Show Marquis Childs Closed Shop Okeh Comes As Surprise V WASHINGTON No No decision of the supreme court for many years has hM stirred so much controversy controversy controversy con con- as that upholding laws adopted in Arizona Nebraska and North Carolina outlawing the closed shop Coming from irom froma iroma a court labeled new deal by bitter critics of oC the Roosevelt administration t the h c decision caused tremendous surprise e. e In a sober careful opinion Justice Hugo L L. Black found that state le legislatures were entirely entirely entirely en en- en- en within their powers in passing laws specifying specifying- that an individual need not belong to a trade union in order to take a job The only dissent came from Justice Frank Murphy and that in the instance of the Arizona law Every u un union n i ion o n executive and organizer should read Justice Blacks Black's opinion and equally important important important im im- the concurring opinion of Justice Felix Frankfurter From Justice Frankfurter who has been slurred more than anyone anyone any any- anyone one on the court by a smear bund bond has come a penetrating analysis of the rights of the individual in individual in- in In relation to the power of ma mass 3 organization It throws s a revealing light on the struggles struggles of a society that seems tobe to tobe tobe be moving toward greater and greater centralized authority Soul Searcher Above all for the leaders of the mass unions w with wit i t h their members the Frankfurter Frank Frank- Frankfurter furter opinion should cause soul searching For the opinion raises the question whether with the great power t that hat they now wield in American life the unions should rely upon the power to compel rather than to persuade the allegiance of its reluctant members The plain truth is that unions in this country or most of them have put far too much reliance on the force of law to build and hold their membership Historically Historically Historically cally you can see why this happened hap hap- against against the background of the implacable resistance of the biggest employers to any unions at all aU But it is nevertheless the big weakness of American trade unionism The prime example is John L L. L Lewis' Lewis United Mine MineWorkers MineWorkers Workers which operates through the closed shop the off check-off and total domination from the top Trade union managers now have political power that 20 years ago no one in this country remotely dreamed of President President dent Truman has asked the Democratic congress to repeal the Taft Hartley act and that probably will wiIl be done fairly early in the session Precisely here at this peak of power the union managers need to take a long look at the road by which they came to power Power held by law can be revoked by law Quoted From Brandeis The opinion quotes quote at some length from the late Justice Louis D D. Brandeis who feared and abhorred the power of coercion in mass wealth and m mass a s B s organization Justice Frankfurter quotes him as summing sum sum- summing ming up his views on unionism as follows It is not true that the success success success suc cess of a labor union necessarily necessarily necessarily means a perfect The union in order to attain and preserve for its members industrial liberty m must u s t be strong and stable It need not include every member of the trade Indeed it is desirable for both the employer and the union that it should not Absolute Absolute Absolute Ab Ab- solute power leads to excesses and to weakness Neither our character nor our intelligence can long bear the strain of unrestricted unrestricted unrestricted un- un un un- restricted power The union attains success when it Jt reaches the ideal condition and the ideal condition for a union is Js to be strong and stable and yet have in the trade outside its own ranks an appreciable number of men who are In any free community the diversity diversity diversity diver diver- sity of character of beliefs of taste taste indeed indeed mere selfishness will will insure such supply if the enjoyment of this privilege of individualism is protected by law Such a nucleus of unorganized unorganized unorganized labor will check the oppression oppression op op- oppression by the union as the union checks oppression by the employers More lore Democratic Unions Those words were written nearly 40 years ago But Justice Brandeis was so remarkably foresighted t that hat h a t they might have been written yesterday to apply directly to our our- time Justice Frankfurter points out that in the two countries where industrial democracy is most advanced Great Britain and Sweden unions do not forthe for forthe forthe the most part put their reliance on laws t that hat h a t the closed shop and the check They have built their unions on the more democratic and themore the themore themore more difficult process of persuading persuading persuading per per- the workers that both his self-interest self and his idealism are served by uniting with his fellows No one but the tho most blind and the most biased should have been surprised by the courts court's decision It is in the long tradition tradition tradition tion of American freedom and individualism Copyright 1949 United Feature Syndicate |