Evening star., 1946-05-02
Coal Strike Neurino
Climax, Says Writer

Cllmux, Says Writer
Government Seizure of Mines
Still Possibility, He Holds
By David Laurence
The coal strike is nearing climax.
For month the two sides have been
drifting along. Each has been placing
the responsibility on the other and .
United States Cancellation Service rep
resentative says neither side had budged
in a month of negotiations.
But the truth Is both sides know that,
as the available coal supply dwindles.
pressure to settle the strike will inten-
sify. In the end, Government seizure
is possibility inasmuch as the Smith
Connally law is still on the statute
books. Under that law, the President
canp operate the mines indefinitely till
the two sides are ready to make an
agreement.
There have been some indications that
John L. Lewis, head Of the miners uh-
ion, with customary planning and char
acteristic strategy. has figured out that
the country can stand few weeks Of
q coal strike without forcing . seizure.
He probably has had in his mind the
exact basis on which he would settle
and hence the lapse of time merely in
flicts loss on the public and on the op-
erators-both of which are no concern
apparently to the miners union which,
it Is said, wanted holiday anyway
after energetic, if not excessive, time
spent in mining coal for war purposes.
Usual Windup.
Usually the coal strikes wind up with
a wage increase for the miners and
price increase for the public. With the
OPA in the picture, this is not SO easy,
but in due time the OPA will crumble,
too, in its determination to keep prices
of coal down and eventually the public
will pay the bill again.
1t Is probably In the interest of the
coal miners to promote scarcity at this
time, because there will be overtime pay
and other incentives offered later to
make up lost production. 1t probably
doesn't disturb the miners either to
point out that other forms of fuel could
benefit by the rising cost Of coal for the
simple reason that the costs in the oil
business are rising, too, and new drill.
ings are delayed by shortages of ma
chinery.
Mr.. Lewis has sent for his 200-Mem-
ber Policy Committee. This is 4 sig
nifcant development. Ostensibly the
purpose Is to review the negotiations.
The purpose really is to arrange the
strategy OF the next few days and to
make sure that all the local unions un-
derstand what is planned.
1t would be assumed normally that
the Policy Committee was coming here
to negotiate a settlement. Actually.
Mr.. Lewis does all the negotiating. He
is the single chieftain of the whole or
ganlzatlon, but he is skillful enough to
avoid giving the impression that he is
a dictator or boss of the union. He al
ways manages to get in a consultation
with his big Policy Committee when
negotiations reach climax.
No Redress for Public.
Strikes are proving costly to the re-
conversion era and Congress is not in
the mood evidently to deal with tho
strike problem. The Democratic party
In Congress is responsible for squelch-
ing legislation dealing with arbitrary
activities by unions under the collective
bargaining process. The miners union
can refuse to bargain collectively or to
negotiate, but if an employer did so, he
would be subject to action under the
Wagner labor relations law.
There is no redress for the public
against strikes that interfere with pub
Tic health and safety unless Congress
enacts laws to regulate the so-called
right OF minority groups to infiict eco
nomIc loss and privation on majority
groups. and there are times when the
responsibility is as much the employers
as the employees.
To discover the facts in particular
disputes and to set in motion 4 better
machinery than is in existence today
to settle industrial disputes, President
Truman offered legislative program of
the mildest character. but he does not
seem to be pressing for it. His own
leaders are helping to kill legislation in
Congress. Maybe what the country will
discover next autumn is that its protest
can be effective only when it turns
out of office those members of Con-
gress, Republican and Democratic, who
have shown themselves Indifferent to
the public interest by pigeon-h -holing bills
to curtail strikes.
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