STRIKER BILL MEANS A QUIET DEMISE

Last week, one of the worst legislative proposals of the decade met its demise in the U.S. Senate when backers of the Striker Replacement Bill were unable to break a filibuster and threw in the towel for this year. Good riddance.

Also known as the Push Button Strike Bill, this one has been a priority of Big Labor's bosses for years. It would deny employers the right to hire permanent replacements when workers strike over economic issues. (Other rules apply to strikes over unfair labor practices.) In the name of restoring balance to labor law, this misguided legislation would in fact unbalance it and do lasting economic harm.

The right of employees to strike isn't threatened. Workers retain that right. What exists is a rough balance between this important right and the right of management to do business.

The bill was too much, even for the liberal Washington Post, which said in a recent editorial:

"The goal of labor law isn't to determine the outcome of labor disputes but to maintain a system of mutual deterrence in which neither side can act without risk. An obdurate company risks a strike; obdurate strikers risk replacement. Most of the time the balance works ... This bill would destroy the balance and ought not pass."

While President Clinton and Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called the bill a major priority, we suspect that the president's silence on the matter the past several weeks indicates even he was unsure of the legislation. We commend the Senate for killing the bill.