Evening star., 1947-01-27
.NLRB Report Stresse,
Wagner Act Success
In Preventing Strikes
BY the Associated Press

In the lace OF proposals &c
change the Wagner Act, the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board
told Congress today the present
law has had great success in
preventing strikes.
The NLRB noted in its annual
report to Congress that the acts
main purpose is to provide peaceful
settlement of disputes over the Or
ganization and recognition of
unions, and added:
THE statute has served the pub
| lie by decreasing such strife. The
fundamental rights which Congress
said should be the subject of Fed
eral protection are no longer be-
ing bought at the price of economic
struggle"
The NLRB. charged with admin
istering the Wagner Act. declared
that adjustment of accumulated
grievances, real and fancied" after
the war by both labor and man
agement was to be expected" But
it said most of the postwar strikes
were about wages, over which it
had no control.
Organizational Strikes Decline.
'The fact is that the only kind
of strikes which the board was
created to discourage, those involv-
ing Cunion) recognition and the
commission of unfair labor prac-
tees, have declined sharply" the
report added.
Congress passed the Wagner Act
to provide peaceful alternative tc
the costly strikes which had been
fought over the denial of basic
rights to union recognition and
collective bargaining"
The report said union organiza-
tional strikes caused rs per cent OF
all strike idleness in 1887, but the
figure had dropped to 20 per cent
in 1945.
Smith Would Equalize Conditions
Representative Smith, Democrat
of Virginia has introduced a bill
which he says will equalize condi-
tions in collective bargaining be-
tween labor and industry. He con-
tends the acts basic premise now
Of protecting workers right to or
ganiZe and bargain collectively
makes 1t "one-sided" in labor's
favor
There are a number of other pro-
posals to change the act, including
those to require unions to register
and make financial report and tc
open the way for breach of labor
contract suits. The Senate Labor
Committee resumes hearings or
them tomorrow.
Harvey w. Brown, president OF
the International Association of Ma
chinists, an unaffiliated union, de-
clared yesterday that "the reaction
aries are striving to focus attention
on false issues so labor will be much
weaker to fight offth the main attack
-yanking the teeth out of the Wag.
ner Act, minimizing social legislation
and getting laws passed to help
monopolies in industry"
NLRB Asks for More Money.
In an article for the magazine
Labor and Nation, Mr.. Brown saio
labor may have shortcomings but 1T
has a long way to 60 to match the
shortcomings of management"
In its report the NLRB asked fol
more mcney to handle a mounting
number of cases. These involve two
types: % questions involving a
unions right to bargain for groups
of employees, and (2) charges against
employers of refusing to bargain OF
of discriminating" against union
members
The NLRB had a backlog of 4,6O5
cases last July l, about 5000 January
l, and expects close to 10000 by next
July l. The report told Congress
that unless the board gets more
money, cases probably will take twice
as long to process because of the
heavy load.