Evening star., 1949-12-22
Taft Act Repealed,
In Effect, by Failure
To Enforce Provisions
Attitude Of President
Indicted in Dropping Of
Gray From Labor Board
By David Laurence

~---s--
10 call for repeal of the Taft
Hartley act. So far as he is con-
cerned, it is already repealed.
An indication of his attitude Is
eiven in connection with his fall
ure to provide a fifth member for
the National Labor Relations
Board as required by law. The
fact that the term Of j. Copeland
Gray would expire this week has
been known for a long time. At
tention has been called to 1t re-
peatedly in the press. The simple
announcement that Mr.. Gray
wouldn't be reappointed has been
made but no mention has been
made of any successor.
Usually when a vacancy occurs
during a recess Of Congress, the
President promptly makes a recess
appointment and confirmation
awaits the next session.
Made Good Record.
Whether or not Mr.. Gray
should have been reappointed-
for he has made a good record on
the boards a matter OF judg-
ment, and the President has a
right to his own opinion. 1t does
seem strange, however. that Mr..
Truman would now indicate that
he was wrong in appointing Mr..
Gray in the first place. though the
President rarely admits he can be
wrong about anything. It could be
that Mr.. Truman has in mind
making q political appointment,
giving the post to some political
friend who has rendered him sup
port. and that he will send In a
name to the Senate next month.
The lineup Of the National
Labor Relations Board has been
three to two in favor Of the labor
unions. With Mr.. Gray's de-
parture it will be three to one In
the same direction. There have
been times when Paul Herzog
chairman, has sided with Messrs.
REYNOLDS and Gray in what might
be regarded as objective deci-
sions, but apparently now. II Mr..
Herzog and Mr.. Reynolds should
see eye to eye on some case, the
Murdock-H Houston votes on the
opposite side would mean q tie.
It seems improbable that there
will be many such instances. For
all practical purposes. the labor
unions will have a three-to-one
majority and hence 1t might be
that Mr.. Truman sees no need Tor
haste in finding a fifth member.
The Taft-Hartley Act could
have been amended in the last ses-
sion Of Congress but the extrem-
lists In the ranks Of the labor
strategists preferred to let the bill
die in committee after q few test
votes in the House. The assump-
ton was that the 1850 Congress
would bring in new adherents to
the pro-union side and that the
original Wagner Act with its one
sided handling Of labor relations
would come back on the statute
books. This will hardly require q
five-n1an board. For. with q pro-
union majority. three members IN
all presumably are enough.
Bans Circumvented.
II fs difficult to see why the
labor unions collect so much money
for political assessments IN order
to attempt to repeal the Taft
Hartley Act when they have been
making such remarkable strides
notwithstanding its presence on
the statute books. No important
case has developed in which a
unions collective bargaining rights
have been curtailed. Membership
Il on the increase. Industry-wide
bargaining is fourishing, as wit
ness what Messrs. Murray and
Lewis are accomplishing with the
use Of economic power. Likewise
pensions have been ordered as a
subject for collective bargaining,
thus increasing the opportunities
Of labor union officers to win pres
tige and votes inside the unions.
Also, so far as the restrictive
features Of the Taft-Hartley Act
touch labor union prerogatives,
these are not really enforced ef-
fectively. The CLOSED shop" ban
has been circumvented right along
and when the courts, after months
Of dilatory litigation, issue an in
junction, it isn't enforced either.
So al the agitation about repeal
ing the Injunction provisions of
the law is largely academic. The
Taft-Hartley law. in effect, has
been repealed by failure to enforce
some of its most important pro-
visions and by pro-union interpre-
tAtions Of the law.
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