Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1947-12-05
Regional
Views
By Richard Gosser
Vice President UAW>CIO


In the course of his speech to the delegates
to the UAW Atlantic City Convention Philip
Murray, CIO president in referring to the
Taft-Hartley Act sad 1--WE did not get the
Taft Hartley Act over the bargaining table,
and we won't get rid of it over the bargaining
table"
There is lot of meat in President Muir
ray's words, particularly at this time when
the rising cost of living nullifies wage gains
secured across the bargaining table almost
before the ink is dry on our agreements.
Our struggle is not merely for adequate
wages as have pointed out before in recent
weeks but to stabilize prices so that the
wages will really mean something, How we
can do this when we have the type of Con-
gress which is now running the country is
tough problem which we can only solve by
changing our congressman.
This is the same Congress which has given
us both the Taft Hartley Act and destroyed
what little stability there was left in our econ
omy. This is the same Congress which de-
stroyed price controls and made it possible for
the big money boys to accumulate the highest
profits in history. They have attacked us on
both the political and economic fronts while
we have tried to solve our problems only on
the economic front-across the bargaining
table.
TWO FRONTS
honestly don't believe that we are ever
going to solve our problem and bring about
parity between prices and wages until we
become realists and recognize that we are
losing on the economic front because we are
n,,y oil For.
decent wages and reasonable prices cannot be
a one sided affair while Taft, Hartley, Hoff-
man and their type are in the majority in
Congress.
OF what value is an increase in wages of
10 or Is cents when the prices of food cloth
ing and other things necessary for the work.
ers are allowed to run wild?
What do we gain if we win wage increases
and the industrialists, aided by a friendly
Congress, which removed all controls, con-
tinue to use the increases as an excuse to reap
excessive and constantly mounting profits?
What do we gain when our economic
strength wins us concessions which are wiped
out by a Congress which is not a peoples
Congress, but represents the thinking of the
National Association of Manufacturers and
United States Chamber of Commerce?
THE REAL FIGHT
Believe me- the Taft-Hartley law which /
President Murray reminds us was not the
result of bargaining agreement reached be-
tween labor and management, cannot be
wiped out except in the same way the law
found its way into the statutes of our coun-
try. 1t can be wiped out only by political
action, by removing those who helped place
it on the books and electing those who are
pledged to take it out of the books. It's as
simple as that.
The time is very short before we will be
called upon to make decision. Less than five
months remain before the May primaries
which will determine to great degree just
who is going to represent the people in the
various congressional districts.
Now is the time for all of us to get down
to business and begin to prepare ourselves
to take part in the political life of this nation
in such way that we will rid ourselves of
those who have proved themselves to be our
enemies rather than our friends. Now is the
time to find the people who are willing to
pledge themselves to repeating the Taft
Hartley Act and working and voting for the
things that labor must have if this is to bt
the kind of a country we want to live in
l urge every member of the union to give
this matter serious thought and considera-
tioon and to realize now that the bargaining
table is going to mean very little to us as
workers until we clear out of Congress and
our state legislatures the people who have
done as much or more to damage the unions
and their legitimate activities than the labor
spies and reactionaries of the past.