Evening star., 1948-04-01
Industrial Crisis Seen
Within Il Days Unless
Coal Mining Resumes
Congress Action Likely
If President Delays in
Issuance Of Injunction
By David Laurence

issuance OF IN unCtlon
By David Laurence
A crisis In the industrial world Is
approaching. Shortage OF coal due
to the strike will shortly shut up the
auto industry and the steel furnaces
Of the Nation and may further cur
tail freight and passenger service on
coal-burning roads.
There Is less than three weeks in
which to get coal mining resumed
to prevent an industrial catastrophe
Of major proportions.
President Truman has power un-
der the Hartley law to direct
the Justice Department to ask the
Federal courts for an 80-day injunc-
ton. Such a step is expected to be
taken next week. It may be coun-
tered by legal moves on the part OF
John L. Lewis and his union, so that
a few more days delay would seem
probable.
But II, at the end of next week, an
Injunction has not been issued, the
Congress Of the United States may
have to consider the passage at once
Of remedial legislation.
The court Injunction, if granted,
could order all officers and locals
of the miners union to call the men
back to the mines. The individual
miners can under the Constitution
refrain from needing the call, but
IL they are influenced by concerted
action of two or more persons con-
nected with the miners union. then
this would be a violation OF the in
junction and could be punished by
jail sentence upon conviction OF
charges Of contempt of court.
Could Impound Funds.
The funds of the union can be i'm
pounded and various other restric-
tions imposed. Official Washington
expects Mr.. Lewis and the union to
comply with an injunction but to
make an appeal to higher court.
Meanwhile, the court order remains
until a fact finding board, already
appointed by the President, makes
a report, after which the law says
the injunction must be dissolved.
First, Of course, the miners, in an
election conducted by the National
Labor Relations Board by secret
ballot, must vote on the final of1er
OF the employers.
In the end, Congress may get the
dispute and consider legislative
remedy. The one most talked about
on Capitol Hill is proposal by Rep
resentative Hartley of New Jersey
When the Taft-Hartley bill was un-
der consideration, he tried to get
the same measure adopted last year
It would outlaw industry wide bar
gaining and Nationwide strike
weapons.
The theory is that, when any one
man or union secures a monopoly
over production, he should be just
as much subject to the antitrust
laws which prohibit restraint OF
trade as are Nationwide corpora
tions.
The House of Representatives was
ready to write such proposal into
law and, in fact, sentiment was two
to one in favor of 1t. The Senate,
however, baked because it knew
that such a provision might draw
off Democratic votes in the Senate
and make 1t impossible to override
the presidential veto then expected.
Now, however, with a national
crisis in evidence that can easily be
understood by the American people,
it would appear that the Senate
would pass such measure II only
to overcome the arbitrary abuse OF
collective bargaining power that has
led to closed shop of miners and
a dictatorship of production in the
mines by small clique of men with
totalitarian constitution which
they use to discipline the miners.
Main Legal Obstacle.
There is some suggestion that
Mr.. Lewis knows he cannot go too
far in his tactics and will comply
with a court order and then at
tempt to make a dramatic protest
against the injunction power con-
tanned in the Taft-Hartley law
The main legal obstacle which
may arise next week is the conten-
tention that Mr.. Lewis did not
order the strike but that the men
acted Of their own volition and that
the law says nobody need work I'M
less he is able and willing. But in
dividual action is entirely different
from concerted action by a union
or its local leaders. Certainly the
sudden stoppage Of work sinnul-
taneously by nearly 100000 persons
will not be accepted as an example
of mental telepathy induced by no
word-of- mouth or written instruc-
tions from the leadership OF the
union, whether in local or regional
districts.
The miners union chief pleaded
last year that he did not call a
strike but that the men wouldn't
work without a contract. The court
made short shrift of that contention.
The present law does not require
proof of strike call but merely
proof that a work stoppage actually
exists. The presumption is that
workers do not stop work except by
concerted action. For purposes of
ordering the work stoppage ended,
there is ample machinery available.
Likewise, defiance of court in
junction Is not practicable from the
union standpoint. so an end of the
strike can be achieved in about 10
days II the courts interpret the
Taft-Hartley law as Congress in
tended.
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