George W. Taylor: industrial peacemaker

Monthly Labor Review, Dec, 1995 by Edward B. Shils

Use of the strike. According to Professor Walter J. Gershenfeld, currently president of the Industrial Relations Research Association, and a former student of Dr. Taylor's, Taylor made his support of the role of the strike in private sector bargaining very clear in a 1954 speech delivered during a Sidney Hillman Memorial Lecture at the University of Michigan:

They [the strike and lockout] insure that the conditions

of employment will be imposed upon neither employees

nor employers. The term "no contract, no work" is a popular

expression of the conviction that men do not work

except at terms voluntarily accepted. The avoidance or

the termination of a work stoppage is the inducement for

negotiators to modify extreme positions to the extent necessary

to bring about a meeting of minds. The right of

strike and lockout constitute the ultimate pressure for

agreement-making and cannot be outlawed without vitiating

collective bargaining. When strikes and lockouts

turn out to be unsatisfactory methods for resolving certain

differences, therefore, their use can be restricted, in

conformance with our ideals and convictions, only by a

voluntary relinquishments by those who possess the rights

of strike and of lockout.

Taylor's position also was in accordance with his opinion that the strike helped maintain grass roots democracy, and thus helped to preserve the private enterprise system.

However, as Professor Taylor told this writer, his experiences in observing America's race with Russia in the space program obstructed by a small group of unionized electricians at Cape Canaveral during the early 1960's turned him away from support of public sector strikes in which the Nation's future or a city's safety and welfare were concerned. Many of Taylor's professional associates who admired and supported his views on the role of the strike in the private sector did not agree with his stand against the use of the strike by public sector workers.

TODAY'S GLOBAL SOCIETY appears to be truly fragmented by non-negotiable demands. We sense an inability to solve national and international problems involving changing social values, economic dislocations, ethnic clashes, and myriad other issues. At the same time, leadership to secure consensus to help our citizenry seems to be in short supply. The United States and the international community of nations could certainly benefit from the wisdom and example of George W. Taylor, "Father of American Arbitration," a true humanist, and a renaissance man.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Labor Hall of Fame

The Labor Hall of Fame, an activity of the Friends of the Department of Labor, posthumously honors Americans who have contributed most to enhance the quality of lives of American workers.

The 18 persons elected to the Labor Hall of Fame are Samuel Gompers, John R. Commons, Frances Perkins, Cyrus S. Ching, George Meany, John L. Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, James P. Mitchell, Henry J. Kaiser, Eugene V. Debs, Robert R Wagner, Walter P. Reuther, Mary Anderson, Philip Murray, Sidney Hillman, Mother Jones, David Dubinsky, and George W. Taylor.