Evening star., 1946-06-20
Labor Legislation
In Congress Stalled
Antistrike Measure to Remain
Shelved Until, Next Session
By Daud Laurence

Shelved Until Next Session
By David Laurence
Legislation on the labor problem at
this session Of Congress seems to be
dead.
This includes not only the Case bill
which President Truman vetoed but the
anti-strike legislation which the Presi-
dent sponsored.
1t means that labor union monopolies
will 60 on unrestrained and that strikes
against the public interest will occur
whenever and wherever any labor union
wants to can them. 1t means also that
the public may suffer interruption in
electric light and power, transportation
and the production of vital necessities.
So far as Congress is concerned, it
apparently doesn't care very much
about all this inconvenience, and, so
far as public opinion is concerned, the
people do not seem to have asserted
themselves sufficiently to cause Con-
gress to act before adjournment comes.
If, as planned, Congress leaves here
nc It month, the pending bills that have
gone through one or the other of the
two houses will die and will have to be
introduced and debated all over again
when the new Congress assemblies next
January, unless, of course. Mr.. Truman
has occasion to call special session be-
fore the present Congress goes out OF
Office
Debacle Laid to Truman.
The legislative debacle is largely due
to President Truman's failure as lead
er either of his own party or of the Ma
ton. When the rail and coal strikes
threatened, he drifted along in the
hope that they could be settled by hi.
mediators and, when the ran strike was
at hand, he guaranteed the unions
against prosecution if they would post
pone the strike five days. Then, evil
IDENTIFY angered by the fact that strike
was called which actually tied up the
Nations transportation system. Mr.. Tru-
man proposed drastic legislation pro-
viding for seizure of plants or facilities
and providing also that workers could
be drafted into the army.
The House of Representatives passed
the emergency legislation but the Senate
modified 1t and extracted the draft pro-
visions Now the measure can be sent to
conference but the labor unions have
succeeded in preventing it from being
acted on and their chances of killing
all the legislation this session are very
good.
The labor unions did a splendid lob
from their standpoint in bringing about
the desired result-no legislation. They
first fought the Case bill and then the
draft legislation by filibuster in the
Senate. In the latter, they had as allies
those Republicans who felt it was good
politics to eliminate the draft provisions.
These same Republicans could have
amended the bill to make it satisfactory
to the President and to the House and
the whole thing could have been enact
ed in 48 hours. Thus the draft provi-
sions could have been changed so that
they would not be a penalty for failure
to work but merely a means OF calling
on all able-bodied or skilled citizens to
assist the Government whenever seizure
and operation of essential plants was
deemed necessary. ~ $40
Wait and See Politicians.
There were in Congress, too, politi-
clans who opposed the President and
thought that they would wait and see
what he would do about the Case bill
Mr.. Truman vetoed the measure and
implied that it was not choice between
the Case bill and no legislation at all,
because he had offered emergency legis-
lation.
Now since the House failed by hand
1ul OF votes to override the veto on the
Case bill and the labor group has killed
OH that measure, the guns are trained
on the emergency legislation. Here a
strange coalition is at work. Those who
favor some kind of legislation but think
the President has assumed full RESPONSE
oility for settling labor disputes in the
future, and want him to exercise 1t. are
allied with those who represent the
union viewpoint of fighting any and all
amendments. to the Wagner Act. This
is enough to kill the bill.
So politics on both the Republican
and Democratic side and labor union
strategy have managed to shelve all
labor legislation, and the Presidents bill
Will remain on the table Enacted ,,pon
unless in the next fortnight the Ameri-
can people manifest to Congress their
aeSife tnat something be done about it.