Evening star., 1948-08-29
Union Hiring Halls Seen
as Communist Weapons
Secretary Tobin's Statement Deplored
as Injurious to National Security

NJ ~~hAa~H'SA w FShS
Secretary Tobin's Statement Deplored
as Injurious to National Security
By Gerard d. Reilly
Friends of the Department OF Labor who had
regarded the appointment of Maurice Tobin
as Secretary as giving promise Of less partisan
administration Of Its affairs were dismayed
last week when the new cabinet officer took
the occasion OF q press conference on the
maritime labor situation to denounce the anti
closed-shop provisions Of the Taft-Hartley Act.
Because a strike was threatened by the de-
mand of two Communist dominated unions for
retention of an illegal hiring-ha system, Mr..
Tobin made the assumption that the act which
frowned upon this monopolistic advice was
hindrance to industrial peace. He therefore
contended that any law which forbids employees
and labor organizations from signing closed
shop agreements, If they wished to, should be
repealed.
This of course, has been the stock argument
of most professional union officials whenever
the question has come up of providing some
protection to the individual worker from abuses
of union power. Leave everything to "volun-
tary" collective bargaining. Plenty of employ
ers have found that they can do business with
our monopolies. Only impractical theorists
worry about the little fellow, the country Is
told in effect
1t is somewhat ironic to find an echo Of
this philosophy emanating from the head of a
department created by law to foster and
protect the interests of the wage Garner" That
Secretary Tobin should have accepted this
thesis is particularly surprising. During his
term as Governor of Massachusetts Q942-l944)
he impressed the independent voters of that
Commonwealth as public official of sense and
moderation. There are indications, however,
that since he has come to Washington his
lack of experience in industrial relations has
been seized upon to make him the victim Of
poor advice.
This Is illustrated by his selection Of the
maritime labor dispute as an example of the
shortcomings of the Taft-Hartley Acts restric-
tion on the closed shop. II there Is one industry
in the country where such a restriction Is
badly needed In the interests Of national
security 1t is In the maritime field.
Since the coast-wide strikes Of 1s36-1937,
employment as seaman on a vessel of United
States registry and employment as a stevedore
on the West Coast has been the virtual monop-
oily of three unons-the International Sea-
farers, (AFL), the National Maritime Union
(CIO) and the International Longshoremen
and Warehousemens Union (CIO). This has
been due to the fact that these unions forced
water front employers in all major ports to
agree to hiring hall system under which the
registration of applicants and their dispatch
ing to jobs has been solely in the control of the
particular union.
Harry Lundeberg the president Of the Sea-
farers, has publicly boasted that this system
has enabled him to keep Communists off ships
where his union is recognized. While his rivals
have been less candid about their tactics, how
ever it may readily be inferred that the two
CIO unions which for years have embraced the
Soviet line have been equally successful in
blacklsting anti-Communists, This has also
been the testimony of responsible officials of the
operating companies.
At the time the Taft-Hartley Act was passed
therefore, it was apparent to all informed OBJ
servers that the continuous operation of our
merchant marine depended upon the whim OF
the makers of Soviet foreign policy 1t has fire.
quently been demonstrated that the program Of
aid to Western Europe could be crippled at
any time by theological waterfront strikes called
by the Communist leadership of the CIO unions.
Accordingly, one Of the avowed detectives of the
new legislation was to put an end to the union
hiring hall system which made this situation
possible
On the effective date of the act however,
NMU and ILWU contracts containing hiring
hall clauses still had several months to run.
As their expiration date neared, the unions
served notice that they did not propose to
comply with the law and that such compro-
mise suggestions as joint control of the hiring
halls were unacceptable. The challenge there
fore was bold and clearcut. Moreover, the
administration for the first time was equipped
with law which provided an effective instru-
ment for plugging one of the gaping holes in
the armor Of our national defense.
Unfortunately this golden opportunity was
bungled by the tendency on the part Of some
of the White House circle to appease any and
all labor organizations. The general counsel
of the NLRB, who has been making an honest
attempt in the face of discouraging support to
enforce the statute, was prevailed upon by the
same White House adviser responsible for the
recent Lewis fiasco to defer an application for
temporary injunction. Instead the emer-
gency provisions Of the statute-designed only
to deal with strikes arising over legally per-
missible issues-were invoked. This meant
that the courts were limited to 80-day injunc-
ton orders which paradoxically preserved the
illegal status quo.
In the face of this disheartening response
to their pleas for legal redress, the East Coast
operators apitulated-agreeing to maintain
the old hiring-h system until declared illegal
by the courts. This is obviously complete
victory for the CIO, as the NLRB has found
that the new act clearly intended to outlaw
the hiring halls. Under the compromise"
engineered by the administration, however, ths
board decision will be disregarded until af-
hrmed by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile the
Cominform will continue to dangle sword OF
Damocles over our transatlantic life lines
Cuban waters. Admiral Sampson briefly re-
ferred to a number Of the important incidents