Evening star., 1946-03-28
GIN Strike Facts Seen
Bured by Union Row
Show Books Demand Called
Propaganda by Thomas
By David Laurence,

by DaUid Laurence,
1t takes row between two prominent
union leaders to bring out the facts
of the recent strike at General Motors,
which cost the Nation many hundreds
OF millions of dollars and deprived
100000 or more workers of livelihood
for nearly four months.
Apparently no "fact-finding" COM
mission appointed by the Government
dared to bring out the facts and ap-
parently no newspaper or press asso-
clation was able to verify for the Amer
ican people the facts which now are
openly admitted.
What are some of these facts? It is
learned now, for example, that a serious
political controversy involving the am
bltions OF two leaders led to a strategy
IN the strike that prolonged it unduly.
Thus, R. j. Thomas. defeated candi-
date for reelection as president of the
United Automobile Workers Union.
ClO, told press conference at Atlantic
City before the balloting began that
the walkout in General Motors last
autumn was badly timed by the leader
ship, that the strike lasted four weeks
too long, that the price issue should
never have been injected into the wage
negotiations and that liability to pay"
Is not sound argument at all.
Dangerous Contention.
Mr.. Thomas contended that inability
to pay would be a dangerous conten-
tions for unions to face, because it
would get the unions into difficulties
with competing companies not able to
pay as much as the strongest companies.
He added that this issue needlessly
prolonged the strike, and he blamed
Walter Reuther, his rival for the presi.
dency, for these tactics.
Mr.. Thomas remarked that the
show your books" demand was "iust
propaganda" Even his opponent, Mr..
Reuther conceded that it was "iust a
maneuver to win public support and
to get the company over a barrel" and
he says Mr.. Thomas knew all about
this phase of the strategy.
Yet the American people were told
by no less a person than the President
OF the United States that the demand
to open the books was important and
should be needed. The incident illus
trates how naive even a Chief Execu-
tive can be in the maelstrom Of union
politics and trick maneuvers whereby
unions seek to get favorable publicity
and prejudice the case against the en-
ployers.
The United Automobile Workers Union
in the CIO is one Of the largest in the
history of trade unionism The fact that
personal ambitions played a part in
bringing on the recent strike in the auto
industry has been widely suspected, but
not until the convention at Atlantic
City did the unvarnished truth come
out
Abuse of Power Seen.
Collective bargaining as granted by
the Wagner law was not intended to
provide new system of government for
special group or a new means of DO
htical exploitation of the average man.
1t was intended to protect the rights of
workers to organize in their own inter-
est. No provision was made in the law
to prevent abuse of power or exploita-
ton OF the worker by leaders who could,
if they chose, discriminate against those
who disagreed with their course. Like
wise, mass picketing has been resorted
to and physical violence used to pre-
vent citizens from exercising their right
to enter their own property.
Workers who want to work and NAV
or may not be members of union have
been forcibly deprived of their civil
rights.
The convention at Atlantic City of the
UAW is the climax which draws public
attention to the evils of big unionism,"
which now parallel the evils of the big
corporations that have failed to use
their economic power in the public in
terest
The Congress of the United States,
moreover, has been browbeaten into
submission by the political power Of big
unions which have def1ed governmental
authority and threatened reprisals on
members of the legislative body. If
trade unionism must resort to mass vio-
lence to win strikes, and if rival per-
sonalities with political ambitions can
inf1ict hundreds of millions of dollars of
damage on the country without being
held to accountability for such economic
crimes, it means that liberties are not
being protected by so-called liberals at
all and that new set of reactionaries
have arisen in America to play havoc
with democratic government.