its roots in Washington. 1t is the result of the
labor policy of the government or the lack Of
| putty ana the inconsistencies OF the govern
ment's attitudes. Labor relations legislation is
in fluid state despite efforts of the unions
and their political fronts to freeze the present
condition.
'The Wagner Act is not full expression
Of public policy
Those who proclaimed that organization
would diminish disputes were fools or liars
Everyone who knows anything about it knows
that increased organization leads inevitably to
more disputes and strikes That was especial
ly true OF industries that had been inorganic
3D. such as farm implements, automobiles
and STEEL
Il think soon there may be disposition in
Congress to review the results and the effort
will be made to work out a full public policy
The fault lies with the timid souls and the
unions kept men in the Senate The House
has shown more sense and courage
when some of the nervous Nellies on both
sides of the aisle in the Senate understand
that the public admires courage and that the
public interest is not Identical with the inter
est OF labor organizations, there will be eff
fective action
With this last hope disagree. The Senate
having no courage cannot understand courage
and is incapable of adniring honesty because
1t doesn't know what honesty is.