April 14.
The decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Wagner Labour Relations Act, which has been described as the "Magna Carta of Labour in the United States," is being welcomed as a major victory for President Roosevelt's administration, and, though the narrowness of the majorities in some of the Court's decisions might indicate the existence of some real doubt as to the validity of the Act, the fact remains that it has now received the necessary endorsement, That, however, is not complete, for it is, apparent that the decisions have been reached on the facts of the various eases, rather than as a result of consideration of the principles underlying the Act, as it is pointed out that there still remain a few phases of the Act, applicable to Tocal types of industry, undecided. Broadly speaking the decision of the Supreme Court means that the organisation of workers engaged in Inter-State commerce, is now officially recognized as legal, that employers will have to submit to collective bargaining with their employees, and that men engaged in the formation of labour unions, representing them before their employers, shall not in any way be penalized by the latter, The oporation of the Act was supervised by a National Labour Relations Board, and it was because of some of the @ecisions of that body that the cases now decided were taken to the Supreme Court. The Board's posltion with regard to the relations between employer and employee in inter-Slate commerce has now been clearly defined, and it may expected that State Legislatures, where they have not already. done so, will eventually pass laws. bringing non-inter-State commerce into line with the new established Federal practice.
'The Wagner Act will require: some very careful handling in order' to prevent anomalies, such as that. which is apparent in the ease between the Associated Press and one of its employees. Mr, Morris Watson was an active member of the American Newspaper Guild. He was dismissed. His employers alleged that it was because he failed to do work of which he had shown himself to be capable. He con: tended that it was because of his Guild activities, a view which the National Labour Relations Board accepted, ordering the Associated Press {o reinstate him with back pay. 'The Wagner Act as inter~ preted by the Board, and the Supreme Court, traverses completely a right' which employers have had from time immemorial— the right, so long as all terms of the contract of labour are fulfilled, of terminating the services of an employee, without giving any reason whatever. The Board appears to be given the right of assuming reason, and of revising the employer's decision. It is obvious that in such cases as that of Mr. Watson difficult situation is created. The "Associated Press are forced to re-engage a servant whom they have dismissed. That strikes at the whole system of discipline within the organisation, for the relations between the employer and employee are now not the result of mutual consent, but of a mandate issued by the Board. The employer sees his authority diminished and a situation brought about which can be satlsfactory in the long run to neither party. The order for reinstatement reales. a most difficult situation, and it is suggested that the Act would have provided a better remedy if it had penalized employers for discriminating against Labour representatives in their employ, some portion of the penalty going to the latter as compensation for the loss of employment, In another of the cases eighteen employees of a bus company were dismissed, for ineMelency which arose from union organisation within their ranks, The relations between the employers and these can never be satisfactory, and it would seem that membership of a union Is, under the Act, the best possible means of ensuring con-tinnily of employment, for the onus of proof on the employer to show that the discharge was for other reasons would be a particularly heavy one, Consequently the frst effect of the Supreme Court's decision should be to stimulate re~ emiting for the various Unions, and strong as they have already shown themselves to be in the comparatively recent past, there is every indication that in the near future they will have so grown in strength that they will prove an important factor in the polities of the nation, That should not prove a bad thing, 50 long as Labour is controlled wisely by its leaders, with due regard to national and international economies, and the proper relation between - wages and the cost of living. But if Union leaders seek to use their power for the purpose of securing uneconomic waxes for the workers, it is quite obvious that they will soon bring the industry of the United States into a very parlous condition, Tt is here that the National Labour—Relatlo Board will have to play a very im= portant role in mediation between Capital and Labour and the wiser it is in its decisions the greater will its stabilizing effect be upon the re-Tations between the two, The decision of the Supreme Court is important from another point of view, which should not be overlooked. It is a warning that what seemed before to be implied con stitutional rights may have to be modified in view of the changing. times, is one of main arguments with regard to the Now Deal, and this tacit admission by the Supreme Court may encourage him to pursue his policy further than scorned likely a short while ago,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.