ning of train or engine crews and the protection of the interests of employees affected thereby, which changes come within the area of those proposed by a carrier in the notices of November 2, 1959, or by a labor organization in the notices of September 7, 1960, shall become effective upon application to and approval or modification by the Interstate Commerce Commission in accordance with the procedures and provisions of section 5 of the Interstate Commerce Act, such rules to be operative only as interim rules and until the current controversy regarding such rules is resolved by the parties through continued collective bargaining; and no provision in this joint resolution shall be construed as limiting the right and responsibility of the carriers and organizations to reach agreement regarding such rules.

SEC. 2. An application filed under section 1 shall be given priority over all other matters pending before the Commission, and shall be acted upon within one hundred and twenty days after it is filed or as soon thereafter as is practicable. The Commission may consider as evidence before it the evidence introduced before the Presidential Railroad Commission, created by Executive Order 10891, of November 1, 1960, and before Emergency Board 154, created by Executive Order 11101, of April 3, 1963, and shall not be required to receive evidence cumulative thereto. The Commission may establish a Special Advisory Panel to assist in the discharge of the functions conferred upon it by this joint resolution.

SEC. 3. In acting upon an application filed pursuant to section 1, the Commission shall give due consideration of the effect of the proposed rule upon adequate and safe transportation service to the public and upon the interests of the carrier and the employees affected, giving due consideration to the recommendations of the Presidential Railroad Commission and Emergency Board 154, and to the narrowing of the areas of disagreement which has been accomplished in bargaining and mediation following the Emergency Board report. As a condition of its approval of any interim rule involving, directly or indirectly, the reduction of existing manning requirements or practices, the Commission shall require a fair and equitable arrangement to protect the interests of the railroad employees affected as provided in section 5(2) (f) of the Interstate Commerce Act, and with due consideration to the recommendations of the Presidential Railroad Commission and Emergency Board 154 relating to the retention of job rights by senior employees, relocation expenses and earnings protection to less senior employees transferred to other jobs by the employing carrier, preferential hiring rights, displacement allowances, supplemental severance, allowances, and retraining allowances. To the extent that provision for such payments and retraining may be available to an employee under the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 or other Federal statutes, the carrier will be relieved of this obligation.

SEC. 4. The Commission shall act upon any application filed with it under section 1 of this joint resolution, by way of approval, modified approval, or disapproval; and upon such approval or modified approval an interim rule consistent therewith shall be put into effect and shall remain operative until the parties reach agreement regarding the matter involved or, if no agreement is reached, for two years following the date the interim rule goes into effect. SEC. 5. No change in rules coming within the scope of the notices referred to in section 1 of this joint resolution may be made except by agreement or by the procedures prescribed herein, and any strike or lockout to accomplish, prevent, or interfere with such change shall be subject to the procedures of section 5 (8) of the Interstate Commerce Act.

SEC. 6. The parties shall proceed immediately to bargain collectively, with the assistance of the National Mediation Board, concerning any unresolved issues regarding any proposals which were included in the notices of November 2, 1959, or September 7, 1960, but which do not involve the manning of train or engine crews and the protection of the interests of employees affected thereby. If agreement has not been reached within sixty days following the effective date of this joint resolution, any party may submit its proposal to the Interstate Commerce Commission for disposition by such special procedures, not confined to those set out specifically in this joint resolution, as the Commission, after consultation with the parties, deems appropriate. Due consideration shall be given in any such procedure to the recommendations of the Presidential Railroad Commission and Emergency Board 154 and to the narrowing of the areas of disagreement which has been accomplished in bargaining and mediation. The provisions of section 5 of this joint resolution shall be applicable to matters covered by such proposals.

SEC. 7. The provisions of the Act of March 23, 1932, entitled "An Act to amend the Judicial Code and to define and limit the jurisdiction of courts sitting in equity, and for other purposes," shall not be applicable to an action under sections 5 or 6. In any such action, service of the complaint and summons shall be made on the parties to the controversy by delivery thereof to an officer or to any other agent of said parties authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process. The delivery of the summons and complaint may be made by certified mail. The orders, writs, and process of a district court issued in any such action shall run, be served, and be returnable anywhere in the United States.

SEC. 8. This joint resolution shall expire two years from the date it becomes effective: Provided, That the jurisdiction of a district court of the United States under sections 5 and 6 shall continue for so long as any interim rule under section 4 continues to be operative. Prior to such expiration, the President shall report on its operation to the Congress and make such further recommendations, if any, as he deems appropriate, including his recommendation as to whether this joint resolution should be extended. In addition, the Interstate Commerce Commission may, from time to time, submit interim reports to the President on its actions pursuant to this resolution.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

RELATIVE TO RAILROAD-LABOR DISPUTE

JULY 22, 1963.-Referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and ordered to be printed

To the Congress of the United States:

This Nation stands on the brink of a nationwide rail strike that would, in very short order, create widespread economic chaos and distress. After more than 31⁄2 years of constant but fruitless attempts to achieve a peaceful settlement between the parties through every private and public means available, this dispute has reached the point where only prompt and effective congressional action can assure that serious injury to the public will be prevented.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

This dispute is between virtually all of the Nation's major railroads and the five railroad operating brotherhoods-the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Switchmen's Union of North America. It involves-in addition to the more traditional issues of wage structure and fringe benefits-new and complex issues relating to changes proposed by the carriers and the brotherhoods in work rules affecting the manning of certain railroad operations and the assignments of particular crafts. The background and history of this case, the issues in dispute and the respective positions of the parties have been clearly and concisely set forth in a July 19, 1963, report unanimously signed by six tripartite members of a special subcommittee of the President's Advisory Committee on Labor

Management Policy. That report, including the appendixes, is included as an appendix to this message, and should be carefully read by all who seek the facts on this case.

Without attempting to summarize either the findings of that report or the excellent work of the other panels mentioned below, the following points are worth noting:

After the carriers on November 2, 1959, had served notice of proposed rules changes on the brotherhoods, and the brotherhoods had served notice of other proposed rule changes on September 7, 1960, and no agreement was forthcoming, both parties agreed on October 17, 1960, to submit the entire subject to a special Presidential study commission of 15 members, composed of an equal number of public, railroad, and brotherhood representatives. Following 13 months of extensive hearings and deliberations, 15,500 pages of oral testimony and more than 300 exhibits, this Presidential Railroad Commission, under the chairmanship of Judge Simon H. Rifkind, recommended specific rules changes and employee protection provisions in a comprehensive 342-page report.

Following a Supreme Court determination that there was no legal barrier to the carriers initiating such changes, with appropriate bargaining and recourse to the Railway Labor Act procedures, and following the continued inability of the parties to negotiate an agreement, the National Mediation Board recommended to the parties that the case be submitted to binding arbitration.

As disagreement continued and a nationwide strike threatened an Emergency Board established pursuant to section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, under the chairmanship of Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, following its own unsuccessful efforts to mediate the dispute, made a series of recommendations designed to serve as the basis for constructive collective bargaining.

After further discussions and an extension at my request of the status quo period, the Secretary of Labor on July 5, 1963, recommended solutions for the two most controversial issues along with procedures to dispose of the rest.

On July 9, 1963, I recommended to the parties that all issues be submitted for final settlement to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Arthur Goldberg, whose judicious temperament, expert competence, and many successes as a mediator uniquely deserved the confidence of both parties. This recommendation, and each of the preceding four sets of recommendations, were accepted by the carriers; but the brotherhoods rejected them in whole or in part.

It

On July 10, at my request, the parties agreed to maintain the status quo until July 29 to permit time, first, for the LaborManagement Subcommittee to examine and report the issues, and, second, for the Congress to consider this entire matter. was my hope-and remains such-that the parties would recognize the importance of settling this dispute without resort either to legislation or to a crippling national strike. However, too little progress has been made in the past 11 days to release me from my July 10 commitment to transmit to the Congress on this date a review of the case and my recommendations for its disposition.

We face this prospect: In the absence either of an agreement, postponement, or reversal of position on the part of the parties, or of enactment of some contrary measure on the part of the Congress, July 29 will almost certainly witness the start of a general rail strike. The carriers on that date can be expected to initiate work rules changes along the lines of those approved by the various panels. And the brotherhoods thereupon can be expected to strike 94 percent of the Nation's rail mileage.

THE EFFECTS OF A PROLONGED NATIONWIDE RAIL STRIKE

In the event a strike occurs it will bring widespread and growing distress.

Many industries which rely primarily on rail shipment including coal and other mining which is dependent on rails leading directly to the mine, steel mills that ship by rail, certain chemical plants which load liquids directly into tank cars, and synthetic fiber mills dependent on chemicals which for safety reasons can be carried only in rail tank cars all of these and others would be forced to close down almost immediately. There would not be enough refrigerated truck capacity to transport all of the west coast fruit and vegetable crop. A substantial portion of these and other perishable products would rot. Food shortages would begin to appear in New York City and other major population centers. Mail services would be disrupted. The delay, cost, and confusion resulting from diverting traffic to other carriers would be extremely costly; and considerable rail traffic would be wholly incapable of diversion.

The national defense and security would be seriously harmed. More than 400,000 commuters would be hard hit.

As more and more industries exhausted their stockpiles of materials and components-including those engaged in the production of automobiles, metal products, lumber, paper, glass, and others—the idling of men and machines would spread like an epidemic. Construction projects dependent on heavy materials-exports and waterway shipping dependent on rail connections-community water supplies dependent on chlorine which also moves only by railslaughterhouses and stockyards, iron ore, rubber and machinery, magazine publishers, and transformer manufacturers-all would be hard hit by a strike. The August grain harvest would present a particularly acute problem.

The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that by the 30th day of a general rail strike, some 6 million nonrailroad workers would have been laid off in addition to the 200,000 members of the striking brotherhoods and 500,000 other railroad employees-that unemployment would reach the 15-percent mark for the first time since 1940and that the decline in our rate of GNP would be nearly four times as great as the decline which occurred in this Nation's worst postwar recession.

At the same time, shortages and bottlenecks would increase pricesnot only for fruits and vegetables but for many industrial materials and finished products as well-thus impairing our efforts to improve our competitive posture in foreign and domestic markets and to safeguard our balance of payments and gold reserves. And even if the strike were ended by private or congressional action on the 30th day,