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Show fiAltinqtoti by JameS Preston Developments of the past two wcftks have again demonstrated the crying need for a national labor lab-or policy. Complaints pouring Into the Ifou.se and Senate say that the present vacillation on this vital is-Hue is-Hue makes it impossible to plan intelligently for the efficient utilization utili-zation of manpower. Points at present issue in a spreading labor revolt are, first, the War Manpower Commission's "job freeze" order issued at the President's direction and, second, the War Labor Board's Inflexible application of the "Little Steel" yardstick in wage cases as requested re-quested by Mr. Roosevelt. Already the Administration has shown some tendency to modify the "job freeze". WMC Chairman Paul Mc-Nutt Mc-Nutt has announced that the order will be relaxed to permit essential workers to take higher paying jobs anywhere in the country provided pro-vided the Commission finds the transfer will aid in the war program. pro-gram. Adding to the complications of the manpower picture is the unemployment un-employment in many sections of country being caused by cutbacks cut-backs on war orders and changes in designs and specifications. Reports Re-ports of factories closing down because of changes in production planning are coming in from all parts of the country. These conditions con-ditions are causing a constant shifting of manpower supply. Another sidelight concerns the decision of a Federal District Judge in California upholding the right of labor unions to restrict the use of labor-saving devices. The case involves dismissal of antitrust anti-trust indictments against 78 contractors con-tractors and labor unions who had refused to use sprayguns to paint government housing projects. This decision has prompted Congressional Congres-sional advocates of anti-feather-bedding legislation to urge speedy action on pending measures to deal with this type of labor abuse. These legislators say it is strange that the nation has to be subjected to drastic manpower regultaions when union bosses refuse to let their members use methods and devices that would go far toward easing labor shortages. The House Military Affairs Committee has tentatively ended its hearings on a number of manpower man-power bills, including the Smith Bill (H. R. 2299) to prohibit the unionization of foremen. The Committee Com-mittee will meet in executive session ses-sion to determine the course to follow in respect to the various measures. Since the first of the year OPA has eliminated 70 of its 460 price reports and questionnaires. "Since the beginning of the war program, American businessmen have been burdened with hundreds of government govern-ment forms and questionnaires," Price Administrator Prentiss Brown said. "Filing out these reports re-ports and returning them to government gov-ernment agencies has required time, patience, and expense. Many of them were unnecessary, but in the future, wherever possible, we are going to try to give the question ques-tion marks in the Government Printing Office a well earned rest." |