Mind Your Tongue

Labor leaders, who have been loudly charging many a company with double bookkeeping to hide profits, were jolted last week. Chicago's Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that unionists may be sued for libel for such statements. The decision grew out of a squabble between Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Co. and a C.I.O. Steelworkers' local. Back in 1943, Pullman had stated in a newspaper ad that its profits, after all expenses, were only 1.81 of a cent on the dollar.

The C.I.O. local in the company's Calumet shipyards (patrol craft and Navy LCMs) promptly charged: "Everybody knows . . . Pullman's profits actually were over the $50 million mark. You are falsifying to the public and ... the workers in the name of patriotism."

When Pullman sued for libel, the District Court dismissed the case. It held that neither unions nor their officials could be sued, because they are voluntary organizations. The Appellate Court reversed this ruling, decided that unions cannot be sued but that union officials can be.

Since the suit was filed, the shipyard has shut down, the local has closed down, most of the defendants have disappeared. But Pullman intends to press its suit.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.