The union times., 1948-04-24

It relies on the courts, and the courts have their dignity to maintain and their face to save. and so they dare not be flexible. They must compel the union and its leaders to drain the cup of worm wood, lest someone accuse the courts of Oppor- tunism.
 This shows how incredible an instrument of labor we have in the court injunction and the con- tempt proceedings The great advance in labor relations in the past half-century has been in the substitution of administrative agencies in the place of the courts. The system of collective bargaining under administrative supervision, is flexible and informal enough to get results. The courts concerned with results but with face. Note that Lewis had already settled the pension prob. lem: in effect, he was being tried because he had settled 1t in unOrthOdO1 ,Ody. Justice Colds borough felt the whole world, and all the ''Iawless fOrces'' in it, were watching him. Which makes fine dramatics, but is way for settling labor disputes. We need to get back to the administra- tive system, which has worked so we'll under the NLRB, and get away from the system of blunder- ing by injunction.
 Two Novel Doctrines of Law
 Not content with following the established lines of the law, Justice COIdsborough has struck out on new paths, and has announced two rather novel doctrines of law:
 q The first is the doctrine that a union leader, to be guilty of violating the Taft-Hartley Act, need not have called strike in defiance of the Act In fact, he need not have made any sort of utterance-prOvided that ga nod, or a wink, or a code used in place of the word strike.' This is my favOrite grOtesque quotation from the whole grOtesque episode. shall call it, in my media tions. the ''Nod Wink Doctrine of labor guilt. Up to now the labor agencies and the courts have had job enough trying to interpret verbal Ian- guage used in labor disputes-and there has been plenty of it. Now suppose they will have to be- come experts in the more primitive language of nonVerbal signs. Why not set up special divi- sion Of the Dept. of Justice to concentrate the interpretation of mods, winks, and codes? It could be called the Division of Labor Thought-ControI which is indeed what seem to be moving to- ward.
 q As if there were not enough new law for decision, Justice ColdsbOrough adds another novel doctrine for good measure. It is the doc Urine that trade-uniOn is responsible for every- thing its members dO whatever the of the conduct. There may, of course, be wOrk-stOp- page which is against the wishes of the leaders and beyond their control: if sO the union leaders have the burden of proving it. This means that unions must become self-pOlicing for the punitive provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act and the con- tempt procedures. It means you guilty not only for what you do union leader. but what you fail to prevent your men from doing. SUD- pose that if the coal miners stay away from work as protest against the conviction of Lewis, that will involve further punishment of Lewis and the unions. This is an interesting way of making the unions part of the governments Labor Front.
 The fact is, of course, that this whole fantastic pyramid of injunction blundering, nOd-and-wink espionage, and collective guilt for negative ac- tions is so mOnstrOusly unavoidable that it is IO A"AA OA Ato O"H "ClSHt' put IL OOeSs what mess it will have made. cannot see how you can mine coal by injunction, or by the nod and-wink doctrine. If l were a coal miner I could not imagine a way of getting my dander up, of making me stay away from the pits. and of making John L. Lewis labor martyr in my eyes, than the way that has now been adopted don't see how jailful of labor leaders, and a success sion of whOpping fines on the unions, will achieve anything but smoldering resentment and indus trial chaos. Nor do I see how this new form of crackdown on labor by the Truman Administra- tion-so reminiscent of the hapless adventure in military fascism in the railway strike-wiII help to create the orderly war economy for which the military men today have passionate a desire