Evening star., 1953-03-01
Durkin
Labor Wants More
Than He Can Give
By John Herring


the Labor Department and Presi-
dent Eisenhower is the man who
put it there. AS time goes on,
Secretary of Labor Martin Durkin
is more likely to be aware of the
spot than of the light. For, even
after a lifetime OF hard knocks in
union-management relations, Mr..
Durkin is coming to the realization
that he took a tough assignment
when he took over the Labor port
folio.
Forty years ago next Wednesday
Republican President William How
ard Taft signed, with considerable
hesitation" the bill setting up an
independent Department of Labor.
This was Taft'S last official act as
President.
There had been a single Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor for
10 years, and decades Of agitation
for the creation Of a Labor Depart
ment even before that.
Whatever doubts and hesitations
might have originally slowed down
the establishment of Department
of Labor, they are nowhere audible
today. President Eisenhower en-
phasized in his state of-the-U Union
address that "the adminiStratio
intends to strengthen and improve
the services which the Department
of Labor can render to the worker
and to the national community.
.. 1t must enjoy the confidence
and respect of labor and industry
in order to play significant role
in the planning of Americas eco
nomic future. To that end, am
authorizing the Department Of La
Dor to establish promptly tripar-
tite advisory committee consisting
of employers, labor and public"
Challenge to Durkin
All this directs specific chal-
lenge to Mr.. Durkin who must set
the tone and pace Of labor partici-
patton In this administration. 1t
is not O simple task. For the ex-
pansion of industrial society Is re-
flected today in a way unforeseen
40 years ago, by labor's concern in
every department of the Govern
ment.
The plain fact today is that the
Department Of Labor is not the
principal focus Of labor attention.
Today, close observers estimate
that at least two-thirds Of those
governmental activities directly con-
cerned with labor and labor's stand
ard of living and conduct OF its
business lie outside the Department
Of Labor.
Starting with the latter part Of
the Roosevelt administration, labor
organizations and their Spokesmen
have complained with growing fire.
quency that the Department Of La
Dor is no more than facade. They
charge that it lacks substance and
wallop, falling short of the purpose
stated in it's enabling act: ITO
foster, promote and develop the well
fare of the wage-earnerS of the
United States, to improve their
working conditions, and to advance
their opportunities for profitable
employment"
Today the most important activi-
ties within the scope Of the Depart
ment of Labor include authority
over the Bureau of Apprenticeship
the Bureau of Employment Security,
which includes unemployment in
surance; the Office of International
Labor Affairs, the Bureau of Labor
Standards, the Bureau of Labor Sta
tiStics, the Wage and Hour and
Public Contracts Division. This rep
resents a sizable chunk of respon-
sibility.
Defense Lioison
But as far as labor is concerned,
this hardly begins to cover the water
front. For example, take the De-
fense Department, with its enormous
power over production. With 20 per
cent of our economy given over to
direct defense and defenSe-relation
activities, it is obvious that CIO
President Walter Reuther is more
interested in the doings of Defense
Secretary Charles E. Wilson, who
makes policy, than Of Secretary
Durkin, who does not. After the
Korean war, President A. j. Hayes
Of the AFL machiniSts was made
special assistant to the Assistant
Secretary Of Defense for manpower.
It is a job which still needs doing,
labor Spokesmen insist.
The building program Of the
Atomic Energy Commission is
tremendous - but only indirectly
touched by the Labor Department.
Again, the agency in Government
that directly affects the lives and
economics Of the mine workers is
not in the Department of Labor. It
Is in the Bureau of Mines, which is
part Of the Department of the In
terror. The same departments Rec
lamation Bureau has programs
representing large-size labor inter-
eStS.
OF course, the National Labor
Relations Board-which President
Truman described as the most sig
nif1cant advance in the government
Of labor-management relations
carries on a busy and hectic life
outside the Department Of Labor.
Welfare Interests
The list of labor interests in Gov
ernment outside the Labor Depart
ment is long, and is significant of
our national growth in the past 40
years. But probably the most i'm
portant agency which today is set
up "to foster, promote and develop
the welfare" of workers, organized
and unorganized, throughout the
country, is the Federal Security
Agency. headed now by Mrs. Oveta
Culp Hobby.