Montana labor news., 1950-07-06

members OF Congress seeking reelection because they supported
This is exactly why Senator Taft and his allies put Sector
3l3 into the u .-Hartley Act denying local unions and inter
. nstions al, u n oon zen ,shf a to sppI9 a,mas;n m'o of ,e 1f fJsfs shs,s ! Tsi
and his friends reai. T1,< a gigantic job it would be for the
labor movement to car. . ach and every member to con
tribute money. Taft and ~orters had high hopes that
THEN TAI N HIS FRILl WOULD ROv BY
THEIR REELECTION THAT TRADE UNIONISTS EN-
DoRsED AND o THE TAFT-HARTLEY ACT.
WE KNOW BETTER
But the carefully-l laid plans of Senator Taft shall not work out
as he hoped. The trade unionists of America n individually
tributng because already the vicious nature of the Taft-H Hartley
Act is clear-partcularly to those trade unionsts in the building
and construction industry.
TAFT-HARTLEY N THE BUILDING TRADES
On the record. the H Act has already hurt the
building trades unions MORE than any other group of organized
labor.
That is exactly what Senator Taft aimed at and it is exactly
where he scored.
Legislative History
While the Taft Hartley bill was still being shaped up in Con
gress, Senator Taft and his friends put in section after section
directed against building trades unions. For example. the long
debate on jurisdchonal strikes contained nothing but examples
taken from the building construction industry.
The debate on the closed shop was made with reference to
the building trades unions. The debate on boycotts was filled
with references to building trades practices.
Since the building trades unions were among the oldest labor
organizations in existence, since they were part of the hard core
of trade unionfsm that neither depressons nor antiunion en-
ployers could break. common sense alone explains why Senator
Taft aimed the TaftHarhey Act at the building trades unions.
Proof of the about drive against the heart of the trade union
movement is found in section after section of the Taft-Hartley
Act. Let's consider just a few. Let look at the record.
Union Security
For more than a century. one of the sources of strength among
building trades unions has been the closed shop. Save for a
very few unions outside the construction industry, the closed
shop condition has long been a characteristic of the construction
trades. Building trades men have struck, fought and died TO
maintain the closed shop. Millions of dollars have been spent
by employers to destroy it. Supreme Court decisions have
upheld it. Bad times and good times meant nothing-the
closed shop continued.
Rt aftar pOra thar :, cent,ry ~ ax;etanca the cloaJ obop
in the building and construction industry was wiped out over
night by the Taft-4artley Act.
Yet, not only did the Taft-Harney Act wipe the closed shop
out of the construction industry-that act turned the building
industry into an OPEN SHOP industry overnight.
Certainly-as Senator Taft will say-the Taft-Hartley Act
INC TRADES UNIoN
One Of the tricks of the Taft-Harley Act was to set up
requirements for a so-called union shop that were impossible to
apply to building and construction trades unions. Even General
Counsel Denham of the NLRB admits that
Specifically, the act creates the right Of a trade union to
demand an Nj RIB election to prove that union members want
the union shop" made available by law. TO get this right
trade unions must submit financial reports and non-Communist
affidavits. When building trades unions lost their closed shops
they tried to get some kind OF union security by meeting these
requirements. Then they called for the NLRB elections.
For more than two years building trades unions have been
calling for their rights. For more than two years General
Counsel Denham of the NLRB has failed to administer the law
regarding the union shop. For two years, the NLRB itself has
been unable to administer this part of the law.
The net result is that on the one hand they have lost their
right to a union shop. Legally. today, the building and con
strucdon industry is operating under an open shop condition for
the first time IN over a century.
Injunctions
AS a group. building trades unions have probably suffered
more than any other trade unions under the injunction. In
functions have long been the weapon of anti union employers
and were used so unjustly that in 1882 Congress outlawed the
use of the labor injunction in the NornsLaGuardia Act.
The Taft-Hartley Act has restored the labor injunction. Today
there arr a number Of practices which building trades unions
have over the years been forced to use in self-defense that the
Taft Hartley Act calls unfair labor practices" When a build
ing trades union allegedly attempts to use these practices, then
General Counsel Denham is OBLIGED TO SEEK AN INJUNC-
TON. Proof of the unfair labor act comes AFTER the in
are now called unfair labor practices described in Section
6 (b) "a (A-B-C) of the Taft Act.
EXAMPLE NC. 1-SYMPATHETIC STRIKE
Assume that on a construction project two separate con-
tracts are let-one for plumbing and one for heating and air
conditioning. Suppose one of the contractors employs nom
union men. At this point the U. A. members engage in a strike
to force the non-union employer to hire union men. Certainly,
that is a long established practice Of all building and construc-
ton trades unions But, with equal certainty, today, that is an
unfair labor practice (Section 8 b A. for which the NLRB is
required to seek an junction.
However. let Us assume that the l. A. members approach the
building and construction trades council and ask the council to
take action which would require all trade union members on
the job to strike in sympathy. That long established practice
is also unfair labor practice because it is an attempt to in
duce or encourage the employees Of any employer to engage
in. a strike OF a concerted refusal in the course of their employ
rnent' for the purpose of forcing or requiring any other employer
10 recognize or bargain with a lobar organization as the re-
presentation Of his employees unless such labor organization
has been certified as the representative Of such employees by tn.
NLRB (See Section 6-4-B) Such a practice-long established
in the building trade industry-would Immediately obliee tn,
NLRB to seek an injunction.