The Wilmington morning star., 1946-09-17
Week OF Costly Strikes
From the New York Times

From the New York Times
ror tho mast week this city has 1elt ue
naralvzine effect Of two strikes IN We eeseH
tial industry of transportation. On ceiIdn. u''
little more than the bare MINIMUM % IVY
needed to keep its people from going Jung
moved through the city's streets. oeeA
goods ready for delivery could not DC nioveo'
w.nv businesses ~curtailed operations ana re,
$500 eunloves. and in some instances closed
down entirely. Time was wasted, JOBS were
49, ,nd health was endangered. Merchants
could not fill orders even in cases OF pressing
reed Newspapers were handicapped IN theH
coveraee of important world affairs by a scar
citv of newspring. Meanwhile, activity II the
great Port of New York was at a standstill
as the city shared in this respect the same
crippling of maritime transportation winch a
national seamen's strike had brought to every
other seaport in the country. Labor trouble"
had thrown a blockade around the nation
more complete, il what were to be the piping
times of peace, than our enemies were ever
able to achieve with submarines IN ume Oh
war. 1t was a poor week for the United STATES
The result. at home, was a severe setback
for the recovery program, and aboard a 1resn
gu estioning of the strength and unity OF the
American people.
IL IL llC w " q af0S
tice in the claims of the comparatively small
number of trade u~nioaists whose stoppage
caused this damage to the national welfare
because of their key position in the transporta-
ton industry. In the case OF our own local
|truckmen wages had obviously Jagged behind
living costs, and an adjustment was overdue.
In the case of the striking seamen, it would
be unfair not to recognize the factor OF occu-
pational hazard and of necessarily longer
hours of labor than prevail in any other major
industry. But these considerations do not justi-
fy either the presentation OF exorbitant de-
mands or a take-it-or-leave-it attitude in the
matter Of negotiations. The striking truckmen
demanded the equivalent of A Al per cent in
crease Of wages and then shouted down their
own leaders when they were offered a COM
promise sponsored by the city government.
The seamen used the power of a strike to
compel a Federal agency to reconsider its ru1-
ings, and then boycotted the meeting called
for such reconsideration.
What is evident, in such cases, is a heady
confidence on the part of organized labor in
its own present power. Organized labor has
been encouraged to believe, on no less au-
thority than Federal law itself. that any strike
it may call is certain to be rewarded. For
Federal law in the form Of the Wagner Act.
which is the basic statute governing industries
relations - makes it Illegal for an employer
to discharge a man for striking, which in eff.
feet means that he cannot replace a man on
strike with another worker, no matter how long
the strike may last, no matter how exorbitant
the demands which precipitated it may have
been, no matter how damaging the results
may be not only to the employer himself but
to the general public. In these circumstances
with the striker insured by law against risk of
the loss OF his job regardless of the merit of
the strike in which he participates, no restraint
Whatever is imposed on the calling of strikes
except that exercised by the judgment of the
lnolVloual union leader. The strike is sure to
win at least part Of its detectives. So strikes
fhuluply IN number and increase in their de-
mands and become more ruthless in their tao
tics. N
some correction of this situation in order
to make 1t less automatically favorable to the
endless calling of strikes and more conducive
10 genuine around-the-table bargaining, could
ana should be made by law. A beginning in
tnls direction, none too we'll planned, but at
leaSt a beginning, was made in the Case bill,
approved by both branches of Congress at the
last session, but vetoed by the Present. In the
long run, however, what is rccded is not only
the correction of one-sided law, but a wider
recognition by the trade union movement it.
sell OF the responsibilities which ought to go
Aand in hand with its new power and of the
grave hazards present in a situation which
permits a handful of men in key positions to
jeopardize the health and welfare of a great
community.
1.-THE trade union movement has never been
stronger, the workers have never been more
powerful. Is it not unfair to carry a dispute
to the point of a %stoppage? Use your leaders.
Use the machinery. If you cannot use them,
kick them out, but use them. We are a demo-
cratic country. If you cannot make your repre-
sentatives do what you want them to do. get
rid of them. But do not revenge yourself on
the helpless. What you must not do is to carry
your grievances to the point where you actual
~ sabotage the economic recovery of the coun-
try
This excellent advice comes. not from a
representative Of big business or industry, but
from the son Of a coal miner. who left school