Evening star., 1948-06-02
Labor and the Atom

The labor-management dispute at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory Is an ordinary
one only in the sense that it has to do
with wages and a health and welfare
fund. Beyond that, however, 1t is Of
exceptionally far-reaching Importance be-
cause it bears upon the security of the
United States and because its outcome
should do much to determine the future
status of unions in our vast and un-
precedented atomic energy enterprise.
In its ordinary aspects, the dispute may
be summarized as follows: % 1t involves
only about 875 workers organized under
the Atomic Trades and Labor Council of
the American Federation of Labor; (2) the
other party involved is the Carbide and
Carbon Chemicals Corporation; CD for
the past two months, under Taft-Hartley
Act court order providing for cooling-on
period OF so days, Federal conciliators have
tried vainly to break the deadlock between
the two; "a conciliation having failed,
the National Labor Relations Board today
will complete poll of the union on the
company's final Offer" and (5) If the
offer is rejected, nothing in the law will
forbid a strike after June 7.
What makes all this extraordinary, and
what makes the idea Of strike unsup-
portable, is that the Atomic Energy Com
mission has told a special presidential
board of inquiry that work stoppage will
"imperil the national safety" In view of
the relatively small number of employees
involved, this may seem surprising, but If
they walk out, the laboratory will be lack
ing In vital electrical, plumbing and other
types OF maintenance indispensable to
uninterrupted research and development
Because of security considerations, the
Acc has been obliged to discuss this point
in generalized terms but it has made clear
that key operations are involved and that
If they are stopped-as threatened-activ-
tiles essential to the production of fission-
able materials will be suspended and the
United States will be hurt in a way 1t
cannot afford to be hurt in today's
dangerous world.
In the circumstances, whatever the AFL
union may choose to do, there is good
reason to wonder whether there is room
for normal labor practices in our atomic
energy project. After all, the project it
self is abnormal. Although the law behind
it wisely instructs that it be open to as
much private enterprise as possible, and
although the Acc has emphasized that
such enterprise is vital to the success of
the whole program, the fact remains that
1t Is unique, revolutionary and in all es-
sentials tightly controlled by the Govern
ment, even to the extent of paying the
wages-no matter how indirectly-of such
workers as those involved in the Oak Ridge
dispute. The participating industries, in
other words, are not free agents. They
have considerable leeway in MANAGEMENT
as contract-operators, but In the last
analysis the whole undertaking Is Fed
orally owned and directed.
In short, as far as the atom is con-
cerned, we just do not have business as
usual in this country, and it is difficult
to see how we can have labor as usual
Although many are nominally employed
by private industries our atomic workers
are not like workers in ordinary free enter
prise; their status is nearer that of Federal
employees who are not allowed to stage
walkouts against the Government. The
Oak Ridge situation serves to underscore
the point. Certainly, no matter what the
union down there may decide, simple
common sense argues that this ought to
be field closed to strikes. The Nation
cannot tolerate them without risking its
neck