Press: Guild v. AP

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Having seen the New Deal bungle in selection of cases to test the constitutionality of some of its other measures, friends of the National Labor Relations Act passed by Congress last July were on the alert for a test case which would let the Government put its best foot foremost. Last October, Associated Press abruptly discharged one of its Manhattan staffmen named Morris Watson, explained that after seven years it was "dissatisfied with his services." Newsman Watson countercharged that AP had violated the Labor Act by firing him because he was a vice president of the American Newspaper Guild, newshawks' fledgling union with which AP had just refused to bargain concerning its shift from a five-day to a six-day week.

Twice has the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that AP news is produce moving in interstate commerce. Lively, liberal little Manhattan Lawyer Morris Ernst, crusader for labor rights and good friend of the New Deal, rushed Guildman Watson's charge to the National Labor Relations Board's regional offices in Manhattan. Last week Regional Director Eleanore Morehouse Herrick served a complaint of Labor Act violation on AP, ordered hearings to begin early next month.