Wirtz Says Lewis Decision Has No Real Significance to Nation's Labor

Calling the principles behind collective bargaining "more fundamental than any laws," W. Williard Wirtz '37, Chairman of the Wage Stabilization Board, yesterday told a meeting of the Law Forum in Langdell Court Room that the law has done much to retard progress towards a workable labor-management relationship.

He characterized governmental policy since 1932 as a series of steps aimed at equalizing the bargaining position of the worker with that of the employer and predicted that any permanent solution would be unlikely to emerge from present legislation.

Wirtz suggested that economic and social aspects of the employer-employee problem be considered "rather than just precedents set by law." This approach, he said, would materially aid in the solution of the country's labor problems.

Earlier in the day, Wirtz told newsmen that the Supreme Court decision against John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers had almost no significance beyond the specific legal facts involved. He admitted, however, that the State Courts might take advantage of the apparent right to issue injunctions while they decided whether a strike was legal.

Sees U. S. Returning Mines

The WSB chairman also ventured that in the light of these developments the government would turn back the mines to private operation before the present June 30 deadline. The miners and operators will have to negotiate a new contract before the end of June, he said, if the handing back is to take place ahead of schedule.

With the right of the miners to strike abrogated while the government retains control of the mines, Wirtz said he did not know how such a settlement could be reached, but retained his position that the return would be made early.

Wirtz also predicted that the Court decision would not be a "go-head" signal to Republican leadership in Congress.