Foremen, Unite!

U.S. management this week was face to face with the biggest problem in industrial relations since the formation of the C.I.O. Was there going to be a big union of shop foremen?

There was a small but powerful union already: the Foreman's Association of America, 14,000 strong, headed by florid, black-haired Robert Howard Keys, a 30-year-old ex-machinist, ex-assistant foreman at Ford's River Rouge. By last week Keys had a contract with Ford, was negotiating with Packard, had petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a contract to become the foreman's exclusive bargaining agency in General Motors' Detroit Diesel Engine Division.

The Keys petition touched off management's first open answer. To four Congressional committees G.M.'s President Charles E. Wilson sent a blistering 816-word telegram. "The dual allegiance which will arise when foremen are unionized will imperil their ability to fulfill their responsibilities. ... It is easy to visualize the complete breakdown of authority and internal plant discipline."

In Congress Representative Howard W. Smith at once introduced a sweeping bill to make the organization of foremen illegal in war plants. But in Detroit tough Howard Keys held his ground: "Wilson's statement," said he, "was an ancient and foolish complaint. It is much later than Mr. Wilson thinks."

Twilight Zone. A decade ago the organization of foremen would have been unthinkable. Yet with the rapid rise of unionism, the oldtime position of the foreman has quietly been revolutionized. Much of his oldtime authority has been whittled away by union shop stewards. His pay (in Detroit between $4,000 and $6,000) has not gone up as fast as that of the workers. Says Keys: "The production guys have a union. The fellows at the top look out for themselves. No one looks out for the foremen. We are strictly in the middle."

In August 1941 Keys called his first meeting of foremen at Ford, attended by twelve men. But by November he had persuaded 1,200 men to form his Foreman's Association of America. A year later Ford capitulated, gave a 15% pay rise.

With Ford organized, the Association next attacked Packard, who has since agreed to talk business. From Packard Keys moved into the Chrysler plants (including the tank arsenal), four plants of the Hudson Motor Car Co., and General Motors. At a recent meeting General Motors' Wilson said to Ray Rausch, Ford superintendent: "The Association may get into your plants, but they won't get into mine." Replied Rausch: "Charlie, they're already in your plants."

The Pay-Off. Biggest question for management is how far and in what direction the Keys organization will go. At Ford it has taken in not only foremen but supervisors: potentially it may try to organize everyone in industry short of vice presidents.

Bob Keys believes that his union should remain strictly independent. In this case industrial shops (now split between labor and management) may be split three ways.

But, if foremen join with the rank-&-file in one big union (as envisaged by John L. Lewis for the coal industry), the now-weakened power of management would reach the vanishing point. The U.S. would have taken a long step towards Socialism.

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