Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-09
u. ). Chamber
Accuses NLRB
Of Union Bias
House Hearing Told
Some Federal Power
Should Go to States
By jones Y. Newton

The United States Chamber
of Commerce today accused the
National Labor Relations Board
of bias in favor of unions and
urged Congress to overhaul the
board and its staff.
Charges were leveled against
NLRB by Powell C. Groner, vice
president of the chamber, in
testimony prepared for delivery
to the House Labor Committee.
The committee, under Chairman
Mcconnell of Pennsylvania. is
holding hearings on revision Of
the Taft Hartley Act.
Mr.. Groner accused the five
member NLRB, which interprets
and administers Taft-Hartley.
of circumventing the law. pre-
judging cases, and manipulating
it's authority so as to condone
union abuses.
He said the public interest
should be better protected in
labor disputes, and that Congress
should take away some of the
Federal authority over labor
relations and give it to the
States and communities.
Opposes Bargaining Ban.
The United States Chamber,
however, came out against the
suggested ban on induStry-Wide
bargaining between unions and
groups of employers. Mr.. Groner
also said there was no objection
to a proposal for extending the
requirement of non-Communlst
afhdavits to employers, although
he thought the present provision
relating to union officers lis al
most an empty gesture"
AS Congress grappled anew
with this issue, Senator Taft of
Ohio, the Republican leader, said
after White House conference
that he thought that eventually
there would be some substantial
changes in the law--about IS
amendments.
President Eisenhower dis
cuSsed the labor law with his
congressional advisors this morn
ing and the Ohio Senator said
it was decided to go ahead with
the hearings in the Senate and
House and try to develop a re-
vamped measure instead of seek
ing to get an agreement on
changes through the Labor
Management Advisory Commit
tee whose sessions were broken
off Friday
While opposing a ban on in
dustry- wide bargaining where
such procedure for contract ne
gotiationS is accepted voluntarily,
Mr. Groner said Congress should
withdraw all privileges from
unions which try to force en-
ployers into group bargaining.
The chamber favored reten-
ton of the present provision for
80-day court injunctions in ma
tional emergency strikes. How
ever Mr.. Groner described az
"unjuStified" Government seizure
of industries involved in big
strikes, such as took place last
spring in the steel industry.
. The chamber opposed all forms
of union security or compulsory
unionism" including the union
shop which presently is permitted
under the Taft-Hartley Act.
Defends Voting Section.
The industry official also de-
Tended that part of the Taft
Hartley law which prohibits
workers striking on economic is
sues from voting in NLRB union
representation elections.
Mr.. Groner's charges against
the NLRB included:
/. 1t undermined the en-
ployer's right of free speech by
ruling that an employers crit
icism of a union may be the
basis for setting aside a repre-
sentation election that the union
lost.
2. The board has refused in
some cases to hold unions liable
for back pay, although Taft
Hartley holds both union and
employer liable for compensation
to a worker who suffers loss of
pay due to discrimination.
g.. The board has circumvented
the law by permitting secondary
boycotts against employers.
4. NLRB has developed
loophole in the provision Of
Taft-Hartley restricting "feath-
EMBEDDING"
5. The board has permitted
unions to strike one or all of an
employers plants. as it chooses.
but has refused to allow the en-