Evening star., 1949-01-24
Truman Is With Us,
Clio Counsel Says
|0f Taft Act Stand

Arthur Goldberg, CIO genera
counsel, declared today he is con-
vinced" that President Truman lis
with us" in the CIO stand for i'm
mediate repeal of the Taft-Hartley
Act and re-enactment Of the Wag-
ner Act.
As the Senate Labor Committee
prepared to meet this afternoon to
decide whether to hold hearings
possibly lasting a month on the
labor law issue, Mr.. Goldberg pre-
dicted that Congress would follow
the 'two-package" plan Of repeating
the Taft-Hartley Act and restoring
the Wagner Act in one bill and
amending the Wagner Act in a
second bill.
The CIO, Mr.. Goldberg said, sees
no need for congressional hearings
now because "the 1948 election
campaign was hearing enough"
He told a news conference that
the CIO would certainly give con-
sideration" to some possible amend
ments of the Wagner Act. But it
would vigorously oppose any re-
tention of the Taft-Hartley Law
provision allowing the Government
to obtain court injunctions to pre-
vent so-called national emergency
strikes. The CIO also would oppose
any provision requiring officers OF
labor unions to file nom Communist
affdavits to be eligible for NLRB
privileges, he said.
No Conflict Seen.
Mr.. Goldberg said the CIO sees no
conflict between it's "two-package"
approach to the adoption of labor
legislation in the new Congress and
the statements made publicly by
President Truman.
Mr.. Goldberg said the CIO has
no intention of debating to the
President or to Congress as to the
procedure that should be followed
in considering enactment Of legis-
lation to replace the Taft-Hartley
Act. The CIO, however, does urge
speed in abolishing the Taft-Hartley
Act and believes that great con-
fusion would result if the Wagner
Act were not restored as soon as
possible.
After the Wagner Act is re-
enacted the CIO is willing to take
it's chances on amendments" he
added.
Some leaders have urged that
the new labor law be handled in
a single piece of legislation.
Coalition Forms.
In advance of the Senate labor ses-
sion, the Republican members OF
the committee and at least two
Democrats were lined up in favor
of hearings on a bill to repeal the
Taft Hartley law and restore the
old Wagner Act.
That coalition of Republican and
Democratic members-al favoring
hearings but split on the repeal
issue-constitutes majority OF the
13-man committee. Hence the Re-
publicans were claiming round one
in their battle to block repeal. Their
strategy is to take 1t slow and
easy to prepare for a showdown on
the Senate floor.
Senator Pepper, Democrat, OF
Florida, heads the opposition to the
coalition in the committee. He said
he will be on hand today to move
that there be no hearings and that
the committee send the repeater to
the floor at once.
In the House, the Labor Commit
tee hopes to act this week on legis-
lation to increase the present 40
cents-an-hour minimum wage to IS
cents, then move next week to hear
ing the Taft-Hartley issue.
Chairman Lesinski predicts the
House will pass a repeater and re-
store the Wagner Act before March
1, And if Mr.. Lesinski has his way,
that bill also will include the Wag-
ner Act Improvements which
President Truman wants.
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