MANAGEMENT: G.M. Files a Brief

What should be done about labor unions? In this momentous argument Alfred P. Sloan Jr., board chairman of General Motors Corp., last week entered G.M.'s brief. Before the Boston Chamber of Commerce he laid down the general rule that labor's just rights must not be sacrificed, but the Wagner Act, which has "as a matter of fact, operated to deprive both workers and others of their rights," must either "fall" or be drastically amended. To his audience and to Congress Sloan suggested:

¶Employers should have the right to talk freely to employees about unions.

¶Employers should be permitted court review of decisions by labor boards.

¶Unions should be made responsible, as employers are, for keeping contracts.

¶Foremen's unions should be barred.

¶The closed shop should be prohibited.

¶Employers as well as unions should have unlimited right to petition for bargaining elections.

Above all, said Sloan, the principles of the Sherman Antitrust law must be applied to unions. The jurisdiction of any one union must be limited so that "the public interest is not substantially prejudiced by strikes." This, said Sloan, can be done either by 1) dissolving existing unions into smaller parts, or 2) restricting the number of plants in any one industry which may be struck at once.

Once the balance is restored to bargaining, it must then proceed "without restriction or interference from without, tp the very end, irrespective of the consequences on either party." Cried Sloan: "I am unalterably opposed to arbitration or anything of that kind in any form, under any conditions. ... It can only lead to a regimented economy."