SENATE PASSES LABOUR BILL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25205, 9 June 1947, Page 7

SENATE PASSES LABOUR BILL

PRESIDENT URGED TO EXERCISE VETO RESTRICTIONS ON U.S. TRADE UNIONS (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 6. The United States Senate to-day, by a vote of 54 to 17, completed Congressional action on the Labour Bill, which now goes to President Truman, who has already been subjected to heavy trade union pressure to veto the new measure, which includes many restrictions on trade union practices. The bill authorises the Government to obtain injunctions to prevent national paralysis strikes, such as in the coal and steel industries. It creates a new national labour relations board, with five members. Such a board would assume power of investigation and the prosecution of unfair labour charges.

The bill bans the “closed shop” policy, under which employers are permitted to hire union members only. However, in cases where a majority of employees vote for it, the bill authorises a common union shop. Nevertheless, when such agreements are made for a common -union shop, employers have the right to hire nonunionists, who must, however, subsequently join a union. The bill prohibits jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. [Jurisdictional strikes spring from disputes between rival unions as to which should do certain work. A secondary boycott is when a union injures an employer indirectly by forcing other employers to refrain from doing business with him.] The bill creates a new Federal mediation agency, independent of the Government Department of Labour. It outlaws health and welfare funds, which have been established since January 1, 1946, and which are administered solely by the unions. The bill provides that employers or employees, or both, who are parties to a bargaining contract, must serve 60 days’ notice if any change in the terms and conditions are desired. The bill prohibits the prevention of access to jobs by mass picketing or violence. It prohibits excessive and discriminatory union dues and initiation fees. The bill prohibits unions from forcing employers to to men who do not work and who are not needed, hut who are hired in compliance with union rules at union insistence. The bill denies the rights of collective bargaining to a union if any of its officers could reasonably be regarded as Communists or Communist sympathisers. The bill makes unions, as well as employers, liable for unfair labour practices. Under this section, unions could be sued for a breach of contract and for damages resulting from jurisdictional strikes and from secondary boycotts, or both. The bill prohibits strikes by Government employees. It relieves employers of the obligation to bargain collectively with foremen, and prohibits union contributions to national elections and primaries.