Evening star., 1947-06-21

manned sound and unimpaired.
can in brief time deal with only
a few of the direct misrepresenta-
tions of the details of the bin.
The President says that a union :
will be liable for any of its mem.s =
bers engaged in an unauthorized !.
wildcat strike. This is simply not /.
so.
The President says the bill woulcks
force unions TO strike If they wished
to have a jurisdietional dispute set-u
tlement by the National Labor Resa
lations Board. This is not so. m
All the union has to do is to filer
petition under the representations !
section. How could this provision
increase strikes when it is not effec-i I
tive at all until there is already a..
jurisdictional strike or secondary
boycott. in effect? IL
Recognized As Abuses.
Here are two union abuses which
every witness recognized as abusesct
Yet the President criticizes the pro-ls
vision making them Illegal and SUBJ
jecting them to correction by theu
NLRB or the courts. The President
talks against them. He says that he-.
doesn't want anything to be done
about them.
In various places, the President
asserts that the bill requires elec-
ton after election. and that the
number of them has been multi-p
piled. He completely ignores the
fact that the bill limits elections by
specifically permitting only one Al
year, both with reference to repre-
sentation and the union shop.
The only elections added to thoseH'
required by existing law are to find ;,
out whether the men really want az
union shop. The President objectsd
to an employer having the right to J.
ask for an election when someone
claims to be representative of his
men. So
Surely an employer ought to haver'
right to find out whether the uniona
leader really has organized hts men,,
or hasn't organized them. The,
President says that the provisions
regarding the arbitration of griev-'
ance disputes are left to be deter
mined by lawsuits. He repeated this
statement tonight on the radio. 1t
Is not Sc.
Arbitration provisions are entirely.
legal and remain effective under
our law. AS long as either party =
abides by the arbitration decisions,
he is, Of course, not subject to suit. :.
The President says an employer -
can discharge man on the pretext
OF slight infraction, even though a a
his real motive is to discriminate
against the employe for union activ-
tiles. This is not so.
Board Still Decides.
The board decides, under the new
law as under the former law, wheth-
er the man was really discharged
for union activity or for good cause.
The President says the law will :
expose unions to suits for acts OF
violence, wildcat strikes and other
actions, none of which were author
lied or ratified by them. This Is not
so.
We have simply provided that
unions are subject to the same gen. r
eral laws as any other corporation
or agency Or citizen in determining
their liability for the acts of the
agents. "A
The President attacks the provi-
sion giving freedom of speech to en-
ployers. The need for such provi-a
sion was the one thing admitted
even by the labor union leaders The
bill simply provides that views, ar
guments or opinion shall not be evil
dence of an unfair labor practice,
unless they contain in themselves
the threat of coercion or promise
of benefit. M
Without such provision, there
would be no freedom of speech on
the part of employers any more
than there has been for the last 10
years gs. t.~
The President criticizes the provi-
sions of State laws permitting union
shops to remain in effect. He does
not tell you that this is the provi-
sion of the Wagner Act which has
never undertaken to authorize closed
shop agreements if the State law
prohibits them. .q~
Objection Astonishing.
1t is astonishing to find the Presi-s
dent objecting to the section which
prevents Communists from being
officers of labor unions. We have
merely required that every officer of
labor union seeking certification
must file an affidavit that he is not
member of the Communist Party
and does not favor the forcible over
throw of the Government. The,
same affidavit is required to be filed,
by Federal employees. This does not
hold up certification of the union, ;"
but any Communist who makes b.
false affidavit can be sent to jail. y,:-
The President says: THE mere
refusal by a single individual to sign .
the required affidavit would prevent =
an entire National labor union fronle
being certified for purposes of coll,
lective bargaining" -rf'
Why should an individual officer
refuse to sign such an affidavit if
he is not Communist? If he ispa y
Communist, why should the union
be certified? Why shouldn't every =
labor union make Communists frl-ss
eligible for election as officers?
The Presidents statement simply
echoes the argument made by Mr.
Lee Pressman in his June memdxa
randum, ignoring the fact that nAs /
union could take immediate steps :
to remove itself from any Commu--
mist tie. There is hardly sentence
in the Presidents message which Stsa
not open to direct challenge, and >
there are many others besides thosss
have cited which misrepresent the
meaning of the new bill
Tried to Restore Equality.
The committees of Congress
which wrote this bill had no anti-
union prejudice. They have tried To- !
restore equality in collective barsv'
gaining and correct only those
abuses against employers, union.
members and third parties which *