Closed Shop

Report Outline
Union Security Issue in Labor Law Revision
Closed Shop in American Labor Relations
State Laws to Protect the Right to Work

Union Security Issue in Labor Law Revision

Whether to remove or retain the federal ban on the closed shop, imposed by the Taft-Hartley Act, is one of the main controversial issues with which Congress is having to deal in writing a new labor relations law. The administration is committed to removal of the ban, but strong voices were raised in behalf of its retention at the Senate Labor Committee's hearings on the pending bill. As the session proceeds, it is becoming apparent that Republicans and southern Democrats together may be able to force concessions from the administration on various points of its labor program. If the measure finally enacted is to be studded with compromises, as now seems likely, it is by no means certain that the proposal for complete removal of the prohibition on the closed shop will be accepted without change.

A new threat to the administration's plans came up on Feb. 23, last day of the Senate hearings, when two Negro witnesses elicited a favorable response from Republican members of the committee when they demanded that anti-discrimination provisions be written into the labor bill. The purpose, among other things, would be to meet complaints that arise when the closed-shop policy is pursued by closed unions, particularly unions closed to Negroes. But if the civil rights issue is injected into the controversy over labor law revision, it will be a complicating factor that might force further compromises and further delay of the administration's program.

Union Security and Coming Contract Negotiations

During the recent period of full employment and rising prices, chief emphasis in collective-bargaining negotiations was on demands for wage increases. However, the closed shop, the union shop, and other measures for union security are basic objectives of the labor movement. If the current pause in the postwar boom continues and widens, labor leaders may be expected to lay more stress on contract provisions to protect and strengthen union organization. And if the nation's economy is undergoing only a leveling-off process, to be followed by a period of relative price stability, the absence of further advances in the cost of living also might well lead to modification of demands for fourth-round wage increases and to intensification of demands for union security.