MANAGEMENT: One Big Union?

When the National Labor Relations Board opened the door to the unionization of foremen a year ago, it timidly kept the night chain on. The foremen, said NLRB, could only join independent unions of their own. NLRB was plainly unwilling to divorce foremen completely from management by permitting them to join rank-&-file labor unions.

Last week NLRB boldly threw the door wide open as it ordered an election to determine whether supervisory employes of Jones & Laughlin’s Vesta-Shannopin Coal Division should be represented by the United Mine Workers.

If the new NLRB ruling stands, against the appeal which coal operators were preparing to make to the courts, the foremen’s unions will have reached their goal. U.S. industry can get ready to be organized by the unions “right up to the vice presidents.”