The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1948-08-26
MAURICE TOBIN HITS
AT TAFT-HARTLEY LAW

AT TAFI-nARgl
Washington (LPA)-At his first
press conference here, new Labor
Secretary Maurice Tobin led off
with a bitter attack on the damage
done to labor-management peace
by passage of the Hartley law
Concentrating especially on the
ban on closed shop, Tobin said that
under the law "the closed shop is
declared illegal and cannot be con-
tracted for by those employers
who desire it and consider it mutu-
ally advantageous" He called the
ban on the 100-year old practice
"impracticaP and conceded that il
led to "lot of bootlegging and
dealing under the table"
The next day, President Truman
told reporters that he is in com
plete accord with Tobin's views.
And Chairman j. Howard McGrath
of the Democratic Natl Commit
tee added on the same day that
the outlawing of the hiring hall un-
der TIL is the Great Lakes mari
time union case "is an unwarranted
invasion of the principle Of free
collective bargaining but legal un-
der the Taft Hartley law. 1t proves
the point made by the President
in his veto message in 1947."
Tobin told reporters that he hop
ed to name an under-secretary for
the department within a month.
The gap was left by the resigna-
tion Of John Kmetz, and will un-
doubtedly be filled by an AFL of
ficial. No one can be named to fill
the post left vacant when Under
secretary David Morse resigned,
due to a teehnicality.
The new Labor Dept head indi-
Gated that he hoped to confer soon
with AFL President William Green
and CIO President Philip Murray,
as well as other union leaders.
Here are Tobin's views on the
Taft Hartley law:
"At the time the Taft Hartley
law was passed millions Of workers
were getting along amicably with
employers under the closed shop
agreements arrived at by mutual
consent. Few strikes occurred in in
dustries where the closed shop was
the tradition and the pattern, for
the most part, was one of labor
management cooperation and un-
derstanding. The closed shop has
been in existence in the United
States for more than a century,
and was relied upon by employers
as we'll as employees to create
stable conditions of employment
and to obtain and maintain an ade-
quate supply of qualified workers
in skilled trades and occupations.
Under the Taft Hartley law, the
closed shop is declared illegal and
cannot be contracted for by those
employers who desire it and consid-
er it mutually advantageous.
"Whfle the union shop is permits
sible under the Taft-Hartley law,
the union and employer cannot
enter into a union-shop agreement
until they have submitted to the
cumbersome arrangements of the
act and an election of employees
is conducted at public expense.
Such elections are required even
where there is already in existence
clear evidence that the employees
ind the employer are willing andI
ready to enter into a union-shop
agreement.
with the Government more
leeply involved than ever before
IN the process of public officials,
# any expenditure of money is in
'olved, thus the Act prevents work
'rs from taking an effective posi-
ion to protect their economic Sc
,urity, As | understand the law
mion could not even pay for a
lall for the purpose Of conducting
J meeting to discuss candidates or
ssues in national elections. A court |
,os held that a union cannot buy /
newspaper advertising space or
'aGio time for this purpose under
he provisions of the Taft Hartley |
Act.
"Such restrictions on organized
pbor We're never in our history /
'art of the federal law. The law
S blow at unionism. Unionism for
ver a century has been a potent
actor in our American system, and
n recent years a heavy contribut-
ng factor to our country's overall