Show 0 1 national topics interpreted by william bruckart M press building washington D C washington although it has been three weeks since the supreme court of the unit wagner act ed states upheld decisions the wagner labor relations act I 1 doubt that there is more than a mere handful of people in this nation who are able to comprehend compre liend the full significance of those decisions of the highest court the chances are if our present form of government remains and we continue to adhere to our constitution the full import of the so called wagner act decisions there were f five ive of them 1 will not be discovered within a quarter of a century no decision of the supreme court in several decades contains the wide range ot of potentialities found in the decisions of april 12 and it may well tie be that the findings of the court at that time will constitute a turning point in united states history there are so many potentialities to be found in the wagner act decisions that one may reasonably express a doubt whether states have any rights left likewise one may express a doubt whether labor and the friends of labor have won or lost in the determination by the high court that the national labor relations board has power to compel an employer to deal with a majority of his workers organized into union form above and beyond these phases lies les another namely the question whether the united states congress does not have power to legislate strikes out of existence i 1 first I 1 am convinced in reviewing the courts action that there has been a tremendous amount of misinformation spread about the findings of the court never in my period of service in washington have I 1 seen so many different constructions placed upon ah an official act we have seen and heard unmeasured rnea criticism of the court for turning business over to the labor unions we have witnessed a renewal of attacks on the supreme court because it did not go far enough to the radical side in granting power to congress and the president and we have been deluged with talk of what can now be done in a legislative leg is way to carry out mr roose belts theme song the more abundant life the truth is however that the supreme court in deciding the wagner act cases actually restated in a clarified manner a position the court took twelve years ago it was in 1925 that the court decided the so called second coronado coal mining case in that opinion the court laid down the rule although it was obscured that obstacles to production constituted an interference with interstate corni merce in the cases this month the court reaffirmed and restated that very theory of law and government because it declared in the jones and laughlin steel company case that failure of the employer to permit settlement of the strike through an official agency of the government constituted interference with interstate commerce hitherto the conception of interstate commerce generally has been limited to transportation por tation of goods or communication across state lines to show the arity it is necessary only to recall that striking miners attempted to close entrances to the coronado mines in colorado the cases went to the supreme court which hele heir that illegal attempts to close the mines constituted an interference with shipment of the products into interstate commerce so I 1 am quite convinced that the job the supreme court did in this instance and as tar far as it relates to the orgy of new deal theories consists only of clarifying the legal definition of interstate commerce laymen are not concerned with legal technicalities nor do they understand them but they do understand facts and I 1 it was facts in the jones laughlin case upon which the court predicated its decision notwithstanding the wild acclaim by new dealers tor for the enlightened construction of the constitution in that opinion a 0 a any attempt to point out what the wagner act decisions mean and how far they go is shies at bound to lead into discussion a maze of complicated discussion I 1 have no intention of getting myself so entangled despite the degrees in law that I 1 hold I 1 am a firm believer in the declaration that human nature works out its problems after the manner of slow and orderly development but there are certain circumstances connected with the present court rulings and conditions of this day that may probably be discussed without becoming involved iri in despised legal technicalities I 1 mentioned earlier that if the court as it did could rind find that obstruction st of production constituted interference with interstate commerce it seems quite obvious that interferer interference ce may come from employees as well as employers it is a fact therefore that when the steel company here concerned refused fu sed to obey the in mandate of the national labor relations board it prevented a settlement of a strike it must be a fact therefore that a strike of the sit down type constitutes utes interference with production and consequently interferes with interstate ter state commerce the next conclusion cl and it seems perfectly obvious is that if congress can legislate against employer and prevent him from interfering with interstate commerce it can legislate to prevent the workers from interfering with interstate commerce now we come to the point mentioned earlier of the danger inherent in any situation where congress starts on the of human rights congresses before this time have been fair and congresses hereafter may be fair in enacting legislation dealing with the delicate matter of human rights but where is the assurance that they will do so how can we tell but that at some future time a congress subservient to big business may decide to lay down ridiculous rules about employment it is possible for example that some congress may say that employers may not hire workers above fifty years of age they seem to have that power if they can make it appear that age becomes important to the maintenance of constant I 1 admit this sounds ridiculous I 1 intended that it should sound ridiculous it has been mentioned as an extreme case to show what may be possible if these new powers are not wisely used it exemplifies moreover what a factor uncertainty is when too much power has been granted any agency of the government be it national or state or local 1 0 0 0 now to touch up on some of the unsettled issues resulting from the courts pro unsettled settled no issues all that has been obtained under the wagner act decisions is cimpl complete ete recognition of the right of organized labor groups to bargain collectively free from employer domination the principle of majority rule is laid down an employer must deal with the representatives senta tives of a majority of his workers the rights of the minority whether that minority be a company union or an independent union are rather much overshadowed although they can present their grievances to the national labor relations board it is in that situation that trouble is foreseen most of the recent strikes have resulted from disputes over union recognition largely this union recognition question resulted from the maneuverings maneuver ings and agitation by john L lewis and his committee for industrial organization but it is not to be forgotten that the american federation of labor has several million members in its craft unions thus it can easily be foreseen that the national I 1 labor relations board is going to be confronted many times with a fight between the C 1 I 0 and the A F of L each one of these organizations will vill claim that it represents a majority of the workers and therefore is entitled to be the spokesman for all of an employers workers most of us have seen how bitter internal labor rows can become I 1 am sure that most of my readers will recall cases within their own knowledge where carpenters and bricklayers have fought it out over the question of which one was to do certain work in construction it has happened hundreds of times and each time bitter hatred has developed when the right to speak for a whole body of employees becomes the question for determination it seems to me perfectly obvious that the controversy will develop into one of white heat and the labor board will have to decide which one should serve as the employees representative in the meantime the employer can have nothing to say all of this may sound a bit fantastic it may sound as an attempt to borrow trouble fix hours it if is neither the and wages situation is discussed for t the h e reason that it is quite apparent there will be new attempts in congress now to write legislation controlling hours and wages representative senta tive connery of massachusetts speaking as chairman of the house labor committee declared the othe day that such legislation would be dratted drafted and he entertained no doubt that it would pass the house conditions in the senate are different but mr Con nerys opinion must be ace accepted apted as worthwhile in so far as the house is concerned thus if ion congress gress undertakes such legislation it is confronted with the necessity of doing something by way of amendment of the wagner act that will make union labor com ply with federal regulation instead of leaving the wagner act one sided as it is in other words labor is entitled to its dues bues to its fair share of profits but it seems to me it is i also entitled to be as subservient t law as those who pay the wages 0 western newspaper union |