The individual can feel he is an integral part of the company's survival. His incentive to produce is further enhanced by the remunera tion he receives for his efforts. Sometime ago the men in our company rejected the union's efforts to unionize the company. The choice was theirs and they turned it down by a 3-to-1 majority.

During this organization attempt, a substantial number of men approached me and said they would leave the company if it were unionized. Luckily for them, a benevolent government in its wisdom had provided them with a national right-to-work law. The freedom of choice was theirs. They would not have to sign away their freedom as a condition for employment.

This right-to-work law was enacted in order for the individual to make his way in this great country of ours. If anytime during his journey the individual feels in need of union association, it should be made available to him without undue pressure being applied from any direction. Big unions and big business have shown they can survive the onslaughts they inflict on each other, although most of the time it is at the expense of the public. But a small businessman or an individual is no match for a highly financed, militant union or big business bullishness.

The right-to-work law is little enough that the small businessman has on his side. If you believe in the survival of small business, you cannot, in good conscience, vote for repeal of this law. For anyone who even suggests repeal of this law, it shows them to be forensic, and un-Christian, and uninformed about conditions in our country today. This abysmal ignorance on the part of some of our union leaders could cause the people of our country to rebel against all unions, good or bad. Most people are not aware of the power the repeal of this law would put into the hands of a few power-hungry individuals. This power could very well be the undoing of these individuals, once the people have realized our Nation's work force and small business have been enslaved.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Mr. BOWDEN, I would like at this time to introduce Mr. Louis E. Weiss, president of Midland Metalcraft, Wichita, Kans.

Mr. WEISS. Mr. Chairman, I am Louis E. Weiss, of Wichita, Kans. I will not read my statement.

Mr. THOMPSON. Without objection, Mr. Weiss' statement will be included in the record.

Mr. WEISS. I do want to make a few brief statements, however. Mr. GURNEY. Mr. Chairman, the previous witness, Mr. Trovato, did he formally submit his statement?

Mr. THOMPSON. No.

Mr. GURNEY. Do you desire to do that?

Mr. TROVATO. I do.

Mr. THOMPSON. Without objection, that will be received. (Statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF JACK TROVATO ON BEHALF OF THE VIRGINIA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND OTHER STATE CHAMBER ORGANIZATIONS

My name is Jack Trovato. I am president of the Trovato Electric Co., of Vienna, Va., and I appear here today on behalf of the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce and other State chamber of commerce organizations in the Council of State Chambers of Commerce.

I am a small businessman. I come before you today to plead the outrage of of a small businessman who is caught in the squeeze between big government, big labor, and big business.

In an effort to force me to concede a closed shop I have been subjected to outrageous tactics on the part of a union. My story is enough to make the blood of any American workingman boil. I tell it today because, as you will see, our Virginia right-to-work law is the only safeguard we have against such abuses. I appeal to you keep it in the law for the sake of small businessmen like me.

The experiences I'm about to relate to you are about a challenge, one which my company met head on.

First of all to set the record straight I am not a union buster or a union hater. As a matter of fact, I am in deep agreement with the theory of collective bargaining.

I can remember my father expounding on unionism 30 years ago. I can hear him now, "how proud he was to be a member of this grand benevolent union." I grew up in a family of union members. Ten of my uncles and a score of cousins are still members and shout its praises. I was thoroughly union orientated. Had it not been for World War II, I would probably have gone into the IBEW and worked at my trade after finishing school. Instead, I went into the service.

me.

When the war was over, I was 20 years old, and the wanderlust remained with So I took a job with the U.S. Government traveling from northern Maine to southern Virginia installing airways facilities. I met my wife, whose people are Virginians from in and around the Warrenton area. We were married in 1949 and made our home in Arlington. I remained with the Government and obtained a transfer of jobs to be near home.

I stayed with the Government for another year after which I went into the electrical contracting business. I started out working out of the trunk of my car and basement of my home. After 1 year in business, I had acquired two trucks and four employees. The following 7 years, the business grew to where we were employing 150 men and doing a $2 million volume of business. We had a fine organized and efficient operation. The business had grown way beyond what I had hoped for, my family and I had reached a standard of living with which were satisfied.

I could have stopped at this point and not let the company grow larger. There were two things that drove me on. First, I could not stand the idea of the potential of the company, and the men who had helped it grow, going to waste. Secondly, as the company grew, so did the salary of all its employees, through a profit sharing plan we had installed, and other fringe benefits we kept adding on each year.

If we

At this point, we were limited to the size jobs on which we could bid. wanted to grow in the northern Virginia area, we would have to bid bigger jobs. All of the bigger jobs were being done by union shops.

I was entertaining the idea of joining the union, and checking into the possibility and its ramifications, when out of a blue sky one day Mr. Newman of the IBEW came walking into my office. He informed me that the IBEW had its eye on our company, and they felt we were a solid company and would like to have us in his union. I asked him for a copy of his bylaws. After reading the rules and regulations, I felt they were rather stringent in that they would limit the freedom of management of the company.

After weighing all the pros and cons, I felt the company could live with the union in order that we might continue to grow. There was one stipulation with which I could not live. That was that if we had a union, all of my employees would not be blanketed into the union. As a matter of fact, each and every one would have to qualify on his own, and even if they did qualify, older members in the union with seniority could bump them from their jobs.

I told Mr. Newman I could not join his union with this stipulation. He told me not to worry about it because the bylaws could be changed. I told him when the bylaws were changed for him to come in and see me again, and that I would reconsider.

Unionism being out of the question, we decided if we wanted to grow, what better place in which to do it than in the State of Virginia? The State government had been good to us and had created a good incentive for business to grow in accordance with its capabilities. We opened an office in Richmond and another in Roanoke. The company grew to 200 men with a $21⁄2 million volume of business and good profits.

At this point, reports reached me that union organizers were in the field and approaching men on the jobs, soliciting their signatures on authorization cards used to petition for an NLRB election.

I was not too alarmed at this period. I felt if any of the men wanted to be in the union, all they had to do was qualify and join it. The wages the company paid already had to be in line or in excess of union wages, otherwise employees would quit the company and go into the union. I felt this was a healthy situation, in that the worker could not be exploited. If the union did not treat him justly, he could work for a nonunion contractor, and vice versa; each man to his own choice with the right to work wherever he chooses.

My superintendents started to complain to me that work on our jobs was being impeded by the men on the jobs spending their time discussing this union matter and arguing about it, and that company morale was dropping. They suggested firing some of 20 card-holding union members we had on the payroll. I told them when I hired these men I had a policy of nondiscrimination, union members or not, and that was the way it had to remain. I informed them of NLRB rules governing unfair labor practices and that no one was to be fired unless it was first discussed with me.

The organizers for the union took 6 months getting 30 percent of the men to sign authorization cards. During this time, we did nothing to impede their work, except to complain to the business agent that they were in violation of the law when he allowed his men to stop my men working on my jobs to listen to the organizer's sales pitch. During this 6-month period, company morale dropped to its lowest ebb. The men who had signed the cards started working on the men who had not-our efficiently working team was being broken up. The organizer and the men who had signed the cards suggested the other men sign also, otherwise they would be left out when the company was organized. Many of the men were so disheartened they came to me and said they would like to leave the company. They felt the company was going union and they wanted no part of it. When I tried to reassure them, they asked why I had not gone out on the jobs and talked to the men, and disclaimed the union organizers accusations levied against me and the company. I told them I could not do this, as it might be interpreted as an unfair labor practice, nullifying the election and throwing the company into the hands of the union. I told these men that the company needed them more than ever, and that the NLRB rules would allow me to talk to the men in a group before election time. I felt after they heard what I had to say, we would get a fair vote in keeping with what a majority of the men wanted.

Well, the organizers kept working on the men, using all the tricks they had up their sleeves, including flipping a stack of authorization cards which they claimed were all signed, and remarking, “See, all of these men are signed up: you are about the only holdout." When the men would ask to see the cards and signatures individually, the organizer would claim, "I'm not allowed to do that." That 6-month period of organizing activity put a terrific strain on the financial condition of the company. Efficiency and production had dropped to where we were losing money on just about every job. When we finaled out our financial losses for this period, it amounted to over $250,000. During my 10 years in business I had many things happen to tear up my nervous system. I felt at that

time if I didn't develop an ulcer over this one, I never would. I'm happy to say I haven't yet.

After the union managed to get 30 percent of the men signed up, they approached me again and suggested I organize "from the top." They were sure they could win the election. When I refused, they started using delaying tactics to put off the election. I kept pressing the NLRB for a time and place for a vote, until they finally agreed. I was told that I would be allowed to speak to the men in a group 48 hours before election time. My speech consisted mostly in answering questions that the men had. As a matter of fact, it turned into a free for all with everybody expressing his views. Two days later the vote came in rejecting the union 3 to 1. We had won the election, but at a terrible cost to our financial condition and company efficiency.

Our backs were up against the wall at this point. I figured if we pulled in our belts and got a few breaks, we could put the company back on its feet again. The same organizers who waged the campaign against our company were successful in an election against one of my competitors 2 months previous to mine, and had put him out of business. It is a usual practice of unions to file unfair labor practice charges while they are in the process of organizing, even though they know they cannot make them stick. This is a favorite harassment tactic.

In the case of my competitor these organizers had filed four unfair labor practices, and then dropped them after they had won the election. They did not file any against our company, the only reason being they didn't have the slightest reason for it. They had tried to bait me all through the 6-month period into making a wrong move, such as firing known union sympathizers in the company. Two days after the election an investigator from the Labor Department came into my office and told me to open up my books. I reminded him that he had checked my records about 2 months ago and that he had told me he probably would not be back again until 6 or 18 months. He said, "Yes I know, but these are my orders." He disrupted office procedure for about a week, found nothing illegal and left. A few days later one of my superintendents told me he had been approached by an organizer who asked him to leave the company. The organizer stated he would get my superintendent a union card and a job with a union contractor. He said the organizer told him, "We are going to get Trovato Electric Co.; there is more than one way to skin a cat."

About 1 month after this incident, I received a notice from the District of Columbia Apprenticeship Council charging that my ratio of apprentices to journeymen was way out of proportion on several jobs he had inspected. I referred him to my contract with the apprenticeship council which showed my ratio was correct. They did not bother to write back and apologize, or for that matter, answer my letter in any way. (I assumed they decided to pull their tails back

in and try something else).

We had been doing work in the District of Columbia for about 4 years, and had an excellent relationship with the chief electrical inspector for all this time. Then, all of a sudden, I received a notice to appear before the electrical board for a hearing in order to determine if my master license should be revoked. About 10 percent of the men I had working in the District of Columbia had let their licenses expire, and had not bothered to renew them. Most municipalities notify you in time, so that the individual can have time to renew his license. This is not a law but a courtesy. At this hearing I was represented by counsel, and the board did not revoke my license.

Two days later I received a full sheet of violations on an apartment house that was almost completed in the District of Columbia. Among other things, the inspector demanded I remove all the fixtures we had installed, and all the switches and receptacles, so that he could inspect the boxes in which they were installed. I complained that this was unlawful and unfair in that the boxes were inspected before the plaster was installed, and that his inspector had ample time to inspect them and had given us an approval to conceal.

He said he would not pass the building and stopped the power company from serving power to the building. He claimed because these men I had working for me did not have their licenses, he could not trust my work and that he would have to be stricter on me than other contractors. I contacted my attorney and he advised me to go along with the inspector and try to pacify him. The only other alternative would be a lawsuit with costs involved plus a dissatisfied apartment house owner who could not get power to his building. Well, the inspector did not stop with this building. In the ensuing weeks, I got violation notices on top of notices. The cost of all of this amounted to about $50,000. This was bad enough. Besides the financial effect, the morale of my foremen and superintendents dropped further. The inspector would go out on the job and degrade them, telling them they did shoddy work. They had to bite their tongues to keep from telling him off.

About 3 weeks later, one of my superintendents informed me he was going to leave the company-he said the union had offered him a good deal. This man was on a flat salary of $220 per week and had received a bonus of $3,000 the previous year. He had a company-paid life insurance policy of $20,000. He had accumulated $3,000 in our profit-sharing plan and was included in the company hospitalization plan. He also was allowed a 1963 station wagon for his personal as well as business use with all auto expenses paid. All told he was making around $16,000 per year. In the weeks that followed, the union took 12 more of my superintendents and foremen. All of them were making more money than the union wage which amounted to about $9,000 per year. This was the union's way of "skinning the cat" of which they had spoken. They knew if they could get my key men, or part of them, it would disrupt my operations that much more. It did. They were prepared to bid the price up above their standard wage in order to get to me. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Just imagine what would happen to your business if 75 percent of your key employees all left you within a 3-week period.

Well that's pretty much of it. I have covered the highlights of what has happened. The day-by-day incidents, of course, are too numerous to mention, except to tell you that it is enough to fill a man's heart with hate and resentment when the laws of the land allow such a thing to happen. But hate makes for a blackened heart, and a sick man and body. It's not worth it.

I have learned something from this experience, and I have come out of it with a clear heart, sharper mind, and in good health. I've learned that the ground rules are not what I thought they were and I will act accordingly. The day of big government, big unions, and big business is here. All three have all made their peace with one another. Big business and big unions can fight to a standoff. But the average business is no match for a strong, militant, highly financed union.

When Khrushchev visited our country, he made the statement, "We will bury you." What he really meant is that we will bury ourselves.

For the last 10 years we have heard of the Dave Becks, the Hoffas, and the corruption in unions, such as the rigged election. We know of organized labor's influence on the political, economic, and social life of our country. It would seem a demand should be made that legislation be passed immediately in order to curb some of these wrongdoings by labor unions. Instead of this, legislation is requested which would repeal the national right-to-work law, giving unions the ultimate weapon for total enslavement of this country's work force-dues forced from union members to be used for political purposes.

It's about time the people of our country inform themselves of what is going on, and do some collective bargaining of their own. But, if history repeats itself, which it does, the people will let things go until an extreme condition shakes them out of it. They will then make a complete reversal and go to the other extreme. They will condemn the unions to oblivion, which is almost as bad as conditions are today. There is a place for labor unions and collective bargaining in this country. No group, be it business, unions, or politicians, should have the power over this Nation's economic system that unions have today, if this Nation is going to make Khrushchev eat his words.

It was right across the Potomac in Virginia where the groundwork was laid for a solid foundation on which this country could grow. Virginia gave the formula for a Government by the people. Our State has grown steadily and solidly, while many other States have flourished almost overnight only to find themselves in economic chaos.

In many of these cases, the lack of right-to-work laws to protect the exercise of a free-market economy and individual freedom and dignity was a substantial contributing factor.

The blatant demands of labor bosses for more funds to be used in furthering their insatiable lust for more political power must be battered down. Otherwise, Congressmen, businessmen, union members, and the man-on-the street will lose the exercise of our most precious freedom as individuals to make up our own minds on questions affecting our private lives without fearing retaliation from a group as a consequence of our decision.

Mr. WEISS. I am here, I think, because I have had the dubious privilege of suffering through a 10-month strike over this issue, the issue at stake here in this hearing today. We were in the process of negotiating a new contract with the UAW-CIO, and the business agent came to me privately and wanted to make a deal. He said he was aware that the company was in no position to grant the demands the union wanted or was asking, and if we would agree to a union shop, to compulsory membership, for all present employees and all employees we might hire in the future, he would sign the existing contract with that one exception, the union shop clause.

When I tried to talk with him about it and discuss it with him, he was real quick to tell me that the issue had already been decided in Kansas City, Mo., by the union officials of the UAW and they decided that either I sign the agreement or they were going to shut us down.

We struggled through a 10-month strike with paid pickets out front all 10 months, and they were operating not only in front of our plant