White House Press Release, Message of President Harry S. Truman to the United States House of Representatives

231 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE JUNE 20, 1947 CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or pub- lished until the READING of the President's Message has begun in the House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I return herewith, without my approval, H.R. 3020, the "Labor Management Relations Act, 1947." I am fully aware of the gravity which attaches to the exer- cise by the President of his constitutioral power to withhold his approval from an enactment of the Congress. I share with the Congress the conviction that legislation dealing with the relations between management and labor is necessary. I heartily condemn abuses on the part of unions and employers, and I have no patience with stubborn insistence on private advantage to the detriment of the public interest. But this bill is far from a solution of those problems. When one penetrates the complex, interwoven provisions of this omnibus bill, and understands the real meaning of its various parts, the result is startling. The bill taken as a whole would reverse the basic direction of our national labor policy, inject the Governmnnt into private economic affairs on an unprecedented scale, and conflict with impor- tant principles of our democratic society. Its provisions would cause more strikes, not fewer. It would contribute neither to indus- trial peace nor to economic stability and progress. It would be a dangerous stride in the direction of a totally managed economy. It contains seeds of discord which would plague this Nation for years to come. Because of the far-reaching import of this bill, I have weighed its probable effects against a series of fundamental consid- erations. In each case I find that the bill violates principles essential to our public welfare. I. The first major test which I have applied to this bill is whether it would renult in more or less Government interven- tion in our economic life. Our basic national policy has always been to establish by law standards of fair dealing and then to leave the working of the economic aystem to the free choice of individuals Under that policy of economic freedom we have built our nation's productive strength. Our people have deep faith in industrial self-government with freedom of contract and free collective bargaining. I find that this bill is completely contrary to that national policy of economic freedom. It would require the Govern- ment, in effect, to become an unwanted participant at every bargaining table. It would establish by law limitations on the terms of every bargaining agreement, and nullify thousands of agreements mutually arrived at and satisfactory to the parties. It would inject the Government deeply into the process by which employers and workers reach agreement. It would superimpose bureaucratic procedures on the free decisions of local employers and employees. (OVER)