Recent Events Make Labor Peace Possible,Carruth Repot
Carruth, Oliver E.
Recent Events Make Labor Peace Possible,Carruth Repot By oliver e. carruth Special to The New Leader WASHINGTON, D. C—Hope of labor peace grows, despite hostile moves and bitter talk by both...
...To quote him again: "Some observers have expressed surprise over the specification by the United Mine Workers that the remodeling of their new headquarters building in Washington be done with union labor...
...On the other band, what William Green objects to is another certain way of doing things...
...They have different ideas about how to do the job before them today...
...The statute was very mild in its approach...
...f VVsot the act provides f «—-* The Federal Congress, after some preliminary trials during the period of the war, and in the railroad industry, enacted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935...
...and deprived him and his family of a living, he may be ordered to restore him to his job and to pay him back-pay for the time he has lost...
...that Britain und America, France and Russia, are about to topple over any minute in ruins, from which they will slowly emerge as Fascist States commanded by dictators obedient to Hitler.' And it is such a change to hear something else...
...Ttsl is on the President's court- it-organization plan...
...If he has discharged an employee Law Cannot Be Interpreted as Punitive or Vindictive —Its Purpose Is to Require Employers to Respect Rights of Employees to Organize...
...But that does not matter much, for nobody buys the newspapers...
...On the other hand, every foreign newspaper is bought within ten minutes of its appearance on a bookstall...
...The sermon was ended...
...assaults on existing craft unions will be considered, and this means an offensive, e> signed to increase orgaaj-qp...
...And that is the principal reason reconciliation is possible and will some day be realized...
...They were eloquent of the great quest of modern Germany after freedom of the mind For it is only inside the walls of churches and army barracks that, men still say what they think in Germany...
...President Green called the conference at the direction of the Executive Council to consider the fight with the C.I.O...
...After all, both sides in the labor conflict are not so far apart, a fact that was pointed out by Chester Wright in the broadcast already quoted from...
...Madden's analysis follows: fly J. warren madden Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board I INTIL about one hundred years ago every attempt by workmen to act in concert to increase their -bargaining strength was regarded by the law as a conspiracy in restraint of trade, and as criminally punishable...
...But the amusement turns to surprise...
...The conference cannot batmfe plans for an aggressive ocguot tion drive, and out of this beau to come more and stronger mm It is safe to predict thatlaj will be plenty of belligerent^ at Cincinnati, but it is also seat predict that there will be pen, talk, too...
...Sailors hen Information cargo ships **» have visited mW lands stroll along its quays besi* the river Weser, and they "ta»» that Europe outside Germany m not collapsing...
...Is it suggested that an employee who has coerced a fellow employee should be treated by this amended law in the same considerate manner in which employers are treated by the law as it is now written and applied...
...A plea foT peace by Matthew Woll was received with evidence of approval by delegates and President David Dubinsky of the union...
...One of his remarks that they regarded as especially pertinent to their view was: "After we have organized, if some one -wants to talk pence, we will talk peace.'* Lewis intimated that peace would come soon if the A. F. of L. would: "concede the principles for which the C.I.O...
...Hitler may have most of those between 20 and 30 with him...
...The Carpenters are taking in loggers, lumber mill workers J and all workers employed in the J handling of wood...
...Both come out of the same background...
...Thus the Textile Cooperation w?rke"' 0r?an-lzing Committee is helping organization work of the A. F. of L. Bookkeepers and Stenographers' Union in textile plants where agreements have been made with the CJ.O...
...It is a curious fact that while the A. F. of L. has not conceded "the principles for which the CJ.O...
...they are asking...
...There is general amusement at this, for no Jew was ever known to be admitted to that Association...
...Otherwise the CJ.O...
...But I sensed the general restive-ness most in the former Free City of Bremen...
...In spite of everything, this im-' patience does make itself felt...
...But many of those from 12 to 20 are reacting vigorously the other way...
...Peace quite likely will be long in coming (for that matter, it may be years in coming), but it is significant that the subject is again to the fore in both public and private discussions wherever labor Imen meet...
...t^ Thoughtful Nazis are werrs* over the lack of freedom, aai Sg so...
...Speeches arid discussions at the International Ladies' Desire Garment Workers' Union For convention in Atlantic Unity City brought labor peace again to the front pages...
...Interest in labor's internal row turns next toward Green the conference of Calls representatives o f Conference A- F- of -* inter" national and national unions opening in Cincinnati on May 24...
...I must admit I never met one who had heard it, but they all knew about it...
...A case in point is the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners...
...At the three-day bicycle race somebody shouts for a favourite tune...
...And for exactly similar reasons, A. F. of L. members will bum union-mined coal and will union-produced oil and gasoline in preference to non-union produced oil and gasoline...
...Tbe chequered standard of the Free City has given place to the eternal swastika, and inquiries addressed to the Chamber of Commerce are immediately forwarded to the Police Station...
...IS THE WAGNER ACT FAIR...
...Ways and means shook be formulated to deal with it promptly and successfully...
...Declaring that the SupremeOwt has dared to challenge tbe qjsrs...
...Hot Supreme Court is to be perpea-ated in its present form, e* struggle will be long and bitter, if its constitution is to be mm liberal, we will be greatly sssntsi in the discharge of our duties a men, as workers and as citizens...
...Bat they also held that employers had the right to nullify this right of-tbe workmen by the discharge of their leaders and by other forms of discriminatory action which would make the ordinary workman and his family fearful of the economic consequences of joining a union...
...They have gone to the same training school together...
...Goebbels...
...f #-* There are a number of current suggestions for the amendment of the Act...
...Both groups have the same labor philosophy...
...Bremen, ^* centuries of freedom and isdspn-dent thought and worW-srish ,ds» merce behind her, stifles fa tt>'*» accustomed atmosphere, and thseP she is steadily informed thft ¦* commerce at any rate would ess* back if Germany could levsef * colony, she remains, with HaaaWI the danger spot for Hitler...
...unions...
...So they are bolder than humbler folk...
...I Is the Low One-Sided...
...Pastor Niemdller had been preaching, the leader of the opposition to the Nazi party in the German Protestant Church, and when Pastor Niemdller preaches it is always like this...
...was formed...
...TV question of carrying on the won of the A. F. of L. in an accelerstec way calls for consideration sue action...
...Beginning about a century ago, American courts began to hold that workmen had the right to organize...
...In the period of less than a month since the validity of the law was placed beyond question by the decision of the Supreme Court, the experience has been even more promising...
...There must be room for two thousand at least in the Crowds Jesus Christ Church at Turned Dahlem, but half an Away hour before service begins the' place is so full that the doors must be closed Out on the steps in the dry cold of a Prussian spring I understood why all these men and women had come from miles around to hear Pastor Niemoller...
...When the employer took this attitude, organization was, to a large extent, carried on underground and emerged only when the union felt strong enough to stage a Strike and thus prove its power to the employer...
...unions...
...Lewis will, of course, employ the A. F. of L. building trades mechanics...
...As Chester M. Wright said in his last radio broadcast of labor news: "There are more labor men than ever trying today to discover whether there is a way to peace...
...This was the burden of an address delivered before the general Council of the League of Women Voters in Washington a few days ago by J. Warren Madden, chtKr-man of the National Labor Relations Board...
...For example, it is said that the law is one-sided because it forbids only coercion by employers and does not forbid coercion by employees upon each other...
...But this sort, of thing hardly ¦hows the enthusi-Nobody asm of three years, Buys or even one year, Newspapers ap0- A 12-year-old boy, turning up late for supper, said to me: "I am sorry to be late, but we were all kept at voluntary parade this evening...
...By ho stretch of the imagination can this law be regarded as punitive or vindictive in its approach...
...Great business associations and newspapers of wide influence attacked both the legality and the morality of this mild governmental experiment...
...What Lewis objects to is a certain way of doing things...
...If after a hearing by the Board, approved after review by a Circuit Court of Appeals, an employer is found to have violated the rights of his employees, the penalty is that be should not do it any more...
...There is a real prospect that to a considerable degree the hopes of the sponsors of this law may be realized...
...The revolt makes itself felt in the universities...
...A self-appointed committee of 58 lawyers, some of them of great prominence, published an evangelical document in which they unanimously pronounced the law to be completely unconstitutional as in violation of fundamental rights...
...They have friends in the new Army to protect them...
...Business men off liners 6W Britain and tbe States meet J» compare notes, and they tell •»* other that the commercial' ds* tion is frightful...
...Most of these are in very general form, leaving to Congress the task of putting them in practical form and providing means for their enforcement...
...But will they jrrow on that «*v The malcontent—Socialist ••** men, Royalist officers, Liberals*' chants of Hamburg and Br*** sincere Protestant Churchmen •* devout Catholic peasants—ds ¦* meet each other, find no way P combine, lack above all taints * common leader...
...These observers think that John L. Lewis should hate the A. F. of L. so bitterly that he couldn't tolerate an A. F. of L. member on the premises...
...that if they will but wait and tighten their belts a little longer the world outside Germany will disintegrate...
...Though the convention decided to continue its financial and moral support of the C.I.O., desire for peace with honor was reaffirmed and there was an unmistakable yearning toward unity in the labor movement...
...Neither one hates or could hate the unions and the union members of other groups...
...They had come with a fierce hunger after something different, in an eagerness to see a man who is not afraid to criticise Hitler...
...strength to labor's campaign for the court plan...
...Irritation spreads among the schoolchildren...
...The Association "does not see its way to complying with an order which touches affairs beyond the competence of bodies outside the university...
...Assault and battery, simple assault, violation of injunctions, riot, inciting to riot, unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct, loitering, vagrancy, unlawful distribution of literature, littering the streets, and obstructing traffic, are some of the offenses for which strikers and labor agitators are commonly summarily fined and jailed...
...In many cases, A. F. of L. unions are forgetting old-time jurisdictional lines and are broadening out, in the direction of industrial unionism...
...The manager announces through a loudspeaker that the composer was "hostile to the people...
...Bt works with both groups, and te appointment is expected to leu...
...The most outspoken criticisms come from the extreme right, from Monarchists, members of the nobility, officers of the old Prussian Guard...
...There is also some reciprocity in several directions...
...They know it na they don't keep the knowkdft ¦ themselves...
...When they shed their independence they shed nine-tenths of their readers also...
...There is some cooperation between A. F. of L. A. F. of L», and C.I.O...
...Bat should they ever ftalsnV this hunger after freedom ndgks V dangerous...
...But certainly no one is justified in saying that it is unfair to the employers and must straightway be amended in their favor...
...It will continue to «s> gress...
...the people to govern thessefres John L. Lewis said in a wet radio broadcast: "I believe that the overwlata-ing majority «f Labor Americans are ii Strong for Savor of the Pre* Court Plan Kent's court plan...
...There are more who are willing to say that peace is possible...
...German newspapers dutifully echo the latest instructions of tbe Propaganda Ministry...
...wsa formed," in practice ft is potting some of them into effect...
...Both have the same labor objectives in dealing with employers...
...The future of labor in Amena is, in a sense, intimately connect^ with the future of the President proposal to reform the Suprsss Court...
...In spite of this open and influential incitation to violation which produced in the minds of many employers the feeling that obedience of this law would amount to disloyalty to their class, the law has even during the period of legal uncertainty produced many hundreds of adjustments of labor disputes...
...Policies of A. F. of L. unions in dealing with developments rising out of the internal fight will be formulated...
...It provided for no fines or jail sentences for violators...
...During the last few yam, labor has progressed by grttt strides...
...The shouts redouble...
...These conflicting rights, both sanctioned by the law, were almost perfectly calculated to produce the maximum of industrial strife, and a large proportion of the industrial strife was in fact the result of the refusal by employers to respect the right of their employees to organize...
...The situation as it exists w* needs to be examined, asalria and carefully considered," tat ed says...
...How many years of this *¦ * take to make the German seeds* race of doltish automatons...
...Recent Events Make Labor Peace Possible,Carruth Repot By oliver e. carruth Special to The New Leader WASHINGTON, D. C—Hope of labor peace grows, despite hostile moves and bitter talk by both American Federation of Labor and Committee for Industrial Organization...
...That is nonsense...
...would proceed to organize tbe mass production industries and not limit its activities te steel, automobile, rubber and textile industries...
...In every newspaper, at every meeting, in every broadcast, on every film, in every book and periodical and magazine they are told that they are the chosen people whom Hitler is leading to the promised land, that the only duty of a German is to obey...
...Meanwhile, both sides are intensifying organization activities, with consequent big growth in union membership...
...Nonetheless, the" fh-preme Court can either hinder « or sustain us in our efforts...
...Ultimately there will have to be a united labor movement," Dubinsky pointed out...
...Every German asks his neighbor: "Did you hear the Communist broadcast last night...
...Is it seriously contended that when, over against all these legal weapons which are aimed at employees, there is placed the one remedy of a cease-andrdesist order against an employer who violates the law, the scales of the law are loaded against the employer...
...What will a generation has never had the chance to t*s* be like...
...They were interested in it, pleased that it was there...
...they demand the tune still more fiercely, and at last they get it...
...A school branch of the Hitler Youth calls a meeting and only five members out of 40 turn up...
...Though John L. Lewis' speech to the Garment Workers' convention breathed a good deal of defiance to the A. F. of L. and was headlined as "spurning" the Federation, many observers regarded his talk as definitely conciliatory...
...And most of them agree that the way to start is to forget about a formula—let the formula develop out of the situation...
...Its purpose was to require employers to respect the right of employees to organize in those industries which fell within the scope of the federal power to protect interstate commerce...
...Any school teacher will be able te imagine them...
...If it is at all onesided, or if it leaves the general labor situation one-sided in any way, the disadvantage still falls upon the employees, not on the employers...
...There is a great deal of misunderstanding about this whole conflict...
...The old Council of the Wise that used te administer tbe city has found it wise to resign its function to a governor imported from the neighbouring country town of Oldenburg...
...A Spanish nobleman, in a performance of a play that was written 200 years ago, cries: "Sire, giive us freedom...
...The official call for tb conference was carefully, (juMy worded...
...Undoubtedly ways of resisting C.I.O...
...Both sides at supporting the plan, and the appointment of George L. Berry e Senator from Tennessee pleats A. F. of L. and C.I.O...
...The others have the best of all possible excuses...
...I know that labor t strongly in favor of it, and in tb I speak for millions of the h articulate workers...
...It may turn out, as a result of experience in applying it, that it needs some amendment...
...Yet in the whole of Bream I did not meet s N*si Sailors Bremen is a worii Spread port...
...Berry s head of Labor's Non-Parasti League, composed of members ef A. F. of L. and C.I.O...
...All of the unions to be employed on the big job are in A. F. of L. unions...
...The extent to which their emotions overwhelmed their judgment was proved by the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States, unanimously decided that 58 lawyers could be and were, unanimously wrong...
...For violations of law in labor disputes, employees have under existing law suffered imprisonment and paid fines in tens of thousands of cases...
...The 'substance of Mr...
...That would mean that if a striker was charged with shouting "scab" at a non-striking worker Unrest Seethes in Germany As Censorship Cracks Down By GEORGE edinger A GREAT stream of people ' ¦ swept me along through the doors of the Jesus Christ Church at Dahlem, Berlin's wealthy suburb...
...There is a sharp burst of applause that stops as suddenly...
...f Initial Opposition | »-« Yet this mild law by which the Congress sought to improve an obviously bad condition was immediately subjected to an almost fanatical opposition...
...On one point, at least, all organized labor sees eye to eye...
...There is nothing free about Bremen now, nothing to recall its ancient liberty save the four-hundred-year-old statue that still stands in the market square to symbolise a conception that in Germany is as antique as itself...
...The Case for the Affirmative The National Labor Relations Act may not be absolutely perfect...
...The act has already shown itself immensely valuable, net only to the working people as such, but to general social interests...
...One of the smartest German Student Associations, the one which Princes of the Blood usually join, receives an order to expel all members with Jewish blood...
Vol. 20 • May 1937 • No. 21
