Montgomery Ward vs. the NWLB

One of the more bizarre occurrences to stem from a National War Labor Board ruling was the physical removal of the president of Montgomery Ward, Sewell Avery, from his Chicago offices by the US Army. After a year and a half of defying NWLB orders to pay his unionized workers higher wages and to enforce a closed shop, in April 1944 Avery had finally forced President Roosevelt to take decisive action.

Avery had been an opponent of President Roosevelt since the early days of the New Deal, and the war had done nothing to lessen his antagonism. In a time of inflated profits, Wards resisted NWLB orders to increase wages for its workers. The most fervent resistance, however, was reserved for the NWLB's membership of maintenance clause. Avery argued that such a policy was detrimental to the rights and freedoms of both the employer and employees who did not wish to join a union, and he refused to comply unless directed to do so by the President. Although Roosevelt issued two such directives, Avery delayed implementing the orders, precipitating the Army take-over of the Chicago branch.

While he was on the NWLB, Morse advocated virtually unlimited powers for the president in wartime. As a Republican on the campaign trail in April of 1944, however, Morse took a dim view of Roosevelt's actions against Avery. To a Klamath Falls audience he railed against “administrative tyranny” and “arbitrary use of power.”

Even with the Army in charge in Chicago, Avery remained unchastised. He continued battling the NWLB and the administration through lawsuits and refusal to obey orders. Shortly after the Christmas of 1944, Roosevelt ordered the Army to take over and operate seven key Wards stores, including the one in Portland, Oregon. These stores remained under Army control until the end of the war.

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