Evening star., 1949-10-25
Collective Bargaining
Seen Dead Letter in
Coal, Steel Industries
Employer Cont Sit Down
With Own Employees
Due to Big Union Rule
Bv David Laurence

NV w wy Su'Sh sNNiS
By David Laurence
When President Truman, at a
private dinner here the other
night, told 200 business men that
he didn't see much sense to the
coal and steel strikes, he was ex-
pressing the opinion. too, OF per-
sons in all walks of life.
But when the President advised
employers to sit down and work
out solutions Of their problems
with their employees, he was not
discussing present-day labor-man
agement relations. For no en-
ployer today in the large indus
tries may sit down to talk things
over with his own employees. He
sits down only with professional
group OF representatives, who do
not themselves work for any en-
ployer. That has been the law
of the land ever since the Wagner
ACC was pdSSeu.
With industry-wide bargaining
as it is practiced today in the steel
industry, for example, one union
calls strike affecting many en-
ployers. Negotiations are carried
on with one Of the large COM
panies first, and, if there Is a dis
agreement there, the strike Is
called in many other companies.
Thus collective bargaining is a
dead letter in the steel industry
50 far as a large number of COM
panies are concerned. They must
await the outcome of negotiations
between the United States Steel
Corp. and the Steelworkers' Union
Union Regulates Output.
One big union dominates the
coal-mining industry. Here the
employers are grouped by geo.
graphical sections, but the chief
of the miners union insists on in
dustry- wide arrangements.
Employers are forbidden to
make agreements with each other
with respect to the amount Of pro-
duction they will furnish the coun-
try and thus affect the price by
means of artificial scarcity. But
the miners union regulates at will
the amount of production that
may be done.
The employers in the coal in
dustry cannot sit down with their
own employees, as the President
suggested, because collective bar
gaining, as established under the
Wagner Act and confirmed under
the Taft-Hartley Act, requires the
employer to deal only with the
union officers or spokesmen. There
is no way by which an employer
can negotiate directly with his
own employees without being sub
jected to charges of an unfair
labor practice" and possible
court Injunction ordering him to
cease such a practice.
Also, under the present law.
there is an obligation on both par
ties to bargain In good faith. In
the coal negotiations recently. the
employer group reported that for
several weeks it was unable to
learn what the demands were.
Also the principals representing
the miners stayed away from the
negotiations for long periods of
time, or participated in them in
such a way as to preserve only the
fiction that meetings were taking
place. There has been little bar
gaining.
What It All Means.
What it all means is that when
either side makes up its mind that
an agreement is not possible, eco
nomic power is relied upon to
bring concessions from one side or
the other.
AS matters stand today in the
steel strike, settlement there
will be of little value unless coal is
available with which to start the
steel mills going again at full ca
pacity. So, until progress toward
q settlement of the coal contro-
versy is made, the negotiations on
the steel front will be listless.
The country, however, cannot
afford a tie-up such as would en-
sue If both coal and steel strikes
last several weeks more. The pres
sure on the administration to do
something Is growing. What that
something" can be is not clear as
yet.
The provisions Of the Taft
Hartley Act might be invoked to
require the coal miners to return
to work while a governmental
fact-finding board seeks to re-
solve the issues. II this happens,
1t is likely that negotiations to
settle the steel strike would be ac-
celerated.
In the case Of steel, the differ
ences between the parties are
really not insurmountable. But
until Philip Murray, head of the
steelworkers, gets through with
his battle with the Communist
wing at the CIO convention next
week, it is not probable that any
negotiations in earnest to settle
the strike will be begun. All the
efforts Of mediators to date have
been fruitless, because of the CIO
convention problems. It is Curl
Gus how the long hand Of Russia
reaches into Americas industrial
situation and complicates 1t.
Reproduction Rights Reserved)