Evening star., 1946-06-28
JobIess Union Workers
Called Forgotten Men
Wagner Act Provisions to Force
Many Small Firms to Close
By David Laurence

Many Small Firms to Close
By David Laurence
The forgotten men of America are the
workers now members of labor unions
who are about to lose their jobs or are
fast losing them. In countless small
plants throughout the country, employers
are finding it difficult to make ends meet
and are either selling out to larger COM
panies, who take only fraction of the
displaced workers, or else close down
altogether.
Unfortunately, these workers might
have kept their jobs and many of them
who now own their own homes and are
about to be displaced could keep their
jobs If they were not hamstrung by the
Wagner Labor Relations Law which the
Democratic, majority, in power in Con-
gress today, has refused to amend.
Under the provisions of the Wagner
Law, an employer cannot talk to his
own employees. He must talk only to the
union committee and that committee
need not tell the members anything.
There is no way by which the employer
can inform his own workers of the real
status of his plant and, even if he we're
able to do SO. the workers cannot act
individually. They must remain mem-
bers OF the union to keep their jobs in
so-called union shops" Nor can they
influence their fellow workers who may
run the union, for they do not have the
information to debate the issues.
unfair Practice
Hence an employer, unable to tell his
loyal workers that he cannot agree to
increases in wages when he Is operat-
ing at deficit, must sell out or close
down without warning his employees in
advance. If he endeavors to explain the
situation ahead of time, with a view to
getting a deferment even temporarily
on wage increases, he runs the risk OF
being hauled before the National Labor
Relations Board on an alleged unfair
labor practice" involving intimidation
of workers.
The employer must, therefore keep his
own counsels. When he finds that the
wage increases are going to be impossible
to meet, he then takes his action with
out warning Employees who would have
counselled patience and perhaps might
have attempted to influence the union
negotiators can do nothing about it,
for it Is then too late.
As a matter of fact, even If the en-
ployes in a small plant do want to work
for lower wage scale, they cannot do so,
for usually union wage rates are imposed
for an entire industry or for an entire
group OF producers in city or region
The small plant, which cannot pay the
going rates, then must accept the higher
wage rates or go out of business.
At the moment, when presumably
manpower Is scarce, it is assumed that
the workers can get jobs, but they can't
always get them in the same city where
they own homes and have their friends
or relatives. The damage done thus
cannot be repaired. Unionism is not
very intelligent when it forces wage
rates above the capacity Of the small
plant or business to pay.
Fixed Price Businesses.
There are certain types Of business
which operate on fixed or uniform
price to consumers. The prices become
known over the years as standard, like
a So shoe or scent cigar. The
first economy step, as rule, is an
effort to keep the price but reduce the
quality. The public, however, soon
senses that change and sales fall of.
Then the producer tries to raise his
price, but his sales are not the same.
Yet his costs are up. In the end un-
employment is created.
The growth of national labor unions
has been such that the same wage rates
now apply through large areas of the
country. There is no differential in
favor of the small plant where costs are
higher than in the large plants due
to unavailability of machinery or due
to the absence of a large enough volume
OF orders each month to get the bene-
hts OF quantity production methods.
The heart of the free enterprise sys-
tenn is the small businessman. Many
so-called champions of small business
but few OF them really represent them
Nobody in Congress today is really
championing the cause Of the small
businessmen against labor union mo-
nopolies and against those Wagner Act
provisions which are making it impos-
sible for an employer and his employees
to work out their own problems locally
or in individual plants.
The Wagner law has already been and
will be in the future responsible for
many business failures, the closins
down of small plants and the spread
| OF unemployment. But the Democrat,
are about to adjourn Congress and q
Democratic President is content to dc
| nothing to get the Wagner Act rewrit-
ten to permit true democracy among
the workers.
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