Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-03-01
Strike Vote Proviso
Held Misunderstood
Record Shows Few Stoppages
Follow Threats, Says Writer y
BY Dapid Laurence

BY Dana Laurence
/ When John L. Lewis referred ironi-
cally the other day to the provision
of the Smith Connally Act which re-
quires that strike vote must be taken
before any strike is lawful, many critics
rushed to the conclusion that this
proved that the so-called cooling off"
period of 80 days was provocative
rather than preventive of strikes.
The actual record of strikes shows
that while many unions take strike
votes very few of them actually go
through with the threat, because they
find a way to adjust their grievances
or come to some settlement without
using this economic weapon.
Most surprising, however, is the wide
spread misunderstanding of the cool
ing-off" period requirement in the
strike vote proviso, because the same
principle really has been imbedded a
long time in the National Railway La
Dor Act.
Perhaps no other single piece of
legislation in the history of labor laws
Aldo pCNil do ouLCcoSiul LIE act JIldL
now governs the relations between
transportation carriers and their
unions
Danger in Suddenness.
The principal danger involved in a
strike is the suddenneSs with which
it is called, SO that hotheads really
are in control. Amy lapse of time.
whether for 80 days or go days, fur
nishes an opportunity for governmental
agencies and other processes of con-
Citation to intervene.
Thus in the Railway Labor Act oc-
ours the following paragraph:
Carriers and the representatives of
the employees shall give at least 80
days written notice of an intended
change affecting rates of pay, rules, or
working conditions, and the time and
place for conference between the rep
resentatives of the parties interested
in such intended changes shall be
agreed upon within 10 days after the
receipt of said notice, and said time
shall be within the 80 days provided
in the notice"
There is, of course, no exact parallel
in language in the Railway Labor Act
and the mith-Connally Law, but the
same effect is obtained in the follow
ing paragraph in the railway statute:
If dispute between carrier and
its employees be not adjusted under the
foregoing provisions of this act and
should, in the judgment of the Board
of Mediation, threaten substantially to
r interrupt interstate commerce to a de-
gree such as to deprive any section
| of the country of essential transporta-
ton service, the Board of Mediation
shall notify the President, who may
thereupon, in his discretion, create a
board to investigate and report re-
specting such dispute. -.
After the creation of such board
and for 80 days after such board has
made its report to the President, no
| change, except by agreement, shall be
! made by the parties to the contro-
versy in the conditions out of which
the dispute arose"
Right of the Individual
This has generally been taken to
mean that there can be, in the mean
time, no strike by order of the union
and yet the statute does not in any
way violate the right of an individual
to quit work. This is taken care Of
in the following paragraph:
Nothing in this act shall be con-
strued to require an individual en-
| ploye to render labor or service with
out his consent, nor shall anything in
| this act be construed IT, make the
! quitting of his labor or service by an
| individual employe an illegal act; nor
shall any court issue any process to
compel the performance by an indi-
vidual employe of such labor or serv-
ice, without his consent"
Thus it will be seen that while the
right of an individual to strike has
been preserved, the right of a union
to order a strike has been as practical
matter limited.
1t is true that there is some agita
ton when vote is taken nowadays
in industry and an atmosphere of fric-
ton is sometimes stimulated, but this
is relatively insignificant in comparison
with the state of apprehension caused
by the knowledge that at any moment,
day or night, some labor leader has
the right to order strike, especially
in wartime.
The history of the railroad labor law
shows that, while many strike votes
have been taken, there has not been
serious railroad strike in the United
States in many years.