Taft-Hartley Act—Wayne Morse vs. Robert Taft
By Senator Taft, Republican, Ohio
The Taft-Hartley law is meeting the test of time and it has been upheld re
peatedly in the courts. Public approval of this law is now at its highest point,
according to impartial public opinion surveys.
The success of those senators and congressmen who supported the law in
the recent election again demonstrated its acceptance by the American people.
Basically, -the law undertakes to provide equality |
between labor and management (1) by preventing 1
unfair labor practices by labor unions while retaining i
the same prohibitions against unfair labor practices |
by management which were set up by the Wagner I
Act, and (2) by subjecting labor unions to the same I
obligation to perform their contracts and be other- I
wise liable for their acts, to which individuals and
corporations are subject.
The result is to make the National Labor Relations
Board a governmental judicial body instead of an
agency of the labor unions. The Taft-Hartley law
outlaws the closed shop, closed union which made in
dividual workers and young persons seeking* em
ployment completely subservient to the whims and
caprices of union leaders in order to be able to pur
sue their right to earn a living.
It protects the American wage earner from orga
nized union violence on the picket line and elsewhere.
It requires both unions and employers to bargain
SENATOR TAFT
collectively in good faith and give reasonable notice to the other of a desire to change the
terms of a contract.
It requires unions to make an annual financial report to their members. It does not
otherwise interfere with the internal affairs of unions.
The Taft-Hartley law is still vilified by the bosses of the labor unions, but their cam
paign against it has been one of distortion, half truths, and fanciful speculations. I have
talked to many labor audiences, and I have yet to find anyone who can point to a specific
case in which the law has resulted in any unfair treatment of a labor union. Under it, the
unions have prospered. They have more members than ever before. They have obtained
better wages, working conditions, pensions, and allowances than employees have ever
enjoyed before in the history of the world.
By Senator Morse, Republican, Oregon
One of the basic principles upon which our democracy is built is that of vol
untary cooperation. Good labor relations are simply that—voluntary coopera
tion between management and labor for their mutual benefit and for the pub
lic good.
A sound labor policy must meet certain tests. It should accept organized
labor as a necessary and desirable group m a demo
cratic free enterprise system. It should encourage
employers to engage in collective bargaining when a
majority of the employees choose a union as their
representative. It should encourage employers and
unions to work out solutions to their mutual prob
lems. It should deal with real problems and abuses
by management or labor, and provide fair and work
able remedies to protect public or important indi
vidual interests. Finally, any Federal law dealing
with labor relations should be simple, clear and easily
enforceable.
Measured by these tests, and viewed in the light of
the three years of experience, the Taft-Hartley Act
must be condemned as undemocratic, coercive, puni
tive and unnecessarily complex. In short, it is an act
of legislative hypocrisy.
Oji the one hand, and in most pious phrases, it pur
SENATOR MORSE
ports to protect and provide the means for enforcing
the rights of self-organization and collective bar
gaining. However, by others of its terms, by the interpolation of trick phrases, by the
establishment of devious and endless procedures, and by a monstrous separation of
powers which sets one part of the administrative agency against the other, the Taft
Hartley Act effectively frustrates and defeats these rights.
The sooner Congress repeals the Taft-Hartley Act and replaces it with a law which
meets the minimum standards set out above, the better. We must return to a policy
which promotes industrial self-government through labor-management cooperation and
self-discipline, because in the long run that is the policy most consistent with our system
of free enterprise. ,
The Ougon Daily Eukkald published Monday through Friday during the college year
except Oct. 30; Dec. 5 through Jan. 3: Mar 6 through 28; May 7; Nov. 22 through 27; and
after May 24, with isues on Nov. 4 and May 12, by the Associated Students of the University
af Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription
cates: $5 per school year; $2 per term.
Alt it a Holmes, Editor
Don Thompson, Business Manager
Guest Editors from Washington
Peel off Korea and charges of aggression and wage-price
freezes. Underneath you’ll find a nation looking at issues such
as CVA and socialized medicine and the Taft-Hartley law.
Dominant in the America without war is this Taft-Hartley
law which was the first major revision in New Deal labor poli
cies of the 1930’s. Just four years ago this month a new Cong
ress, ruled by Republicans, battled over the bill while labor
leaders shuddered.
It was passed over the President’s veto on June 23, 1947,
and one of its makers, Senator Robert A. Taft was immediately
branded by organized labor as the “man to heat in ’50.’’
• Some of his Republican colleagues from the Senate's right
side of the aisle strongly upheld this labor bill. And some, one
Wayne L. Morse in particular, strongly opposed it.
Today the law is moving into its fourth year. The senator
from Ohio whose name it bears is talking more about foreign
policy and less about labor. And he’s looking closely at a sign
post marked White House.
Today the law is moving into its fourth year. The sena
tor from Oregon who has continually opposed it is talking
more about the drafting of 18-year-olds and less about his own
Morse-Ives bill.
And today both of these men grace the Emerald’s editorial
page as guest editors writing on the Taft-Hartley law, a domi
nant issue in the America underneath.
THE DAILY ...
goes to Alice Maier, Helen Jackson, and Stephanie'Scott,
who last night received the Mortar Board plaque for hav
ing the highest grades among women during their fresh
man year.
THE OREGON LEMON . . .
to the Oregon State College journalist who accused the
Ducks of poor sportsmanship following the basketball
series of last weekend. Is it sportsmanship or the fact
that the Beavers are in the XD cellar that perturbs the
Aggie critic so much?
Sky’s The Limit
'Don't Give Damnitis'
Poisons Our System
By Sam Fidman
A favored device by which his
torians examine the true think
ing of men is personal corres
pondence, usually written or re
ceived by a dignitary of state.
There are letters of the Roman
emperors, and of Abraham Lin
coln, each depicting the flavor of
life in their times.
In a living democracy the let
ters and ideas of the layman, the
“common man’,, are truly reflec
tive.
In the torturous hours in which
we live, letter writers seem to
have gone philosophical, and
more aware bf and more appre
ciative of life now that its nor
malcy cannot be taken for grant
ed.
One friend in Los Angeles
writes of having developed a
painful case of. ‘Won’t give a
damnitis.’’
“Honestly,” he writes, “ is
there any other way we can feel ?”
Well, honestly, there is. To
“just accept” a situation is the
pivot around which our slump
shouldered fatalists are created.
No matter how disheartening
a situation may become, once the
citizens of a democracy abandon
the will to discuss and think their
way to a solution, they are ripe
for loss of their freedom. And
what's more, they would deserve
it.
Some opinions have it that
America's youth is facing re
sponsibility squarely.
This cannot be accepted as a
whole truth, since there are
eases of mass hookey popping up,
and there exists an element that
has adopted, or rationalized, its
way to the adoption of the oder
iferous “don’t give a damn” at
titude.
That makes for a dangerous es
cape from reality at a time when
our nation needs realistic think
ing as backbone of realistic
action, whether that action be on
the individual basis or at the high
and mighty national governmen
tal level.
The Second Cup
In k^epipg with the March of
Dimes campaign just concluded,
the following offering on charity
is submitted:
Charity is the perfection and
ornamentation of religion.—Ad
dison.
*******
He who waits to do a great,
deal of good at once, will never
do anything. Samuel Johnson.
* * * * * * * ,
It is more blessed to give than
to receive. Acts. XX. 35.
*******
Charity shall cover the multi
tude of sins. I Peter. IV. 8.
It Could Be Oregon
4
‘And now Xo. 9, Professor Snarf—This question is worth $18.73'