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President Eisenhower would not urge Congress to enact a federal right-to-work statute or make unions subject to the aitfi-tnist laws. _ ;§
When the President’s labor message came to Congress, it was found Winclude recommendations that annual union and welfare fund financial reports be required to be filed with the Department of Labor; that the Department be kept informed annually of changes in union constitutions, by-laws and organizational procedure;that union account books be open to the individual members'; that local union members be guaranteed a direct voice in the election of their local and national officers, and that • employers and unions be required to report financial dealings with each other. *
The President’s message then Jurned to proposed changes in the Taft-Hartley Act and included several recommendations which tie had urged on Congress in the past. One of these rain counter to the idea of a freer choice among working people in the matter of union membership. The Taft-Hartley Act now prohibits the “closed shop’’, whereby an employer and a . union igree that only union members wil\ be hired. The President s proposal would permit the closed shop in the construction industry. ,
Under Mr. Eisenhower’s plans the Federal Government, through the National Labor -Relations Board could certify, without any vote of workers, that “X” Union would be the bargaining agent on a particular construction job. A carpenterror bricklayer looking for work on that job would not apply to his prospective employefr-die would apply to the unioq, and, if not a union member, wouhl be required to purchase a membership or a “work permit” before being crw'^’dered for employment. -V This is a proposal certain to provoke considerable discussion if it reaches an active stage in Congress as there <is a division of, opinion on it in the construction industry itself, among both employers and worketfr in the building trades. S
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