Formula for the Duration

"America wants Victory--not the closed shop." With this headline in full-page newspaper advertisements last week the National Association of Manufacturers attacked the attitude of both the War Labor Board and organized labor. A.F. of L. President Green and C.I.O. President Murray cracked back that the N.A.M.'s position really was: "We want the open shop--even at the expense of victory." The old row was on again.

Labor's stand: N.A.M. President William Porter Witherow had "broken faith with the President of the United States," was "trying to crawl out" from under the industry-labor pact, which would arbitrate all disputes--including the closed shop.

Mr. Witherow's answer: Industry had never agreed to arbitrate the closed shop.

The War Labor Board's comment: Mr. Witherow and other industry representatives had pledged themselves to "accept the President's direction for peaceful settlement of disputes. . . ."

At that long, stormy industry-labor conference last December, industry had wanted a rule--no further discussion of the closed shop until war's end--made part of the pact. President Roosevelt rang down the curtain just as the show got hot, accepted a three-point peace formula agreeable to all, ignored the closed-shop ruckus.

But even though President Roosevelt reassuringly proclaimed that "the Government of the United States will not order, nor will Congress pass legislation ordering, a so-called closed shop," industrialists were far from satisfied. The N.A.M. glared stonily at the War Labor Board, watched for a suspicious twitch in any direction.

Last week N.A.M. thought it saw that twitch. WLB had settled two disputes (Walker-Turner, International Harvester) by ordering "maintenance of membership," which the N.A.M. believed was a "sweet-sounding" name for the closed shop.

To WLB's way of thinking, maintenance of membership is a compromise: it merely compels workers already in a union to keep on paying dues or lose their jobs; no one has to join the union, as in a closed shop. The Government-and-labor majority thinks that unions, which have given up the right to strike, are entitled to some protection, and that union security stabilizes industrial relations. This formula comes closest to freezing union-industry relations of any yet hit upon.

At week's end WLB brought in another decision, this time in the ten-month-old wrangle at Federal Shipbuilding Co. Their recommendation: maintenance of membership. Federal turned the formula down once before and the Navy seized the yard. Indications were that Federal might turn it down again. If it did, President Roosevelt would have two choices: seize the yard all over again, or kiss WLB good-by as an effective arbiter of industrial disputes. This might be the showdown.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.