Show unions U affect laws washington D C june 17 the congressional fight over labor legislation may prove a turning point in the nations history vote after vote in the sen ate revealed without question the power of unions to in fl fuehne U ebee legislation a power which unless curbed could lead to a labor government in fact if not in name it is doubly significant that tilts this display of power grower came in a time when labor bosses were supposedly on the defensive as the result of shocking revelations ve lations by the mcclellan labor rackets investigating committee this situation points up sharply h aply the urgency of a nationwide tion wide public affairs program to emphasize the need for good legislation good government ern ment good citizenship and the right climate for the nations economic growth everyone has known for many n an y years of the vast power 0 of f organized lab f 3 influence legisla i a due to large in me the political ac activity tivit alon laber in behalf of candidates expected to vote for labors program conservatives in congress are convinced that labor at forne point will overreach itself in grasping for more and more power and as a result tie the public will rebel it could could be that tile the present tight fight over 1 abor bor legislation will provide the he spark for an effective cam laign to curb the monopoly 1 power ower of labor to accomplish this giov ever a campaign of arduca cioll must be intensified to convince members of congress and tile the public that worthwhile labor legislation is s essential in the national in terest crest Con congress Aress still has an all opportunity port unity to enact a worthwhile 1 A title bill as the battle shifted led I 1 to 0 o the house in tile the senate a coalition of and liberal republicans public ans wined back virtually every effort to adopt amendments that would materially teri ally strengthen the ken lie nedy y avs acs measure reported by the senate labor committee A hoped for coalition ot of conservative republicans arid and southern democrats to push through worthwhile amend did not materialize almost all the democrats joined olied senator llan hart 1 dark chairman of lie itie labor rackets investigating committee 1 in ill giving general support to ill the kennedy ives bill senator mcclellan took look tile the posit position loll that the kennedy ivet ives bill with a few faw relatively minor amendments was tile lie amt that could be etin enacted cled at tills this session arid and I 1 it t would be a waste of time finie to insist on a really strong hill bill lie proult ti d to work for stronger cegil batio next year then too lie file vigorous tup sup port given by senator ives R n N V to tile the measure reported by the labor committee gave tile the semblance tice of bipartisan patti mil backing for tile the legis allon inelo it Is well recognized however that thai senator ivas la Is frequently out ot of step with ills his conservative colleagues on labor laor or legislation labor opposes oppose reuther A poll of the sixth congressional district of michigan in which automobile production la Is concentrated shows that an overwhelming majority ot of those replying to a questionnaire are opposed to the policies of walter reuth r and other union leaders rep chamberlain R mich sent the questionnaires to every home n his district in which he said more than workers normally are employed by chevrolet bukk buick oldsmobile fisher dody body AC spark plug and other automotive industries auto workers worker predominate lie ile added that this avas was more auto workers than are employed in any other congressional district in the nation ills his district includes lansing and flint ten thousand replies tabulated by IBM showed among other things that 77 percent do not believe that the policies adopted by union leaders represent the thinking of rank and file union membership this was concurred in by 70 percent of hourly wage employees 90 10 percent of whom were union members 82 percent of tile the total thought that to avoid possible labor strife at this time labor and management leaders should be urged to renew existing unton contracts this view was held by 77 percent of hourly wage employees contrary to mr reuthers views |