THE CASE OF REPUBLIC STEEL
The Case of Republic Steel -From The MILWAUKEE JOURNALTOM GIRDLER of Republic Steel finds out that an industrialist in these days has to come into court with clean hands and a clean record if he...
...The strikers were guilty of both types...
...It divided the disturbances that occurred in several steel cities into two classes—minor occurrences, such as fist fights on the picket line, and terrorism, such as the use of dynamite...
...The highest court's action thus makes the opinion of the circuit court of appeals its own...
...Republic was one of the companies that hired detectives, laid in great quantities of strike munitions and engaged extensively in the use of spies...
...hand grenades, 2,707...
...That original opinion was significant in two respects...
...The minor occurrences did not bar the worker who engaged in them from returning to his job, held the circuit court of appeals...
...gas guns...
...Here is a sample of Republic's armament that was listed by the senate committee: "Revolvers, 552...
...shotguns, 245, with 5,784 rounds of shells...
...But It is the realistic view—an acknowledgment of the fact that in the heat of a strike disturbances will take place...
...143, with 4.033 gas projectiles...
...So thought the circuit court of appeals and so evidently thinks the supreme court...
...Forty employes were not to be rehired...
...The supreme court refuses to review a decision by the United States circuit court of appeals at Philadelphia which upheld a national labor relations board order adverse to the company...
...If proof of that is needed in anybody's mind, he can get it from the records of the La Follette civil liberties investigation...
...rifles, 64, with 1.325 rounds of ammunition...
...When a company comes into court with a record of arming, employing spies, fostering its own unions and in general intimidating its workers, It ought to lose...
...The use of dynamite, damaging property and interference with the mails did bar him...
...The Case of Republic Steel -From The MILWAUKEE JOURNALTOM GIRDLER of Republic Steel finds out that an industrialist in these days has to come into court with clean hands and a clean record if he expects to establish that the other fellow is wrong...
...Perhaps the courts could deal with this problem only by drawing a line between minor difficulties and planned terrorism...
...This distinction, widely commented on at the time of the circuit court of appeals decision, is now adopted by the supreme court...
...IN the first place, the circuit court of appeals held that the company itself was responsible for the 1937 strike which flared in Republic plants and cost several lives...
...Many will say that it encourages at least some types of disorder...
...That is too medieval for this age...
...It had fostered its own unions and had tried to thwart the organization of workers by the CIO...
...At any rate, we now have some rules, endorsed by the highest .--ourt, governing both strike responsibility and strike conduct...
...Its hands are dirty...
...IN the second place, the circuit court of appeals had to deal with the question of disorder...
...To do such a thing is to threaten employment insecurity, which in turn will lead to strife...
...A company which arms in this way is not a company which intends to co-operate with its t.nployes in collective bargaining If they go contrary to its will...
Vol. 10 • May 1940 • No. 19
