Evening star., 1945-09-09
Reconversion Strikes


sponslble spokesmen for organized
labor have contended in the strong
est terms that there is an obligation
resting on the Government to pro-
vide unemployment compensation
which will adequately protect work.
ers who lose their jobs and who are
unable to find other suitable work
during the reconversion period.
This is a contention which rests
on the assumption that unemploy-
ment during the reconversion period
Will be by-product of the war, and
that there is, therefore, a peculiar
and special obligation resting on
the Government to make adequate
provision for displaced workers. AS
President Truman said in reference
to unemployment legislation in his
message to Congress, sit is an emer-
gency measure designed only
to meet the immediate pressing
human problems of reconversion."
And, as this message also stipulated
IN advocating more liberal benefits,
the expectation is that everything
humanity possible will be done to
speed up the process of reconversion
so that the country can get back
into full peacetime production as
quickly as possible and with as little
unemployment as possible.
Most people will agree with this
statement. In the best of circum-
stances, considerable measure of
unemployment cannot be avoided,
and there will be few to deny that
adequate provision should be made
for those who are unable to find
work during the period of tran
Sltlon. But this most assuredly i'm
plies a duty on the part of Or
ganlzed labor, as we'll as on all other
elements in the country, to refrain
from anything which would un-
necessarily prolong the period of re-
conversion and thereby contribute
to more extensive unemployment
over a needlessly long period of
time.
How are the responsible leaders
OF organized labor meeting this
situation? AS of yesterday there
were some 10000 men on strike
throughout the country. Some of
these strikes, particularly in the De-
trolt area, have shut down impor-
tant plants which had been exert
Ing every effort to get into full-scale
peacetime production, with all that
that would mean in the way of new
jobs. William Green, president of
the American Federation of Labor.
has said that he could not accept
President Truman's request for
continuation of the no-strike
pledge, promising only to try to work
out some understanding with man
agement to minimize strikes. Ger
tain of the big CIO unions have
taken similar stands, and through
out the country there is an ominous
upward movement in the strike
trend
1t would be futile to urge that
there should be no strikes during
reconversion, for some are inevi-
table. But there can be no doubt
that responsible labor leaders
should be making every effort to
hold reconversion strikes to an alb
solute minimum, and as yet there is
no evidence that such an effort is
being made. Yet the logic of the
matter is clear. If they propose to
insist that the Government-and
that means the American people as
a whole-is obligated to provide
adequate unemployment compen-
sation during this period, they
ought to accept their obligation to
do everything in their power to
shorten the period in which unem-
ployment is inevitable. And to the
extent that strikes over relatively
unimportant issues are permitted to
retard and cripple the process of
reconversion, labor is asking the
people to meet their obligation while
ofo &c