Trouble at the Table

The Labor-Management Conference was a flop. Delegates conceded this week that they would do well to reach as much agreement as the pallid platitudes of last spring's management-labor charter (TIME, April 9), which has not altered the battle lines by an inch. President Truman's observers reported back to the White House that he had misplaced his hopes in banking on the conference to settle anything; he might as well abandon them.

Even Dr. George Taylor, conference secretary, trying to find something hopeful to pass on to the public, was reduced to pointing out that the delegates of Big Business and Big Labor had agreed on the principle of collective bargaining. This was the issue which broke up the 1919 conference. But in A.D. 1945, boasting that all delegates agreed on collective bargaining was like announcing that the conference, eight years after the Supreme Court, had declared the Wagner Act constitutional.

On its assignment to write an industrial peace treaty, the conference was getting nowhere. Barring a miracle--by a group of men who had proved to be in no mood to perform one--it would soon fold up without offering the American public anything except its regrets.

Don't Fence Him In. The biggest news of the conference was the United Mine Workers' John L. Lewis, for whom life seemed to be beginning all over again at 65. The old lion stalked into the conference with a roar. Soon he had the A.F. of L.'s President Bill Green, once a mortal enemy, agreeing with everything he said. He had the C.I.O.'s President Phil Murray, once a bosom friend, sputtering with rage. For a while he had industry's delegates so charmed that a wisecracker observed: "John L. could be elected president of the National Association of Manufacturers without a dissenting vote."

Outside the conference hall (in the Department of Labor Building) uninvited independent unions had thrown up a picket line with banners reading: "We challenge Lewis, Murray and Green to cross this picket line." Phil Murray and Bill Green sneaked in a side entrance. Lewis grunted, tossed his head and marched right on past the signs.

Once inside, John Lewis put on his best virtuoso performance. His meaty frame shook with laughter, trembled with scorn, vibrated with anger, froze in righteous dignity. And all the while his deft fingers tugged at the strings, rigging the conference into a one-man show.

Five to Lewis. First John Lewis thrust his bulky frame into the all-important executive committee. In league with the A.F. of L., he had the committee enlarged to 16 members, eight from industry, three from the C.I.O., three from the A.F. of L., one from the Mine Workers, one from the Railway Brotherhoods.

Naturally, the Mine Workers' representative was John L. Lewis. The Brotherhoods', by odd coincidence, was Thomas Cashen, an oldtime A.F. of L. man whose Switchmen's Union is still part of the A.F. of L. In effect John L. Lewis, for whom the A.F. of L. considers nothing too good right now, had five of labor's votes in his pocket.

The C.I.O., reduced to an impotent minority of three, made one feeble try at discussing wages: Phil Murray offered a resolution supporting President Truman's stand for some raises without price increases (TIME, Nov. 12). Then John L. pulled the rug from under Phil.

On Enterprise. "The resolution," boomed Mr. Lewis, "seeks to perpetuate Government control of prices, profits and the fixation of wages. ... I am opposed to labor's being required to bargain collectively within these limits. I want free enterprise and free collective bargaining. Free enterprise and free competition have acted in the past and will act in the future as a brake on profits and will bring lowered costs to the consumer. . . .

"We must not inhibit industry from making profits. Labor, investors and the public generally are entitled to share in the fruits of American technical geniuses." (Here Lewis nodded graciously to the Radio Corporation of America's inventive David Sarnof, who beamed.)

"Price controls should come off as soon as possible. Price and profit limitations should be removed.

"What Mr. Murray and the C.I.O. are asking for is a corporate state, wherein the activities of the people are regulated and constrained by a dictatorial government. We are opposed to the corporate state.

"Whenever we get production started, the competitive situation will take care of prices. Ford's entire policy in the last 30 years has been to raise wages and lower prices. General Motors has tried to do the same. That will come again if we give industry the chance.

"The stockmarket is advancing all along. Values are increasing and there is no cause for pessimism in the future. To quote the immortal James A. Garfield: 'America is sound. God reigns and the flag flies over the Capitol in Washington.' "-

The Short Retort. Management's delegates could hardly believe their ears. Said N.A.M. President Ira Mosher: "I would give a year's budget if John had made that speech publicly." Said Monsanto Chemical's William M. Rand: "I've had the wrong slant on John Lewis. . . ."

Shouted C.I.O.'s sorely goaded Phil Murray: "The C.I.O. is not afraid of anybody, and I am not afraid of you."

Replied John Lewis, "Nuts."

And So to Bed. The diplomatic tone of the conference was set. Each night John Lewis strode off from the Labor Department Building in magnificent isolation. A.F. of L. delegates went to confer in their Washington headquarters, C.I.O. delegates to tear their hair in theirs. Management's men, content to sit by while labor bickered, met in hotel suites or the Chamber of Commerce Building, waited to see what labor would do to untangle itself.

One public representative commented: "I am amazed at the selfishness of the delegates. They are all looking out for their own private advantage." John Lewis, playing a lone hand for stakes that might make him once again the most powerful figure in U.S. labor, was in no hurry to end the game of industrial power politics.

The A.F. of L., used to bargaining craft by craft, could see little gain from overall policy discussions. The C.I.O., which stood to gain most, was boxed in. The solution, and the public, would have to wait.

*John L. was inaccurate. Garfield said: "God reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives!"

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