Evening star., 1946-08-13
Democrats Won't Act
On Labor Reform Bills
Reilly's Demand for Changes in
Wagner Act Merits Study
BY David Laaorence

All the agitation Of a few months ago.
urging President Truman and Congress
to do something about the monopolies
that have grown up among labor unions
has come to naught..
Such work Stoppages as that which
tied up the Nations transportation
system can happen again, President
Truman himself blocked all action by
making such an extreme proposal to
Congress that it fell by the wayside,
and then he vetoed the Case bill, which
would have adjusted labor management
relations. The Democratic party In
Congress voted to sustain that veto,
and thus the labor union politicians
have had their way and can go on eX-
plotting shortages in manpower.
The need for some of the provisions
in the Case bill has just been empha-
sized by Gerard D. Reilly, Democrat,
who retired of his own volition this
week as a member of the National Labor
Relations Board.
Got Objective Picture.
Mr.. Reilly was solicitor of the Labor
Department under the New Deal and
certainly had an opportunity, as a
member of the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, to get an objective picture
/ of what must be done to curtail labor
| management friction. He suggests six
/ changes in the Wagner Act and its ad-
ministration. Two of these, he points
out can be accomplished by the NLRB
. Nv &c NJ
the changes must be made by Congress,
Mr.. Reilly thinks the board itself
should give employers the right to petit
ton for collective bargaining elections
where single union claims representa-
/ ton rights and threatens a strike with
out resorting to the regular procedures
This is impossible now.
The next revision of Importance,
which he says could also be accom-
! pllShed by change in the boards rules,
would give the employer the right to
! speak freely during campaigns when
| unions are being organized. At the
| present time, while the Constitution
| guarantees the right of free speech, the
| board conStrueS this as a limited right
If the employer by the tone of his
voice or by few phrases which can be
construed as coercive in intent, ex-
! presses his viewpoint. he can be haraSsed
/ with an unfair labor practice" charge
/ before the board and he must then
engage in lawsuit to protect his posi-
ton. Few employers like to take that
risk and the unions know it, so they
have a power equivalent to blackmail
which they hold over the heads of an
employer who ventures to exercise his
! right Of free speech.
Reilly Views Significant.
The decisions of the board in the last
! few months have been more liberal than
| at the beginning, but free speech is still
theoretical right 81 far as the en-
| pIoyerS are concerned. What Mr.. Reilly
says about it is significant, especially
! after his record of formal opinions in
| many cases in which he himself froWned
on attempts to penalize free speech by
! employers.
AS matters stand today. many en-
ployes are dragooned into joining
unions or annoyed during lunch periods
until they sign a union card as a matter
Of conformity to avoid annoyance. Yet
the persons organizing the union NAV
misrepresent the facts or conditions of
employment and the employees can
not learn the truth. The employer can
answer misrepresentation, but only at
the risk of being accused of an unfair
labor practice. Thus the Labor Boards
rules are a convenient instrument for
collective pressure upon workers who
might not otherwise join unions if they
had all the facts.
Mr.. Reilly suggests four changes In
the Wagner law which he thinks Con-
gress ought to make They include a
clarificatlon of the status of foremen
and supervisory employees withdrawal
OF the protection now granted to unions
which strike for objectives contrary 10
the Wagner Act and which would be
achieved by orderly procedures. the
grant to the NLRB of power to issue
legal process against unions engaging
IN secondary boycottS, and finally, the
transfer to the Labor Department of
certain prosecuting and enforcement
functions now exercised by the board
This would make the board wholly a
judicial institution.
Mr.. Reilly's suggestions come from
years of experience and objective ham
ding Of labor disputes But the DEM
ocratic party, by its alliance with the
union LABOR vote, has set itself against
any such changes. This will be one OF
the principal arguments which the Re-
publicans will make for the election OF
a Republican Congress this November
(Reproduction Rights Reserved