Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-06-19
Arnold Joins Two.
Liberal Publishers 10
Fiqht NLRB Case

right NLRB Ease
Labor's imam bites dog" story will
unfold in St. Petersburg, Fla, next
week with Thurman Arnold of trust
buster fame cast in starring role.
The well-worn canine metaphor
is personally applied here by Nelson
P. POINTER, one-time Washington
newspaperman, who now directs the
policies of the St. Petersburg Times
and thereby is thrown into CO.
starring role with Mr.. Arnold.
Mr.. Arnold and Mr.. Poynter are
! liberals of New Deal vintage and
as such are staunch defenders of
labor. Yet in the National Labor
Relations Board hearing next Mon
day Mr.. Poynter will stand accused
of violating the Wagner Act and
Mr.. Arnold will defend him and the
principles he espouses.
That's not all At the Defend
ants table with Mr. Poynter will be
his competitor, L. G. Brown, pub
Usher of the Evening Independent
and something of a liberal in his
own right.
Can Boom or FizZle.
As Mr.. Poynter sees it in his good
humored way, the case might sput-
ter like a damp firecracker or it
might wind up in the Supreme
Court with revolutionary implica-
tons for the newspaper industry.
1t was with the latter DEVELOPMENT
in mind that Messrs. POINTER and
Brown retained Mr.. Arnold.
1t all started with a printers,
strike November 20, precipitated, Mr.
POINTER says. by the insistence of
Local $50 of the International Tvpo-
graphical Union to adhere to the
lnternational's policy against arbi-
tratlon OF working rules.
That strike was never settled
1rked by the unions refusal to
abandon unilateral conditions of
employment" terms adopted during
the war and to arbitrate the work
ing rules along with wages and
hours, the two struck publishers
mapped a fight-to-t he-fnish.
For two months they published
every day without printers or strike
breakers by using vari-typed.
photo-engraved process. Then the
publishers hit on an idea. They
chopped a hole in the wall of their
adjoining composing rooms and Or
canned News Printing, Inc, a shop
that would set type for both papers.
New Shop Offers Jobs.
On January II, Mr.. Pointer ap-
peared before the union member
ship and offered them jobs in the
new shop. He explained that SEN
lorlty and other clauses would give
the men the equivalent of a closed
shop-banned by Florida State law.
This was an experiment which
thought would not be in violation
OF the Wagner Act" Mr.. Pointer
said. I'VE reversed the tables and
offered our own conditions of en-
ployment," which included a broad
arbitration clause"
Mr.. Poynter was anxious to re-
store a grievance committee and
give the publishers voice in op-
Grafton of the print shop.
Half a dozen of the union print
ers went to work; the remainder
OF the shop was stated with ap-
prentices and rank beginners. But
the st. Petersburg papers are going
to press daily.
Now the publishers are cited byI
NLRB for refusing to bargain COL
lectlvely and attempting to dominate
labor organization. Actually, it
narrows down to whether the pub
Usher has right to present his own
unllateral conditions of employment
or whether this union rule shall pre-
vail: THE composing room shall
be operated. under the laws of the
lTU and the st. Petersburg Typo
graphical Union No. $780,"
In it's broader aspect, 1t is a show
down test beteween publisher and
union for control of the composing
room. Mr.. Poynter hopes it even
tually will bring out in the courts
the publishers eternal fight against
union practices he described as
make work" and 'featherbedding,
or limitation of production.
That's why We have Thurman
Arnold in the case" he explained.
Mr.. Arnold'S record for fighting
cartels, trade associations and en-
ployer associations while an assistant
attorney general is well known. He
made a lot of publishers unhappy
when he started the case to smash
the exclusive franchise practice of
the Associated Press. Now the pub
fishers will be closely watching Ar
mold in another kind of battle"
Mr.. Arnold was selected to lead
the defense because of his aversion
to the philosophy of limited produc-
ton. Mr.. Poynter said.
THE International Typographical
Union has one of the longest and
most honorable histories of any la
Dor union" he added. But we
think it is mistaken in its tenacious
fight to limit production, and it's
resistance to any arbitration which
takes such limitations into consid-
Grafton in determining hours and
wages. The public pays for these
limitations by getting less reading
matter in its newspapers, and other
newspaper employees suffer as a re-
suit of this economic waste"
Two years ago Mr.. Poynter cir
cularized a full editorial blasting
anti-labor proposals of the Florida