Evening star., 1948-09-20
Murray. Success Seen
h Putting the Heat on
Roya|| on Hiring Halls
! Army VirtuoIIy Closed
Eyes to Violation of
Spirit of Taft Act
Br David Laurence

'hilip Murray, head of the CIO,
ha successfully put the heat" on
Army Secretary Royal and caused
hin to violate the spirit. if not the
lettr, of the Taft-Hartley Act.
NJ. Murray wanted the Army to
recognize the CLOSED shop" in the
hiring of longshoremen on the West
Coat. Inasmuch as the CIO leader
is olenly working for the reelection
of resident Truman, this certainly
put Secretary Royal on a hot spot.
Bu the hiring of longshoremen
throlgh hiring halls which dis
crimhate against non-union men
has been declared illegal by the
Natio.al Labor Relations Board
under the Taft-Hartley Act. Mr..
Murray nevertheless asked the Sec
retary If the Army either TO hire
workers directly through such halls
or else / make contract with some
compaw that may be choosing to
disregaH the legal limitations on
"hiring nails"
UStd to Follow Practice.
1t is tue that Army ships used
to follow the practice of hiring
through CLOSED shop" halls, but this
was befo:e the CLOSED shop" had
been declared illegal. Yet Mr.. Mur-
ray brazeIly asked the Secretary of
the Army to resume its previous
practice"
Mr.. Royal has to load goods for
the Far East, and the strike on
our West Coast reached the point
where ordfrs were recently issued
to recruit longshoremen directly
Reports received here indicate that
the union deliberately interfered
with the frmy's efforts to get dock
workers end actually urged the
men to nfrain from meeting the
Army's NEEDS. This may be an inter-
ference With the laws of the
United Safes governing recruit
ment of personnel and, as such,
ought to lave the attention of the
Justice De,artment.
The labst suggestion virtually
means that the Army closed its
eyes to the situation and confessed
1t had ben beaten by the long
shoremen's tactics and that con-
tract be made with a private COM
pany whih has already come to
terms with the union in a manner
that circunyents the spirit of the
law.
Refus. to Sign Affidavits.
The CIC union in question is
beaded by Harry Bridges, who has
successfully battled in the courts
the Governments efforts to deport
him on the ground that he was
Communist The officers of the
union have refused to sign the anti
Communist affidavits which are re-
quired by Federal law of any union
which wishes to use the National
Labor Relations Board machinery
The employers are refusing to deal
with the rnion unless it complies
with the law. The contractors who
have broken away from the en-
ployer group are now being sllg-
gested AS the ones with whom the
Army should deal.
It is far cry from the days OF
the Wagner Act when, during war
time, the ClO, in behalf of the Auto
Workers Urion, sought to eliminate
from Army bidding the Ford Motor
Car Co. and any companies accused |
in proceedings before the labor
board.
In this instance, there is no ques- |
tion about the fact that hiring halls |
are CLOSED shops" and that Con-
gress has made it unlawful for any
union, by a strike or otherwise, to
coerce an employer into closed |
shop agreement. For the Secre-
tarv of the Army to ignore this plain
provision of the law and to deal with
q union which has insisted that the
hiring halls be maintained, is to
fout the statute.
1t is surprising indeed that the
Army has surrendered to the long
shoremens union by granting the
demands of the CIO chieftain. Ger
tainly it adds proof to Senator Taft's
recent charge that President Tru-
man is permitting open defiance of
the, Taft-Hartley Act, which he is
sworn by the Constitution to uphold
as long as it is the law of the land,
even though he may, Of course, prop
erly agitate for its repeal.
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