Evening star., 1949-02-01

over all of the policies and standards
of the conciliation service.
1T is with real regret" he went
on. that l find that candor and de-
votion require that say to you that
such action will seriously damage
the effectiveness of Government
mediation. 1t would be step back
wards ="
Subservience to Unions.
! Mr.. Ching said that at least the
present and the last Secretary OF
Labor have found themselves almost
without exception aligned ON the
side of labor unions in respect OF all
legislative and administrative pro-
grams on which employers and UNI
ions differed.
You and I know it would
be most unfair to hold that this
coincidence demonstrates the de-
partment Is subservient to unions.
Unfortunately. however, many peo-
pie do not know that, and believe
that it is SO subServient.
"At this point I want to observe
most emphatically that 1t is in re-
spect Of employers who hold such
views, as we'll as others who have
confidence in the service, that effec-
tive mediation must be carried on II
We are to have industrial peace.
Other employers will solve their
problems with or without mediators,
and regardless Of the agency to
which the mediators are attached.
How is the Department of Labor to
convince the Skeptical employers
that it holds no brief for the unions
with which they must bargain?"
Senator Douglas. Democrat, Of
Illinois wanted TO know If the Con-
ciliation Service could be put under
the Labor Department for house
keeping purposes if the director
remained Independent.
"The housekeeper can make 1t
awfully uncomfortable for you," Mr..
Ching replied. He controls the
budget, controls personnel, pretty
near controls the service.
Taft Questions Witness.
Senator Taft, Republican, of Ohio
asked the witness about previous
recommendations he had made for
changes in the Taft-Hartley Act.
Mr.. Ching said it would be i'm
proper" for the conciliation director
TO make recommendations, adding
he was not taking a stand on use Of
the injunction in labor disputes.
But you have already done so,'
Senator Taft said.
The conciliator agreed that two
recommendation had been made:
l. Elimination of a final vote by
the fact finding board appointed to
consider disputes involving a na-
tional emergency, and 2. that the
fact finding board not be appointed
until the Cancellation Service had
been given more time to settle a
dispute.
In some cases. Mr.. Ching said, his
service had to stop work on disputes
two weeks before the deadline so the
special board of inquiry could be
set up, preliminary to asking for an
injunction. He suggested that the
Cancellation Service be allowed to
continue negotiation up to within "a
or SO hours of the deadline, and that
the special board have power to
make recommendations instead Of
presenting only the facts to the
President.
Strike Issue Raised.
Senator Morse, Republican, Of
Oregon, brought out later that even
under. the Taft Hartley Act serious
Nationwide strikes can occur II a
union is strong enough to hold its
members together until after the
fact finding cooling-otf period has
been gone through.
Mr.. Ching said that is quite true.
This prompted Senator Morse u
ask the witness If he would take
the position that in national emer-
gency cases the right to strike should
be denied.
Without making any recommends
ton, Mr.. Ching asked the committee
to remember that if the Government
denied the right to strike 1t would
carry with it an obligation to set
up some machinery for settling the
grievance in some other way.
That presupposes some form of
compulsory arbitration" Mr.. Ching
went on. But if one party refused
to carry out the terms of arbitra-
ton, what do you do then? You
could use the injunction, but if any
substantial number of individuals
decided not to comply, what would
you do then? Frankly, I do not
know"