Labor of Love

The metamorphoses of the Kennedy Labor Bill are, probably, near their end. The latest stage of development has incurred the displeasure of President Eisenhower, the McClellan "rights bill" was unacceptable to labor, and the original Kennedy measure was unsatisfactory to conservatives. No doubt the House will make a few changes, and more steps will be involved in a reconciliation between the House and Senate, but the present form is, for various reasons, fairly close to what the President must eventually sign or veto.

Like most legislation, the present bill has been dictated more by political considerations than what would be ideal. It has all of the defects pointed out by President Eisenhower--inadequate control of secondary boycotts and "blackmail" picketing as well as its failure to define the relative positions of the National Labor Relations Board and the states--but it is a bill, and a reasonably satisfactory one. It has been buffeted by the amendments of McClellan, whose position in Arkansas depends to some degree on his keeping unions out of the state. It has been attacked as too weak and too strong. But it is probably the strongest bill that could have passed the Senate, and it does incorporate measures to reduce the worst abuses of modern labor.

The bill is a major step toward legal regulation of unions. To reject the bill because it is too weak, as was done last year, would be shortsighted and stupid. The Senate has made a first move toward regulating labor by bills which are not merely imposed willy-nilly on the unions; to refuse the advance just because it is not of the ideal dimensions would be a major blunder.