Page 2 University Daily Kansav Thursday, February 5, 1953
Revision of T-Hartley Law Will Decrease Power of Labor
The Republicans have promised that the first bit of legislation to be considered in the 83rd Congress will be a revision of the Taft-Hartley law.
Tabbed as the worst and the best piece of labor legislation in U.S. history, the Taft-Hartley law recently hurdled an obstacle when the Supreme Court ruled that its use of the injunction was within the law.
An injunction is a court order restraining the strikers from doing irreparable damage to the employer's property. Violation of an injunction usually is punishable without trial.
The injunction has been a thorn in the side of labor since it first was used by management in 1933. Since that time, labor has demanded that the injunction be ruled unconstitutional many times. The recent Supreme Court ruling, though, proves that the injunction, as a legal instrument, will stay in the Taft-Hartley law.
In general, the Taft-Hartley law pertains only to those industries which are considered essential to the public health, safety, and welfare. Elaborate procedure is set forth in the law in case of a strike in such an industry.
Its essential features are a presidential board of inquiry, a waiting period of approximately 80 days (enforced by an injunction), and a secret ballot of the workers on the question of whether or not to accept their employer's last offer.
by Dick Bibler
The board of inquiry is required to investigate the situation thoroughly; however, it is required to act solely as a sounding board. If the strike is not settled after 60 days, the National Labor Relations board must hold an election to see if the workers wish to accept the employer's last offer. If the workers refuse the offer, then the injunction is dissolved, and the parties are free to fight out their dispute. The matter is then transferred by the President to Congress whether that body is in session or not.
an enormous rate of strikes following World War II. The bill created a national furor. It is a masterpiece of vague, legal terminology, and few persons at the inception of the law could understand its many provisions and legal manipulations. Labor leaders decried the law as "slave labor." Management leaders cried out that the law was their Magna Charter. The end result was a complete state of confusion.
The law was introduced in Congress following
Most laboring men, as the bill became law, stood against the law. However, a reliable poll pointed out that most workers were in favor of many of the individual provisions of the law. But when the provisions were grouped together and placed under the name of the Taft-Hartley law, they were whole-heartedly against it.
The law was passed over President Harry Truman's vote in 1947 after he had branded it as a slave labor law.
Sen. Robert Taft, in viewing the proposed revision, has stated that he is in favor of the revision as long as the basic principles of the law are left intact. He would like to require company officials to take the non-communist oath as union leaders are now required to do. He also would vote to remove the ban on voting in a representative election by strikers who have been replaced in their jobs.
The one point in the law which its co-author Sen. Taft would not touch is the key injunction feature.
The proposed revision of the Taft-Hartley law could lead to a more middle-of-the-road attitude for the government. As it now stands the law is designed to correct some of the ills that previous legislation created—legislation which has given the edge to labor. If the proposed revision is carried out—without adding a ban on company or industry bargaining on a nation-wide basis—the government will be able to defend its stand on the labor question as laissez faire.
Bob Longstaff.
Editor Invites Reader's Aid
The beginning of another semester brings a new staff to the editorial page. During the next eight weeks it will be our duty to bring before you our views on whatever topics we believe are pertinent.
Often our views may not coincide with yours. If not, don't sit back and stew about it; let us know. This page will always be open to your comments. The only thing we ask is that you sign your letters. We cannot run letters that are unsigned.
It is our plan during the ensuing weeks to make this page as readable as possible. To do this, we plan to add many new features. They will include reviews of books, movies, and music; a news prophecy column, and the continuance of Pogo and Bibler.
It is our view that the editorial page of a newspaper should be the most important one in the paper. It is the page that not only brings you various views and interpretations of the current world and campus news, but gives you a chance for expression.
We do not feel that the page should be restricted to campus affairs. We are living in a period of unrest, and what happens today will affect us tomorrow. To read the news, we feel is not enough. One must have some reaction to it. This reaction is the editorial.
—Don Moser.
Men in Korea Need Your Blood
The need for blood cannot be overly publicized. The need is as real as the fighting in Korea. But the fact that the need for the blood is removed from the United States proper—as is the fighting—makes it hard for some people to believe that men are dying because of the shortage of blood plasma.
The need for blood is a stark reality. Miraculous medical efforts, against tremendous odds, are being hampered in the war-torn peninsula in the Far East because that reality has not hit enough people here at home.
The men doing the fighting in Korea need your blood. It is blood which you can afford to lose. The men who need it need it badly. They cannot afford to lose any more.
Volumes could be written about how it is the patriotic duty of every citizen to donate a pint of blood. Many more could be written telling of the simple, absolutely painless process of extraction. Each in its own way would be good.
It is not a pretty thought—a man dying. At least, it is not considered to be the best topic for after dinner conversation. Still, men are dying because your blood is not in Korea!
Feb. 18, 19, 20 are the dates set for the Red Cross Bloodmobile to be at the University. The goal set for the drive is 1,000 pints.
Bob Longstaff.
Little Man on Campus
"Picture of an admirer of mine over at th' school of mines."
-Don Moser
Random Thoughts
Many students now completing the first half of their freshman year will undoubtedly become enthusiastic supporters of the group which advocate a three-year college curriculum.
As a national news magazine pointed out recently, the main gripe of college freshman is that the first year is, on the whole, repetition. Students coming to KU from more advanced high schools find that they have to sit through introductory courses in American and European history. Most of them had the exact same course in their high school sophomore or junior years.
They are forced to take biology too, a course they have been through in at least their senior year. Many of the readings in the English department also come under the same heading of repetition.
It is a shame that some provision isn't made for those coming from high schools that have taught these courses. If the incoming freshman isn't allowed to skip the course, he should at least be allowed to enter a section that is a little more advanced and would hold his interest.
The adage about old dogs and new tricks came to mind when President Eisenhower sent his first bill to the House and Senate. Evidently 20 years of practice was too much for most of the senators as the majority of Republicans voted against it while the majority of Democrats backed the Republican president.
\* \* \*
Process Server Dodging I will soon become a required course in most Phys. Ed. schools if athletes keep running into the perjury and income tax laws.
- * *
The President's statement that he might televise some of his press conferences should send many journalism students rushing over to the drama department. Joe Miller's joke book and "The Front Page" may soon become required texts. Who knows which J-student will be tapped for success and go to Washington to become the new Uncle Milty or Howdy Doody.
- * *
Newspaper headline writers should be thankful that the new president can be called Ike. Editors who were so used to writing FDR and HST would run into trouble with DDE; it sounds like something an exterminator would use.
A judge in New York asked seven communists whether they would prefer prison or Russia; that's like asking a student which does he prefer, enrollment or registration.
Member of the Kansas Press Assn,
National Editorial Assn, Inland Daily News
Press Assn, Associated Press Assn,
Press Assn, National Business
Service 420 Madison Avenue N, NY City,
Mail Subscription rates: $3 a semester or
$10 a semester (in semester in
Lawrence). Published in Lawry's
Kew every afternoon during the University
year except Saturdays and Sundays. Univers-
ity bookstores maintain periodical
Entered second class magazine订阅.
1970 at Lawry, Kan., Post Office
at Lawrence, Rim., Post Office under act of March 3, 1879.