Evening star., 1948-08-20
Tobin's S Closed Shop
Stand Gives Dewey
Issue on a Platter
Such Agreements Seen
Violating individuals
Right to Work
By Davfd Lavrencs

DJ DUptd LNDTeuCG
II any business man or If any Re-
publican leader had made the state
ment that monopolies were q good
thing and that businesses with a
virtual monopoly had been supply
ing goods satisfactorily to the public
for many years and that this was
good reason for repeating the anti
trust laws, the howl Of protest that
would arise from the Democrats
would be loud and vigorous.
Yet the new Secretary Of Labor,
Maurice J. Tobin. on taking ONCE,
announces that the CLOSED shop
greements-which have been for
many years a monopoly for labor
unions and which now have been
forbidden by the Taft Hartley law
should be revived. He says this
should be done because millions of
workers were getting along amicably
with employers under the closed
shop agreements arrived at by rnu-
tual consent"
Anybody who knows anything
about how a closed shop" agree
ment is secured in the first instance
knows there isn't very much CON
sent" about it but usually a strike
or threat of strike and considerable
economic duress.
Violates Right TO Work.
A "closed shop" violates the fun
@on q RI in pf
his right to work wherever he
pleases. President Truman talks a
lot about civil rights, but the right
to work has never been protected
by any bill proposed by the Truman
administration. The only law ever
passed which tends in that direction
and It is by no means adequate
for the purpose in the opinion of
the majority of the House OF
REPRESENTATIVES who tried to
strengthen it last years the pres
ent statute arrived at by compro-
mise between the House and Senate
and vetoed originally by Mr..
Truman.
Under q CLOSED shop" worker
must join a union in order to get
q Job. Millions of Americans who
fought for their country in the last
war came home to find jobs closed
to them unless they joined unions.
There Is no fundamental doctrine
In human history which makes 1t
necessary for man to give up his
right to bargain individually for
his rate of pay or working condi-
tons. On the contrary, In NaZi
Germany and in Russia, where
government control Of labor unions
has been the order, the individual
gives up his right to bargain and
must join with others and accept
government dictation no matter
what he may wish for mself.
The present rule that the ma
1ority of workers in a plant COM
pels the minority to accept collec-
tive bargaining is an Interpretation
derived from something said by
Justice Roberts In the first Supreme
Court opinion upholding the Wag-
ner law. He declared that, while
the majority may bargain In behalf
OF the minority, it didn't mean that
the individual was barred from
handling his grievances in his own
way This has since been construed
to mean also that the employer
cannot grant to any minority OF in
dividuals any better wage rates than
he gives to the majority. This rule
against discrimination as between
groups is we'll founded.
But when an attempt is made by
law, as in the Wagner Act, to deny
protection to the individual who
does not want to Join a union, this
transgresses the rights of the citi-
zen. When the Taft-Hartley law
prohibited the closed shop" alto
Rether. 1t meant that the workers
OF America were emancipated from
their enslsvement under the Wag-
ner law. The CLOSED shop" has
never been explicitly ruled upon by
the Supreme Court.
Workers Right to Vote.
Today, under the Taft Hartley
Act. the workers in a plant have
the right by a majority vote to re-
qujre that anyone who has been
employed must join a union after
30 days. But at the same time the
union cannot dictate who shall or
shall not be employed in the first
instance. The decision as to wheth-
er a majority in plant want a
closed shop must be made in an
election by secret ballot of the en-
ploves In that plant. The union
bosses don't like this rule because
It eliminates duress and coercion
So they are raising hue and cry
about how cumbersome" the elec-
tions are and how unnecessary
since the workers usually vote for
closed shops" anyway.
This is very much like arguing
that there isn't much need for q
presidential election with all it's ex-
pense and time because all one
would need to 60 by was the results
of Gallup poll. An informal ap-
praisal of what the workers want
especially when made by union
bosses with the power to withhold
Jobs from any dissenting workers, is
not the equivalent of an election by
aecret ballot.
If Secretary Tobin's statement
means that Mr.. Truman is going to
campaign on platform demanding
the return of the closed shop In
America, then Gov Dewey has been
handed q big issue on a platter and
many millions of votes. too, from
independent minded Americans who
don't like monopoly or any other
bar to the right to work. It's the
most important of all civil rights
Reproduetion Rights ReservedD