Toledo Union Journal

Army Rule Irks Ward's Workers
CHICAGO, March 20 (LPA)—Montgomery Ward workers and their union leaders are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the War Department's 2½ months' operation of seized Ward properties both here and in other cities, it was disclosed this week. Chief reason for the growing restlessness is the Army's failure to put into effect the provisions of President Roosevelt's seizure order of 16 Ward properties which included check-off of union dues and establishment of other conditions directed by the War Labor Board.

To date there has been no reinstatement of a number of workers who were discharged without just cause during the long struggle for union recognition. Nor has the checkoff, another of the union's hard-won gains, been instituted. Sewell Avery, whose "willful defiance" of the government was denounced by President Roosevelt, "must be laughing up his sleeve," declared one union official here.

Order Is Specific
FDR's seizure order on Dec. 28, 1944, specified that "The secretary of war shall operate the said plants and facilities under the terms and conditions of employment that are in effect at the time possession of the said plants and facilities is taken, and during his operation of the plants and facilities shall observe the terms and conditions of the directive orders of the National War Labor Board, including those dated June 6 and 16, 1944, and Dec. 14 and 15, 1944."

Ward workers contend that these WLB directives to which FDR referred have not been put into operation.

Another question that has interested the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees CIO is how much the government operation of the Ward plants has cost, how much the profits have been and to what extent the people of the United States are bearing the expense of Avery's defiance of the government. This and other questions have not yet been answered.

In Washington the Supreme Court refused a request that the presidential seizure skip over the lower appeals court and come immediately to the top tribunal for decision. The Supreme Court's ruling means that the case will have to work its way up through the lower court and final adjudication by the Supreme Court no earlier than September or October. Even if Sewell Avery should lose in the appeals court it is almost certain he will carry it to Washington.