Evening star., 1947-01-10
Ball Plans Bill
ForLocaI Level
Bargaining Only
Sees Whole Puttern
Of Labor Negotiations
Changed on Passage
BY the Associated Press

Senator Ball, Republican, Of
Minnesota said today he will in
troduce bill Monday that would
change the whole pattern of
collective bargaining and put it
back on a local level"
Senator Ball said In an interview
the measure would pretty much
prohibit" bargaining on an indus
try-wide basis, as in the coal in
dustry.
It would reverse the trend Of
recent years in which he said more
and more power has been concen-
trated in national and international
unions"
Senator Balls local bargaining"
bill will be the third in a series Of
four he plans as chairman of
labor subcommittee of the Repub-
lican Senate Policy Committee. -
The three. others:
l. The -Taft-Smith bill, a
slightly revised version of last years
Case bill. Senator Ball introduced
this measure Monday with Senators
Taft, Republican, of Ohio and H.
Alexander Smith, Republican, Of
New Jersey.
2. Anticlosed shop bill, introduced
Wednesday.
3. Amendments to the Wagner
Act, scheduled later.
Labor Fights for Closed Shop.
Meanwhile, labor leaders centered
their fire on Senator Balls proposed
closed shop ban while blasting away
generally at congressional plans to
change the labor laws.
Both the AFL and the CIO pre-
dicted this would promote industrial
strife rather than help cure it.
The CIO said loss of union secur-
ity" would promote bitterness in
our labor relations for generations
to come" And AFL President Will
liam Green told a group Of AFL and
independent railroad union legisla-
tive representatives here yesterday:
Willingly or unwittingly, Senator
Ball is acting as the agent for big
corporate interests who are out to
destroy the trade union movement.
Some of our unions have had
union-shop agreements for more
than so years. They have estab-
lished collective bargaining on a
firm basis and reached the highest
level of union cooper
alton. Senator Balls bill would cut
the foundations out from under
them"
4 AFL Joins Rail Opposition.
\ The AFL pledged to join with
the rail brotherhoods in RELENTLESS
, opposition to the flood of anti
labor bills now being introduced in
Congress"
Senator Ball said the purpose Of
his bill is to stop "the practice OF
compelling individual workers to
join a union or lose their jobs" He
described 1t as lone of the most
Iilliberal practices existing in Amer
ican labor relations"
The CLOS comment was contained
in a 36-page pamphlet CIO Presi-
dent Philip Murray sent to all
members of Congress. He sent along
letter, too, urging full and COM
plete consideration" of any new
labor legislation plans.
Those who oppose the closed
shop frequently mouth phrases
about compulsion,' the CIO PAM
phlet said. "Yet these same indi-
viduals ignore the fact that a union
security clause in a contract be-
tween an employer and labor Or
ganization is the result Of free coll
lective bargaining.
Sees Compulsi0n.
"To empower the Government to
step in and actually prohibit real
collective bargaining is compulsion
and RECOMMENDATION at its worst. In
the American free enterprise econ
omy, there is nothing more basic
than the freedom of contract"
The pamphlet predicted that con-
gressional action outlawing the
closed shop would lead to "a wave of
industrial strife and promote
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