Evening star., 1947-06-25


be fought in the courts on constitu-
tional grounds. Lawyers for the
Liberty League" profoundly ad-
vised their clients among employers
that manufacturing" and "produc-
ton" were not interstate COM
merce. Yet, by 5-to-4 opinion %
months later, the Supreme Court
affirmed the validity of the act and
settled for long time to come that
Congress can legislate on labor reg
ulation as to virtually all forms OF
business in our complex economic
society.
Only this week the Supreme Court
removed all doubts about the valid
ity of many Of the provisions of the
newly passed Taft Hartley bill when,
in another case it went SO far as
to uphold the right of Congress to-
forbid payment for work not DONE
in particular tndustry-radioI
broadcasting. Here is a sweeping
application of the rule that Con-
eress may regulate any or all prac-
tices in the field OF labor relations.
Reaction Held Natural.
But it is natural for the labor
union leaders to react as they are
reported to be doing. Special privi-
lege and intcenched power die
hard today, as always. The labor
union leader; have had such un-l
restricted privileges to do virtually
as they pleased in labor relations
that they became blind to their own
excesSes-just as some employers
were more than decade ago.
There will be, to be sure, court
battles on certain points but the
extreme interpretations which the
labor union leaders have been pre-
dieting and which President Tru-
man so unwisely emphasized in his
veto message will never materialize.
Congress, moreover. will be under
no pressure from the employers tot
keep the new law from being
amended annually If necessary
Labor union leaders through their
stooges in the House and Senate
Labor Committees bottled up all
corrective amendments of labor
legislation for 10 years. Had labor
union leaders possessed keener
understanding of the need for fair
play in labor management relations
they long ago would have removed
the barriers to amendment of the
Wagner Act. The new law enacted
this week would then have pot been
so poorly drawn.
Bill Is Hodgepodge.
For no matter how valuable are
certain reforms that have just been
legislated which were long overdue,
the Taft-Hartley law is a hodge
podge and one of the most crudely |
drawn statutes in recent history.
Labor union leaders had better
read the new law several times, for
they will find that it adds to their
powers in many important respects
though requiring conformity to some
irritating yet by no means insur-
mountable provisions about strike |
notification and the publication of
finances. The labor unions have not
lost single fundamental right of
any consequence. They have lost
certain powers to be reckless and
unmindful of the public interest.
A careful examination of the law
will reveal that labor union leaders |
are being governed in their state
ments more by fear than by logic. |
They should know that President |
Truman will doubtless appoint a |
pro-labor union majority to the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board which
will see to 1t that extreme interpre-
tations will not follow.
Most of the points to which the /
labor unions have expressed public |
objection are really, relatively speak
ing, not consequential These will
not interfere with the growth of |
unions or the maintenance of their
membership. This correspondent
predicts that one year hence both |
the AFT and the CIO will have more
members than they had on the day
the Taft-Hartley bill was enacted
The labor unions have achieved in
the new law for the first time legal
sanction for compulsory unioniza-
tion. The only difference between
the outlawed closed shop" and the
now legalized union shop" is a
matter of 30 days at the start of
the first contract. Congress has
gone farther to protect collective
bargaining rights of the unions,
than did the Wagner Act.
With a sympathetic labor board, !
this correspondent predicts that a /
year hence it will be the employers
who will be protesting both the man.
ner of enforcement of the law. and |
the wisdom of some of its provisions |
Things are not as bad as the labor |
union leaders spokesmen and par