CapitaL Comment
STOUT, JONATHAN
Capital Comment By JONATHAN stout Truman Pulls Two Boners WASHINGTON, D. C, December 5.—President Truman pulled two various boners this weew— which would be high even for ¦ President pot as...
...And that is what'* wrong with the President...
...Management gave it lukewarm support, but labor rejected this proposal...
...New York 3, which will forward the money to the International Rescue and Relief Committee, * ho, in turn, will send food and other packages to the needy of F.uropr...
...They might even recall that this was what the United Auto Workers had originally proposed lo CM and what the company had defiantly declined...
...It was advantageously educational," pontifirally remarked John L. l,eWis...
...Neither side, however, found objection in principle to such a factfinding agency, provided it could he so coordinated as not to cause undue hardship to those seeking early and prompt relief...
...Their advice was not merely ignorant -it was dishonest...
...The conference agreed that "arbitration should lie invoked to settle all (lis-putes under contract which have no strike, no lockout clauses...
...Management, it is hurdlv "a secret, while paying lip-service to collective bargaining, has not yet fully accepted either the Wagner Act in all its implications, nor even the Clayton Act which exempts labor unions from anti-trust strictures, or the Norris-LaCitardia Act and its anti-injunction safeguards, let me also add that more than one of the industrial leaders who took part in this conference belong to that upper stratum of management that either never dealt with POLITICAL REFUGEES NEED AID PoSTWAR Europe ia united by one tragic factor—the threat of famine, the fear of epidemic!, the bitter reality of cold...
...Defense Transportation to take over the operation of the company...
...In the case of tie drcsa industry, the same thing is true: the economic power of the employer is evenly balanced by the economic power of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union...
...His advisors have not urged him to do so...
...The trouble with the present plan is that the technique is being used improperly...
...From the standpoint of those who knew ths framework of the conference, it substantially accomplished its purpose," stated David Du-binsky...
...For, while the principle ol collective bargaining seems to be established both by law and procedure in American labor-rmplovci relations, theie still exists quite a wide gap between organized industry and the labor movement regarding its scope and breadth in application to practical problems...
...New York 2, N. Y. Financial routribiilions should be sent to The New Leader...
...especially in seasonal trades, where it might frequently retard steps for remedying an acute wage or employment situation...
...Truman Pulls Boners distrustful of the kind of deal they may expect to get under such circumstances...
...To this labor said: "It would lie extremely unwise to build a fence around the rights and responsibilities of management on the one hand and unions on the other, as years of growth have shown that the responsibilities of one of the parties today may well become the responsibilities of both parties tomorrow...
...Basically, of course, the crux of the discussions at he conference hinged on collective bargaining and on its range and ramifications...
...An example cited was that of the National Maritime Union sti ike this week when thousands of members of the CIO National Maritime Union throughout the nation left their jobs in a 24-hour stoppage that tied up loading anil sailing of hundreds of ships on all coasts ami halted repairs on many Ot hers...
...V/AS the Labor-Management Conference worthwhile...
...The test of experience has long shown that the •ysteni of impartial fact-finding or arbitration can Work well only when the contest is between two equal forces...
...But that isn't the way the President's advisors presented the picture to him...
...Its stated purpose was the recall of American soldiers in the Pacific, particularly in China...
...That goes a long way towards explaining why the impartial chairmanship •ysteni works so well in the dress industry and why there has been no major strike in that industry for many years...
...sweaters, men's suit*, children's rlothing and blanket...
...Was worth holding—it made progress," said Philip Murray...
...Still, it might be of interest to record that before the meeting adjourned, both labor and industry spokesmen had an opportunity to state their views on this subject...
...union measures...
...Turkey and other countries who are now on the rase lists of the Committee are democrat* of a dozen nationalities, with Spanish Republicans, Germans, Austrian*, Italians, Czechs in the majority...
...Their needs range from emergency asaiatsnce, such a* food packages and clothing, to legal advice...
...Which made il plain that the Communist leadership of Ibis union was calling Hie strike foi a political purpose in the service of Communists in other countries...
...And they come as equals before an impartial fact-finding body...
...To dale we have not received even an acknowl edgment of the letter...
...The unions, though divided in four groups-AFL, CIO, Mine Workers and Railway Brothorhooda—held the line pretty eaTee-tively against Management's afforta to outflank its position* In fact, moat criticism of the work of (he conference, while it lasted and when it ended, cams from industry sources because of labor's "intractability" and from—guess who?— Communist scribes...
...And the unions quite rightly are Labor-Management Made Progress By Max D. Danish PRESIDENT TRUMAN'S sudden move for a fa.t-linding board in the CM strike and for a similar hoard for the walkout threat in the steel industry, and his request to Congress for the enactment of a law patterned after the Railway Labor Act to settle major labor disputes, complicates, to some extent, any attempt to appraise objectively the Labor Management Conference which just closed its sessions in Washington...
...Any artirle of rlothing in good repair will he of use, but the most vitally needed items are men's and children's shoes, winter roat...
...7 Fast 1.1 Street...
...To begin with, during the four weeks of the meeting, the contending principals anburdened themselves in each other's presence, and thus the two sides got to know their respective areas of agreement and disagreement...
...Clothing should be sent to the International Rescue and Relief Committee Warehouse, CM) Orchard Street...
...The Capital Transit case has been dragging through the FKPC for about three years...
...In this connection, the conference proposed that the United States Conciliation Service, an agency which had led a rather academic existence for years, be strengthened...
...Areas of Agreement LeT me now briefly examine the "pluses" and "minuses" reached at the conference...
...If they accept it for the moment, it will be on the theory only that eventually it will leud to real compulsory arbitration or other measures thai would put the unions into a legal straitjacket...
...or whose experience with argenised labor W in collective bargain-lag is raiatWely slight Still one more factor must not l>« avsriooked in appraising the results of this labor-industry confab and that is, namely, that the spokesmen of industry cane to it determined to strengthen industry's position quite definitely at the cipsnse of labor...
...These Presidential advisors, being experienced in industrial relations, kaew very well what they were doing...
...Labor's demurrer was bused chiefly on the tactical disadvantages it might cause workers, especially in seasonal trades, where a "cooling-off" period, after an agreement expires, might retard or nullify steps to remedy an acute wage or employment situation...
...The United Automobile Workers' Union is not tbe economic equal of the motor magnates, nor is the Steel Workers' Union the economic equal of the ateel barons...
...But even in today'* Europe there are second-class citizens There are the political refugees, the hundrd* of thousands uf anti-Faseiat* of all nationalities who, for as long as a decade in ramr rases, have lived in exile, want and insecurity...
...plan...
...25, as a result of the Capital Transit strike, President Truman ordered the Office uf...
...On the subject of a fact-finding body, the disagreement centered on the tactical disadvantages it may cause workers...
...The answer, obviously, depends on the temper or mood of those who pose these questions...
...Management's "strong'' attitude was epitomized on the opening day of the conference, when NAM President Ira Mosher bluntly stated his open contempt for labor's "sacred cows" and i frank intention to shear down the legal prerogatives of the unions to a paint of "equality" with industry...
...The freedom of American workers, therefore, is additionally endangered because the Communist leadership of the National Maritime Union places the interests of their foreign masters above the interests -of American workers...
...Labor, on the whole, would hesitate to abdicate its freedom of action to the haphazard outcome of government imposed arbitration even if acceptance of findings is not made compulsory...
...One can hardly conceive that management, which has so consistently defended a policy of keeping costs, profits and other price elements away from the public eye, would come out cheering for a luw tha* would place such facts and data under the scrutiny of searching outsiders...
...The National Maritime Union strike had no reason relating to wages, hours or win king conditions...
...The thousands in France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden...
...Neithei „f thtwe conditions is fulfilled in the cases of anion and steal...
...The General Motors strikers, who are asked to return to work, pending investigation of their demands by a probing commission, might shrink from that risk...
...FrOM the foregoing, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the Laboi-Management Confer nee was not a failure from the viewpoint of labor...
...Hut most often these refugees appeal for the essentials of mere survival, and for that reason The Sew Leader is now emphasizing a program of immediate material aid...
...24 you ordered the committee not to issue the decision...
...These senti-¦ents may be true of the President, who has an honest, straight-forward and unsubtle mind, but the awe sentiments can not be credited to the close advisors who sold him the idea...
...As this is being written, the mounting tide of labor resentment against Truman is rising high...
...Labor-Management Conference trade union...
...Unlike the postwar conference of 1919/ industry at this conference veered away from any definition at collective bargaining that would allow room for company unions or any equiva lent...
...Said Philip Murray of the CIO "There is an imperative need of granting substantial wage increases which cannot be circumvented," William Green of the AFL want Murray one better by insisting that there is need for a "general wage increase" to include not only the skilled mechanics and the unionized people, but also the white-collar workers and the non-union people...
...The second hotter was the kick in the face he gave the ffegroes in the Capital Transit case...
...The President, as the current head of the Capital Transit Company, could issue a new employment policy order...
...Much good was accomplished," commented William Green...
...President truman'S second boner was brought to lifht this week when Charles H. Houston, prominent Washington Negro attorney, resigned from the President's Committee on Fair Fm-ployment Practices, charging that President Truman had blocked issuance of an FKPC directive against the Capital Transit Company...
...Specifically, industry wanted a guarantee from labor that It "would not infringe on certain functions of management which are not to lie the subject of collective bargaining...
...We should not stop trying to achieve industrial peace," declared Erie A. Johnston of the United States Cham ber of Commerce...
...But there is an end even to a slow drag, and the FKPC finally voted unanimously to issue its final decision ordering the Capital Trail, sit Company to cease its discriminatory practices on November 2!t...
...The conference unanimously proposed that negotiations for new contracts should use every means at hand, in eluding mediation anil voluntary arhitia-tion, before strikes are permitted...
...Has it served any constructive purpose at all by il ering some irreconcilable attitudes in the camp of management toward labor...
...The story was first revealed about three years ago in this column when the situation was disclosed as a violation of President Roosevelt's directive against racial discrimination in essential industries...
...Charges were filed against the Capital Transit Company, and it is these charges which have been slowly dragging their way through the nia7.es of the FKPC...
...Additionally, the impartial middleman technique w workable only where industry has accepted the union's presence aa an integral part of the picture...
...And it is obvioua that these were the source of- the President's in-apiration...
...On the wage question, which was not on the agenda but kept nevertheless popping up nearly every day the conference was in session, the conferees leached no definite conclusions...
...More specifically, their recommendation carried further the suggestion that industries adopt the system of voluntary arbitration that would help carry into effect contractual provisions without causing production dislocation or accumulation of friction within plants...
...Labor is only too well uware thul the general press and other molders of public opinion are not on its side in conflicts with industry in the majority of cases...
...The President this week put forward the' plan of ¦feting op impartial fact-finding boards to adjudicate me issues in the General Motors and Steel strikes, and asked Congress for special legislation to set up similar boards for handling all major strike...
...Labor demurred to industry's proposal for a specific declaration on the "rights of management...
...It is doubtful that the Truman plan will meet with great enthusiasm in any quarter...
...2.r>, on l>ehalf o>f the committee, I wrote you asking that you give the committee opportunity to confer with you...
...In a general aense, it implied that lalmr would not attempt to pry into costs, profits, records or would keep away from unionising supervisory employees...
...As for the thousands who are either totally or partially disabled as a result of war Hounds or com ml ration ramp experiences, who are suffering from tuberculosis or chronic malnutrition, it is virtually impossible for them to obtain relief exrept through one of the few private organisations devoted to the aid of political refugees...
...La hoi broke with management on the hitter's demands of "equality under the low," which substantially meant the amendment of the Wagner Act, of the Noi i is-I.a<;tiaiilia Act...
...Capital Comment By JONATHAN stout Truman Pulls Two Boners WASHINGTON, D. C, December 5.—President Truman pulled two various boners this weew— which would be high even for ¦ President pot as sympathetic to the cause of the Common Man U is Truman...
...Once more it is a case of the President's advisors urging on him the policy of a choice of the lesser of two evils...
...which means that industry has given up the idea of Busting the union and is honestly reconciled to the idea ..f accepting and working with the union...
...In such cases it is quite understandable Jhst labor should be unwilling to trust its fate to we hands of any middleman...
...The argument presented to Tinman was that he had to make a choice between the public and labor a phony argument to begin with, since labor is the public...
...The Truman suggestion will hardly appease those in Congrrss who lor years have been clamoring for mil...
...WORKERS AID UNRRA Nkw york (i.PAt—Over $i<i::,oov...
...On Nov...
...The strike is keeping them from getting aulos...
...The argument ran: the public wants aulos...
...President Truman, in his appeal to Congress, bluntly asserted that the Labor Management Conference had failed to recommend a plan to avert work stoppages when collective bargaining foils...
...And White House circles describe the President at being surprised and deeply hurt by this reaction...
...blanket* and shoes The Ann Leader appeals to its reader* for rlothing contributions in order to rontinue this phase of Its work Tor politiral refugee...
...H decided to form a "continuing com mil lee which wouTd lie called into act Ion when necessary to attempt a resolution of the points of difference...
...And since there are more people looking for cars than there are people making them, it is politically wiser to please the greater number And the clincher on the argument was the statement that not all strikes hav^ a legitimate reason growing out of wages, hours or working conditions within the framework of employer employee relations...
...No decision can make everybody happy in this case...
...Despite the war-caused breakdown in the transit situation in Washington, the Capital Transit Company refused to hire Negro motormen and bus drivers...
...Capital Transit is now being run by the United Stales Government, which makes the persistence of the discrimination an even more heinous offense, since it lie comes an offense not by a local traction company against a local minority, bul by the Federal Government itself against every Negro citizen within its bordei...
...It is only the exceptionally lucky refugee, who ran become self-supporting in these times...
...What the President's advisors failed to warn him ¦bout was that the technique of setting up impartial fact-finding boards in industrial relations is very Much like a knife: properly used it is highly bene-aWial, improperly used it can he lethal...
...Uniolved Dispute* TrlK conference was unable to come to agreement on the following points: l.ahor refused to accept any punitive clauses in agreements in order "to insure provisions prohibiting strikes, lockouts and boycotts" mi the ground that it would give many employers provocative incentives to ruin unions financially...
...Ami since Negroes are the minority, not only in Washington but in the country, the decision of the President's advisois has gone against them...
...Similar plans now exist in the railway industry and in the women's dress industry...
...24, Houston has revealed, President Truman ordered the KKI'C not to issue its derision, In his letter of resignation to the President, Houston said: "My resignation from FKPC is a protest action not merely against our treatment in the Capital Transit case, but against the Administration's persistent course of conduct to give lip service to matters of eliminating racial discrimination in employment since V.I lis v. while doing nothing to make this policy substantial...
...The Seiv Leader has made arrangements with the International Belief and Rescue Committee, one of the oldest American relief organisations operating in this Held and devoted to the aid of anti-totalitarian refugees, to help these sufferer...
...Without notice to the committee or a chance for the committee to present its views, on Nov...
...NAM President Ira Mosher conceded that thera should be "sincere collective bargaining on wages," but suggested that discussion be confined to individual groups of employers and workers...
...The conference had such a proposal lor factfinding panels on its agenda...
...It voted, without dissent, that "no discrimination in employment due to race, color, creed or sex" become the accepted policy of American industry...
...I" the case of the railways, powerful railroad companies, face an equal economic match in powerful railroad unions...
...and of the Clay ton Act...
...And at this time, the mini urgent need is for warm rlothing...
...On Nov...
...The first boner was the sour break be gavr labor in the current strike situation...
Vol. 28 • December 1945 • No. 49
