When Congress enacted the War Labor Disputes Act in June 1943, it gave the National Labor Relations Board the sole right to conduct the strike ballots. Last week NLRB gave an accounting of its first year’s stewardship under the Act’s terms. Some findings:
¶ Unions have used the strike ballot to try to force favorable and quicker decisions from Government agencies.
¶ Of the 1,089 strike notices filed with the board (726 by A.F. of L., 156 by C.I.O., 201 by unaffiliated unions, six by individuals), 688 were withdrawn, 232 led to strike votes, the rest were settled otherwise. Of the strike votes, only 64 resulted in strikes.
¶ In each of the strike ballots, NLRB asked the employes: “Do you wish to permit an interruption of war production in wartime as a result of this dispute?” Seventy-one percent voted yes.
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