Detroit Sittings

Last week President Roosevelt's three-man labor board to bring peace to the automobile industry settled down to its work in Detroit. Its appointment fortnight ago had served to avert what threatened to be the worst strike under NRA--a strike that would have thrown 200,000 men out of work, closed hundreds of plants, cut production in dozens of other industries, crippled the Midwest and seriously retarded the President's whole recovery program. Now the board's primary job was to untangle the unionization dispute between the motorcar makers and the American Federation of Labor. After that its broad purpose was to put to the test the Administration's new and notable policy for dealing with labor disputes.

Labor named as its representative on the automobile board Richard L. Byrd. In 1912 Mr. Byrd was known as the man who placed second in the discus throw in the Olympic games at Stockholm. Later he worked in the copper mines in Nevada, and after that for Fisher Body Co. Today he heads the A. F. of L. union in General Motors plants.

Industry named as its representative Nicholas Kelley, who was born at Zurich, Switzerland. His mother was Florence Kelley, long famed as general secretary and driving force of the National Consumers' League. During the War Lawyer Kelley was called to the Treasury Department to supervise war loans to Allies, later became an Assistant Secretary. Today he is attorney for Chrysler Motors.

Neutral member of the board was picked by President Roosevelt. As Labor and Industry's representatives, zealous to serve their constituencies, were expected to be deadlocked most of the time, this third member became a man of decisive importance. He was Dr. Leo Wolman, chairman of NRA's Labor Advisory Board and a member of the National Labor Board.

Like many New Dealers Dr. Wolman is a professor, a graduate of Johns Hopkins, a teacher at Columbia, an expert on statistics. He is also a labor man. Until last year he was known in public life as the economic adviser of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. As such he supported a course largely contrary to that of the A. F. of L. He strongly advocates industrial (vertical) unions as opposed to craft (horizontal) unions of the A. F. of L. type.

Only six weeks ago Dr. Wolman, outdone with the Labor Board's support of the A. F. of L. system, resigned. Only strong pleas from General Johnson got him to withdraw his resignation. Labor man he is but he does not rub shoulders with the labor men whom open-shop industrialists most dislike and distrust. Nor is he a believer in the regimentation of industry. In Washington he has been an anomaly, for he is firmly pro-labor and equally firm in believing that labor fares best under a sound capitalistic system.

Within 48 hours after their appointment Dr. Wolman convened his fellow members in Detroit, and began to receive a half hundred union complaints against discrimination by automobile manufacturers. Promptly he made two announcements: 1) "Rules of evidence will not bother us. We will . . . let the men tell their stories in their own words." 2) "In order to avoid friction . . . there should not be any solicitation for membership in either unions or company representation plans during working hours."

Meanwhile by last week the rest of the country had a better idea of what President Roosevelt had achieved in the way of a new labor policy by the creation of his automobile board. Plainly he meant to put his Administration on record against coercion of workers by organized labor as well as by industry. Furthermore the Government established a new impartiality between plant unions and outside unions and provided for collective bargaining by not one but several groups.

Immediate result of this change of front was to give a bad setback to the program of Senator Wagner's National Labor Board. The automobile agreement definitely ignored the labor board's contention that a majority of a company's workers had the sole right to bargain for all. And the outlawing of union coercion resulted last week in Senator Wagner's agreement to write a similar change into his Labor Disputes bill (TIME, March 19). If and when that bill is passed it will allow the Labor Board not only to crack down on employers, but also to regulate the tactics of organized labor.

Just as the automobile agreement lowered the prestige of the National Labor Board so it lowered the prestige of the A. F. of L. The A. F. of L. won a foothold in the automobile industry, but the price paid was a definite declaration by the Administration that the U. S. will not favor the A. F. of L. more than any other union.

In spite of these important implications of the automobile labor settlement, Labor and Industry recognized last week that it would remain only a mist of hopeful words until Dr. Wolman and colleagues finished their work in Detroit and came to put policies into practice.

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