Evening star., 1947-03-23

UIlGI6 are llullltlOuo IdCUO1o WAl4Sl
make labor law forecasting unusually
complicated. First, there is tht
myriad of proposals introduced or
both sides of the Capitol, including
many different approaches to tn,
same objectives. Then, there are the
views Of the Senate involved which
fan out in all directions, like track:
from Grand Central Station. Group.
with apparent sizable strength art
as far apart as the poles.
What the House will do in the way
of rewriting labor law and adding
new ones to regulate and restrict
unions seemingly is easy to figure
Its Labor Committee is whole
hog" group on the question and the
House is expected to back it up most
Of the way. The House approach to
the labor problem is as unsubtle as
that of Uncle Remus' Br'er B'a'
toward Br'er Rabbit, one Of "1'l
knock his haid clean off,"
Bargaining Balance Is Goal.
The avowed purpose of most OF
the members who have introduced
labor proposals is to reduce strikes
by treating the causes of the dis
putes which cannot be settled peace
fully, to curb the "abuses" they say
unions have made of the power labor
got under several laws-notably the
Wagner Labor Relations Act. They
say the scales of justice have been
tipped toward labor and they wish
to bring about a balance of bargain
ing power between labor and man.
agement.
Both the House and Senate Labor
Committees are shooting at one
major bill that will take care OF all
the problems its members believe
should be dealt with. But there may
be subsidiary bills coming from the
committees or introduced directly
from the f1eor in the way of amend
mentS.
Its problem Of getting draft
satisfactory to a majority OF the
members being simpler, the House
committee is moving faster than the
Senate. Chairman Hartley now says
his committees bill will be dropped
in the House hopper in a week ano
he expects debate on it to start in
about two weeks. The Senate group
apparently is still far away from
even a rough draft of comprehen-
sive bill.
Labor Looks to Senate.
Organized labor has given up on
the House and now looks to the
Senate to produce moderate bill
and to beat down drastic House
restrictions in conference. That
was clearly shown when Van A
Bittner, major CIO witness, bluntly
told the House committee he die
not think the members were quail
fled to write fair" labor bill. A
ranking Republican member saio
Mr., Bittner's remarks cost labor
the support of three other commit
tee members.
The strategy of both the C1O ano
AFL in fighting what they fear Will
be severely restrictive legislation
has been to oppose all or nearly al
changes in existing law. Labor has
been criticized for this approach
even by some of its friends on Cap
itol Hill, indicating the policy o1
status quo may have backfred.
In any event, it can be said def
niteiy that labor legislation will be
passed, certain union activities out
lawed and others restricted. These
"sure things" will be enumerated
later. There also are proposals
which are dead.
The fate of the great bulk Of
Congress labor proposals is any
body's guess at this time. However
the attempt will be made to outline
the thinking of some of the mem
bers of both houses on the major
proposals in the hope it will furnish
an idea of what the final outcome
will be.
Voice of the Voters.
It is clear that most members OF
Congress still regard last falls Re-
publican victory as mandate te
overhaul existing labor law anc
pass new ones, although recent
months of general labor r-manage.
ment peace have had some moder.
ating effect. The final product sent
to the White House will not be Sc
tough as 1t would have beer hae
Congress acted around the time o1
John L. Lewis pre- Christmas strike
barring a new outbreak of worl
stoppages.
Then, it should be considered thai
the final product probably will no
go as far toward regulating unior
activities as majority of the mem
bers think Congress should go. Thi!
sounds strange, but aside from ths
effect of compromise in conference
it must be remembered Congress!
keeps in mind as it acts the posi-
bility of a presidential veto.
Only last year Congress passed the
Case bill by sizable majorities onl!
to nave President Truman veto it
There is little doubt the presen
Congress would pass the same meas
ure over veto. 1t is generally be
iieved the new bill will be toughel
than the Case bill, which provided
for a cooling off" period before
strike in an important industry
banned union operated welfar,
supervisory workers and subjected
unions tc suits for violation of con
tract
In that event a White House vett
is likely. So on both sides of Con