The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-02-26
The World Today
BY JAMES NARROW

WASHINGTON R - Once more
the government has called labor
and management leaders together
to build, if they can, road to in
dustrial peace. There has been no
widespread optimism about the
outcome.
Secretary of Labor Durkin has
established a Is man advisory
communicative from labor, five
from business, and five represent
ing the pubic-to advise him on
what changes Congress should
make in the Taft-Hartley Law.
If the Is can agree, so much
the better for Durkin If not, he'll
have to figure out what changes to
recommend. Since the committee
is advisory only, he can accept or
reject whatever it suggests.
The committee met Monday,
gets down to work next week. But
no matter what the committee
recommends or Durkin suggests to
Congress, it's Congress which will
have final say on any changes
made in TIL.
When a wave of strikes rolled
across the country at the end of
World War ii, ex-President Tru-
man called a 25-day management
labor conference. This was COM
posed of Is labor leaders, IS bust
ness leaders, three men represent
ing the public.
Truman said the time had come
for both management and labor to
show whether they could put their
houses in order and establish "a
broad and permanent foundation
for industrial peace and progress"
That was still in the period of
the Wagner Labor Relations Act
which had been passed in 1885.
About the most that act said was
this: employers must bargain with
union representing their
employees.
This put most of the load on
employers, practically no restric-
tions on unions. Management had
complained loudly for years it was
one-sided.
1t was against the background
of the Wagner Act, and years of
dispute about it between manage
ment and labor, that the manage
ment-labor conference of 1945 was
held.
To no ones great surprise the
conference broke UP without set
ting up machinery to settle post
war labor disputes. Leaders on
both sides were in complete dis
agreement on major issues.
AT the closing session labor lead
ers blasted business leaders, and
the leaders of the. ALL and clio,
William Green and Philip Murray,
weren't very happy with each
other, either.
And John L. Lewis, the miners
boss, gave his fellow representa-
tives of organized labor a lecture.
He reminded them to watch how
S m o othly management people
seemed to work together.
But there have been some major
changes between that 1945 confer
ence called by Truman and the
advisory committee now set up by
Secretary Durkin, Who was himself
a union leader before becoming
secretary:
/. In l947 the Republican-con-
trolled Congress, over Truman's
veto. substituted the Taft-H%tey
Act for the old Wagner Act. This
new law spelled out number of
restrictions on both management
and labor. particularly on labor.
2. Murray and Green are both
dead. George Meany Che took part
in the 1945 conference) is new head
az the AFL and Walter Reuther Che
didn't take part is president of
The Go. Lewis is on the advisory
committee, ton.
Meany and Reuther, who do not
have behind them the long history
of personal dispute, as did Murray
and Green, may work closer to-
gether.
While the ALL, CLIO and Lewis
miners all wanted the TIL wiped
out in the past, the AFL and CIo,