Evening star., 1948-09-06

New Wolkouts TO couss
Big Loss, Writer Says;
Cites 6. o. P. as Vieton
By David Laurence
This Is the day when both politica
parties and all candidates WOO tn.
labor unions in the hope Of winning
their votes. The usual statement.
laudatory Of labor are issued. Bu
something else decides whether labol
unions gain or lose prestige-it is tn.
extent to which they injure tn.
public interest by strikes and indus
trial stoppages.
Just two years ago the country
swept the Republican Party into
power in both houses Of Congres.
in surprise landslide. 1t was a.
much due to the irritation Of the
any other single cause.
For several months there has beer
an era of relative quiet on the labor
front Now the strikes are starting
again. The stoppage Of truck trans
portation in New York is the most
conspicuous example of damage tC
the general public.
The losses run to many millions
Of dollars in such strikes. The labor
union leaders think only the en-
ployers lose-actually the third par
ties who are not directly involved
in strikes lose the most.
When President Truman says the
Taft-Hartley Act should be repealed
and when his administration says
that the 80-day injunction on the
Pacific Coast, for instance, exhauSts
the remedies Of the Government In
the maritime union controversy, he
merely emphasizes that he Is for la
Dor unions no matter what the dam
age may be.
Public Can Understand.
This Is something the general pub
lie can understand. The more Mr.
Truman sides with the unions, the
more he places on himself the bur-
den OF responsibility for strikes and
work stoppages. Incidentally, when
the workers go to the polls. 1t is
amazing how many votes are cast
by the housewives Of strikers in pro-
test against union leaders.
The rank and file Of labor is often
browbeaten In union meetings but
at the polls a secret expression of
their belief that labor unions should
not be permitted to 60 to extremes
can be registered. The Gallup poll
Immediately after the November
l946 election showed a substantial
shift OF manual workers from the
Democratic to the Republican COL
umn. This was an indication that
the rank and file felt that matters
had gone too far on the strike front.
The Republican Congress and large
number Of Democrats in both houses
interpreted this trend as a mandate
to pass the Taft-Hartley Act.
The more the labor union bosses
agitate for the repeal of the new
labor law which emancipates the
worker and gives him measure Of
freedom, though not all that is de-
sirsble In order to protect him from
abuses on the picket line, the more
votes will be rolled up against Presi-
dent Truman and the Democratic
tickets in the North which are in
open alliance with the labor union
bosses.
The best thing that could happen
politically for Mr.. Truman would
be period Of labor peace between
now and election. 1t would give
some of the people injured by strikes
chance to forget the damage done,
if that is possible.
Strikes Will Cut Support.
But the recurrence Of a wave of
strikes is almost certain to cut down
the big-city ma torities Of the Demo-
Gratis and render futile the much
publicized -to-door canvass by
labor union committees to get out
the vote.
Another political angle of the
union question relates to- commu-
nistic activity in unions. Lately
the public has come to believe what
1t was reluctant to accept for years
that Communists do bore from
within and do cause lot Of ire
sponsible action inside unions. The
evidence that Communists exert a
powerful influence inside labor
unions and the fact that many i'm
portant union boards of officers re-
fuse to sign Communist afi-
davits Is being widely accepted as
bearing on the need for stronger
legislation in that respect rather
than repeal.
The public should not be deceived
incidentally, by the minority in the
National Catholic Welfare Confer
ence who are using the name of that
benevolent institution to weaken the
present provisions of the Taft Hart
ley law which are designed to re-
qulre union officers to swear that
they are not copnected, directly or
indirectly, with organizations that
seek the overthrow by force of the
American Government.
The attitude of the Social Ac-
ton" division of he National Cath
olic Welfare Conference will be
misunderstood by many as rejecting
the view Of the Catholic Church.
which, of course, it does not. This
Is not the first occasion when the
Social Action" division has been
on the labor union side-it issued a
somewhat similar statement a year
ago.