Evening star., 1947-01-18
Portal
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Portal
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strong opposition to the bills intro
duced by Senator Capehart and
Senator Wiley, Republican, OF
Wisconsin.
He warned that any law Congress
passes on the portal issue would be
tested in the courts, adding:
IF the Supreme Court upholds
our claim that such a bill as intro
duced here is unconstitutional, all
you would have is a more horrible
mess than you have today"
He referred to the fact that,
should the court knock out any new
amendment to the wage-hour law,
employers would be subject to even
larger back pay claims than they
are at this time.
Refuses to Give Name.
Mr.. Pressman was drawn into
sharp discussion with Committee
Chairman Donneu when he refused
to give the name of an industry
representative who told him that
industry generally was not con-
cerned about the portal-pay issue
because of pending action in Con-
gress f
Senator Donnell heatedly de-
manded that Mr.. Pressman give the
committee on Monday statutory au-
thority which would permit him to
withhold the name of the man from
the committee.
The witness traced the delibera-
tions of top CIO officials in consid-
ing the Mount Clemens decision
and said that as late as October the
CIO was uncertain as to what course
lit should follow in protecting the
rights of its members for current
and retroactive portal pay.
While the CIO was considering
it's course, Mr.. Pressman said, an
nouncement was made of a settle
ment under the Mount Clemens de-
cision between the Dow Chemical
Co. and the AFL United Mine
Workers He said that, in view of
the Dow decision, he had been
been amused" to see the recent
AFL statements that portal suits
should not be filed. .
CIO Deluged With Inquiries.
Immediately after the Dow set
tlement was given publicity, he said,
CIO unions were deluged with in
quiries from members as to their
rights to back portal pay.
At the same time, still in October,
Mr.. Pressman said AFL represent
atives approached CIO unions on
wide scale and told them, IF you
will only leave the CIO and Join
the AFL we will file law suits for
you-the CIO is not fighting for
your rights"
"At that time we approached
counsel for many large corporations
and asked if we couldn't sit down
with them and discuss the problem
in a collective bargaining way" Mr..
Pressman continued. Corporation
after corporation told our repre-
sentatives that there was no need
to sit down with you because we are
quite certain that Congress will take
action to deny you of these claims
resulting from the Supreme Court
decision" +
After making the general charge
that numerous industry officials had
refused to discuss the problem, Mr..
Pressman admitted that only one
employer talked with him and that
he had heard of another directly
from fellow union official
Said Union Had to Act.
The CIO counsel said that after
the publicity given the Dow settle
ment I'VE simply could not keep
quiet about the situation and were
obligated to apprise our members of
their rights under the wage-hour
law"
Earlier, Mr.. Pressman declared
that proposals to prohibit and limit
portal pay suits violate the prin-
ciples of our Constitution.
He declared the bills "only serve to
implant in workers the apprehension
and the fear that the present Con-
gress does not propose to play the
game according to the rules where
workers rights are concerned
The attorney was the first of a
number of witnesses representing
big CIO unions which have filed the
bulk of the more than $4,000, ,0OO, 900
in suits.
The committee heard the AFL
and the CIO Amalgamated Clothing
Workers, who have no claim for
portal pay, denounce the two bills
yesterday. The argument of both
witnesses was that amendments to-
the Wage-Hour Act, proposed in
the bills, would break down enforce
ment of minimum pay standards in
the act.
Earlier, Raymond S. Smethurst,
counsel for the National Association
of Manufacturers, Endorsed the pro-
posed legislative ban on portal suits
and advised the committee to look
into other interpretations Of the
Wage Hour Act which might cost
employers even more than the portal
suits.
Current portal-to-portal cases
have dramatized one of the most
serious injustices resulting from the
s.