The union times., 1945-11-03
On TheScene
 In Washington
By Travis K. Hedrick

There is a solid piece of advice in the letter to Pres. Harry s. Tru- man from the leaders of the AFL, CIO, Natl. Assn. of Manufacturers and U. s. Chamber of Commerce, cautiOning against expecting too much from the national labOr-man- agement conference starting Nov. 5.
 Called to hunt for a program to promote industrial peace, the con- ference includes all sections of or ganized labor, industry and man. agement representatives, and is faced with an agenda that is filled with ticklish problems.
 The letter to Truman contained this word of caution, "While it is probable that many important deci- sions will be made by this conference, 1t must be borne in mind that no con- ference can possibly completely clean the slate of all present and potential sources of friction in the highly com plicated American economy"
 ISSUE OF FOREMEN
 One of the difficulties will be sure to come in the second point in the agenda, which asks consideration of "the extent to which industrial dis putes can be minimized by full and genuine acceptance by organized la bor of the inherent right and respon- abilities of management to direct the operation of an enterprise"
 This is paraphrased in the naming of committee to deal with the sub ject and the official conference docu- ment lists its title as Arrangements Right to Manage"
 The bug in this, of course, is the organization of foremen and super visOrs. Both Pres. John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers and Pres. Philip Murray of the United SteelwOrkers are vitally interested in the organization of these super visory employees. Foremen affiliated with the UMW's District 50 recent ly returned to work after a strike that nearly paralyzed the soft coal industry-with promise from Lewis that he'd have a try at gain ing recognition for their union an- other day.
 Towering in the background of this tough issue is the Foremen's Assn. of America, an unaf6liated union that has hirted with both CIO and UNIV ito the concern of the NLRB, which would have to decide an embarrassing question should the NFA move into the UNIV and have a case come up of a UNIV foreman firing a CIO worker.
 PRICES S-WACES-PROFITS
 Another potential trouble spot in the same general line looms from la bor'S new demands to consider prices and profits in negotiating wage con- tracts. This is novel idea to most homogeneous and it has shocked Gen. eral Motors into hysterical silence. GM Pres. C. E. Wilson is manage ment delegate to the conference and is sure fire bet to bring up the sub ject as one that is none of labor's business.
 The CM executive is also due for a fight if he seeks to press his idea of scrapping the 40 hour week in order to increase take-home pay without digging into industry's pile of profits. Even Truman said he couldn't go along with Wilson on that one.
 All in all, the outlook for the conference. is none too bright, par ticularly if one side or the other feels the new Truman price-wage policy is too weak, or loaded for the opposite side of the table.
 The end result may be that the conference will dodge the dangerous conflicts, which will not serve the in- terests of industrial peace too well, either, and may invite Congressional action on some new anti-labor bills.
 Although the resignation of Harry H. Bennett from the Ford Motor Co.'s board after his re- moval as personnel director clears the air somewhat, Ford isn't going to straighten out and fly right. Bennett headed up the un. iOn-busting special service section for Ford and with his crowd of gun thugs being cleaned out, the company is replacing them with ex-FBI agents. So the difference is one of degree-a law school one.