Show labor peace and banishment of strikes Is record of toledo industrial board by LANSING CALLAWAY released by western newspaper union DWARD A mcgrady mcgrad y Eassi EDWARD assistant stant secretary of ir bor was on his way to torido do ohio the time was 1935 and there was a strike in progress there to mr mcgrady it seemed that there was always a strike in progress in toledo and that he was spending the greater part of his career commuting back and forth between that city and washington to a great many people in toledo the same things were beginning to be apparent the industrial wrangling had begun in 1934 labor and industry had become almost literal armed camps and the name of the city was on the i ont pages from boston to san dispo kl S 0 two men had been left dead in ve he cites streets hundreds had been injured in fighting and hatreds were being aroused that forecast trouble for years to come but this time after the immediate business at hand had been settled mr mcgrady wired his washington office that he be home right away he was staying over in toledo in the hope of getting to the base of the recurrent trouble and obviate the necessity of his constant excursions to toledo what mr mcgrady had in mind was that it seemed to be nob odys business or concern if the cites industrial du life flowed smoothly or was threatened with disruption during the days when a potential industrial break was forming and might most easily be adjusted no one did anything about it the situation was allowed to drift even when some of the large and bitter strikes were in progress there was no agency at work to get the cites life back to normal record decord Is impressive mr mcgrady sought to change all this how well he succeeded is shown in the figures released for this labor day in the last five years the city of toledo has assisted in averting potential strikes in which employees were involved included in this were 52 cases in which a strike definitely had been voted in addition the city government assisted in settling peacefully and quickly 47 strikes in which the comparatively ively small number of employees figured some of these strikes were called without the knowledge of the city administration others in spite of efforts to avert them Also Als othe lithe city assisted in settling one lockout in which men were involved and it looked in on 42 other disputes representing 2874 employees plo but tor for various reasons was not able to contribute tow toward ard a settlement tl virtually all of the latter however eventually were settled by the parties directly involved without au outside aside intervention the grand total disputes handled employees involved riots none savings in wages and potential losses to owners stockholders millions cost to the city if toledo can do that why cant any other city is a question sometimes asked and also has toledo discovered any secret technique in averting industrial disputes model for others the answers respectively are that any other community can do likewise and that toledo has not discovered any method of passing miracles but rather has applied f W I 1 1 X 1 A X edmund ruffin director of toledo industrial peace board old fashioned garden variety horse sense to differences between men and management briefly mr mcgrady set up on that final visit to toledo back in 1935 I 1 what is known as the toledo industrial peace board it includes five men from the ranks of management five from labor and one full time director these 10 since have added I 1 eight others to ranks attorneys judges and clergymen to represent the public the board is an integral part of the city government but it has no authority to crack down on anyone it issues no publicity releases it cannot vote on who is right or who is wrong it does not even express such opinions publicly Y mr mcgrady set up the first board himself he went to the chamber of commerce and he thumped the table there was a great deal of reluctance there was a lot of honest skepticism but he got a promise of operation cooperation co then he went before the toledo central labor union strangely enough he met the same reaction you need not fear such a board said mr mcgrady it will not inte interfere r in any way with your right to strike operation cooperation co by labor and management with such a board will be entirely voluntary what have you to lose by trying the answer was that no one had anything to lose by trying the two critical disputes involving thousands and thousands of men chevrolet toledo division general motors march 1935 and toledo edison company june 1935 had left the city exhausted emotionally and industrially solid support toledos To ledos three newspapers gave solid support to the plan cautiously each side watching the other from the sides of their eyes the first meeting was held mcgrady presided and did most of the speaking he promised to assign to the board as its full time director lee S harding a federal mediator the functions of the board were outlined and it was decided to go ahead although every one of the men at that first meeting since has confessed that he agreed with a great deal of suspicion but during the following six months the board assisted in settling seven disputes without loss of a single day of work five strikes that already were showing signs of being long drawn out struggles were settled there was no street fighting no one was hurt the vast toledo industrial du area was working full blast payrolls and production were on schedule workers had money to spend merchants were pleased the people of toledo also began to sit up and realize that something new had arrived on the scene much to the surprise even of the board members they too were finding their suspicions of each other allayed confidence and reason were taking the place of animosity if a labor situation became menacing the director of the toledo industrial peace board offered his services to both sides he sought a fair compromise and offered it for consideration but he never ordered any side to do anything if the situation reached such a spot where the director felt he was not making progress the entire board was called into session the board offered its services at times it even off offered ered suggestions while it never voted on whether a question was right or wrong the important element was that within the city at least there was an agency charged with the task of keeping industry running and dissipating disputes before they reached the troublesome stage public prestige in march 1936 harding was recalled to washington but the toledo city council decided the board was W A w aln VIA X UK d al wel 1 1 X 1 IM I 1 scenes of strike violence like that shoun above are things of the past in toledo 0 since the toledo industrial peace board began to function fire years ago in using horse sense to ad just difficulties betheen labor and employers pl thousands of dollars have been saved to workers employers and the city as a result edward A alc grady left former assistant secretary f labor teho helped toledo business men and labor representatives form the b oard in 1935 desirable and decided to continue it as a regular part of municipal government with a paid director on the recommendation of me grady board members engaged a newspaper man edmund ruffin as director ruffin had covered all of the previous strikes after being director for more than four years ruffin says he has no cut and dried procedure in approaching pro aching or working out ou t disputes 1 I know many industrialists and labor officials and I 1 try to keep informed as to what is going on in the way of organization programs negotiating of new and bucce succeeding eding agreements ruffin explained if I 1 hear of a deadlock I 1 may offer my services to both parties or one or the other may call me after I 1 get into a dispute I 1 liston listen to io an outline of viewpoint by each group usually in a joint meeting after that I 1 throw in general suggestions as may come to mind or may offer some specific procedure to which all may agree listen to reason it has been my experience that almost any suggestion within reason is helpful while the suggestion itself may be and often is thrown out of the window it sometimes leads to a new thought on the part of someone which after some shaping may amount to the solution As a rule disputes are settled ultimately by general discussion but sometimes may be disposed of by data acceptable to labor and management for example some s e years year ago the employees of a garage presented a proposed agreement to the proprietor after several meetings they still were far apart A union official asked me to intervene it seemed to me that both sides were in honest disagreement as to prevailing wages and working conditions 1 I offered to try to get detailed information from three competing garages which I 1 would bring back designated as A B and C I 1 obtained the facts easily and they formed the basis of an agreement immediately arrived at ruffin puffin gives the impression that a third impartial party in a labor dispute can do things which neither of the principals want to do A F of L C 1 I 0 cooperate co operate ruffin states that the split in labor has not seriously impaired the 0 operations pe rations of the board 1 I have received per cent operation cooperation co from john M froehlich secretary of the toledo central labor union A F of L kenneth L cole secretary of the toledo industrial union ion council C 1 I 0 and earl S streeter secretary of the mechanics educational society of america independent and other officials of these groups various offices in toledo have received hundreds of inquiries as to how the toledo board was established how it operates and what it has accomplished these offices include the toledo chamber of commerce which has given quiet support to the board the headquarters of the various labor organizations which from the start have indicated their endorsement by operating cooperating co and also a group known as toledo associates an organization of men whose chief purpose is to publicize toledos To ledos true industrial du picture two cities newark N J and sheboygan wis have established similar boards the newark group p particularly has shown an impressive record of accomplishment ruffin says he knows of no reason why such boards would not function well in all cities provided the character of the board is impartial and thus enjoys the confidence of labor and management and provided further that the two groups really want to iron out differences fairly without loss of time instead of fighting it out the hard way |