TO CREATE A NATIONAL LABOR BOARD

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1934

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in room 335, Senate Office Building, Senator David I. Walsh presiding.

Present: Senators Walsh (chairman), Thomas, Erickson, Borah, Metcalf, LaFollette, and Davis.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. I suggest that the reporter insert the bill S. 2926 at this point in the record. (The bill referred to is here printed in full as follows:)

A BILL To equalize the bargaining power of employers and employees, to encourage the amicable settlement of disputes between employers and employees, to create a National Labor Board, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Labor Disputes Act."

SEC. 2. The tendency of modern economic life toward integration and centralized control has long since destroyed the balance of bargaining power between the individual employer and the individual employee, and has rendered the individual, unorganized worker helpless to exercise actual liberty of contract, to secure a just reward for his services, and to preserve a decent standard of living, with consequent detriment to the general welfare and the free flow of commerce. Inadequate recognition of the right of employees to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing has been one of the causes of strikes, lockouts, and similar manifestations of economic strife, obstructing commerce and imperiling the general welfare. It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to remove obstructions to the free flow of commerce, to encourage the establishment of uniform labor standards, and to provide for the general welfare, by removing the obstacles which prevent the organization of labor for the purpose of cooperative action in maintaining its standards of living, by encouraging the equalization of the bargaining power of employers and employees, and by providing agencies for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

SEC. 3. When used in this Act

(1) The term "person" includes individual, partnership, association, corporation, and the legal representative, trustee in bankruptcy, receiver, or trustee thereof, or the legal representative of a deceased person.

(2) The term "employer" means a person who has one or more employees, except that the term "employer" shall not include the United States, or any State, municipal corporation, or other governmental instrumentality, or any person subject to the Railway Labor Act, as amended from time to time, or any labor organization, or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization.

(3) The term "employee" means any individual employed by an employer under any contract of hire, oral or written, express or implied (including any contract entered into by any helper or assistant of any such individual, whether paid by him or his employer, if such assistant or helper is employed with the

knowledge, actual or constructive, of the employer), or any individual formerly so employed whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice: Provided, That the term "employee" shall not include an individual who has replaced a striking employee. Wherever the term "employee" is used, it shall not be limited to mean the employee of a particular employer, but shall embrace any employee, unless the Act explicity states otherwise.

(4) The term "representatives" includes any individual or labor organization. (5) The term "labor organization" means any organization, labor union, association, corporation, or society of any kind in which employees participate to any degree whatsoever, which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, or hours of employment.

(6) The term "commerce" means trade or commerce, or any transportation or cummunication relating thereto, among the several States, or between the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United States and any State or other Territory, or between any foreign country and any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or within the District of Columbia or any Territory, or between points in the same State, but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign country.

(7) The term "unfair labor practice" means any unfair labor practice listed in section 5.

(8) The term "National Labor Board" means the National Labor Board created by section 201 of this Act.

SEC. 4. Employees shall have the right to organize and join labor organizations, and to engage in concerted activities, either in labor organizations or otherwise, for the purposes of organizing and bargaining collectively through representatives of their own choosing or for other purposes of mutual aid or protection. SEC. 5. It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer, or anyone acting in his interest, directly or indirectly

(1) To attempt, by interference, influence, restraint, favor, coercion, or lockout, or by any other means, to impair the right of employees guaranteed in section 4. (2) To refuse to recognize and/or deal with representatives of his employees, or to fail to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements with such representatives concerning wages, hours, and other conditions of employment.

(3) To initiate, participate in, supervise, or influence the formation, constitution, bylaws, other governing rules, operations, policies, or elections of any labor organization.

(4) To contribute financial or other material support to any labor organization by compensating anyone for services performed in behalf of any labor organization, or by any other means whatsoever.

(5) To fail to notify employees in accordance with the provisions of section 304 (b).

(6) To engage in any discriminatory practice as to wage or hour differentials, advancement, demotion, hire, tenure of employment, reinstatement, or any other condition of employment, which encourages membership or nonmembership in any labor organization: Provided, That where a contract or agreement of any kind is or shall be in force between an employer and a group of employees, the provisions of such contract or agreement regarding conditions of employment shall not, because of anything contained in this paragraph, compel an employer to observe similar conditions of employment in his relations with all his employees: Provided further, That nothing in this Act shall preclude an employer and a labor organization from agreeing that a person seeking employment shall be required, as a condition of employment, to join such labor organization, if no attempt is made to influence such labor organization by any unfair labor practice, if such labor organization is composed of at least a majority of such employers' employees, and if the said agreement does not cover a period in excess of one year. SEC. 6. The several district courts of the United States are hereby invested with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain any unfair labor practice that burdens or affects commerce or obstructs the free flow of commerce, or has led or tends to lead to a labor dispute that might affect or burden commerce or obstruct the free flow of commerce, and it shall be the duty of the several district attorneys of the United States, but solely at the request of the National Labor Board, in their respective districts, under the direction of the Attorney General, to institute proceedings in equity to prevent and restrain any such unfair labor practices.

TITLE II

"National

SEC. 201. There is hereby created a Board, to be known as the Labor Board" (hereinafter referred to as the "Board"), which shall be composed of seven members, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Two of such members shall, at the time of nomination, be designated as representatives of employers, two as representatives of employees, and three as representatives of the general public. The members representing the general public shall be appointed for terms of five years each, and the other members shall be appointed for terms of one year each, and all members shall be eligible for reappointment. Any person chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the member whom he shall succeed. The President shall designate one of the members representing the general public as chairman of the Board. No member representing the general public shall engage in any other business, vocation, or employment. A vacancy in the Board shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all the powers of the Board. The Board shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

SEC. 202. (a) Each member representing the general public shall receive a salary of $10,000 a year. The other members shall each receive $25 per diem and necessary traveling and subsistence expenses when attending meetings of the Board. The Board shall appoint and fix the compensation of an executive secretary, and it shall have authority to appoint and fix the compensation of such attorneys, special experts, examiners, mediators, clerks, and other employees, and to establish such regional or local boards, as it may from time to time find necessary for the proper performance of its duties and as may be from time to time appropriated for by Congress. The Board may make such appointments without regard to the civil service laws or the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. The Board is directed to retain the officers and employees of the National Labor Board created by the President on August 5, 1933, to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient functioning of the Board.

(b) All the expenses of the Board, including all necessary traveling expenses outside the District of Columbia incurred by the members or employees of the Board under its orders, shall be allowed and paid on the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the Board or by any individual it designates for that purpose.

SEC. 203. The principal office of the Board shall be in the District of Columbia, but it may meet and exercise all its powers at any other place. The Board may, by one or more of its members or by such employees as it may designate, prosecute any inquiry necessary to its duties in any part of the United States. A member who participates in such an inquiry shall not be disqualified from subsequently participating in a decision of the Board in the same case.

SEC. 204. The Board may, either by itself or through its agents, offer its services to the parties to any labor dispute as conciliator or mediator in such dispute, and may act as conciliator or mediator for the parties who accept such offer.

SEC. 205. (a) The Board is empowered to prevent any person from engaging in any unfair labor practice that burdens or affects commerce or obstructs the free flow of commerce, or has led or tends to lead to a labor dispute that might burden or affect commerce or obstruct the free flow of commerce.

(b) Whenever any member of the Board, or the executive secretary, or any person designated for such purpose by the Board, shall have reason to believe, from information acquired from any source whatsoever, that any person has engaged in or is engaging in any such unfair labor practice, he shall in his discretion issue and cause to be served upon such person a complaint stating the general nature of the charges in that respect, and containing a notice of hearing before either an examiner or the Board at a place therein fixed, not less than twenty-four hours after the service of said complaint, but the examiner or the Board shall have discretion to continue or adjourn such hearing from time to time. Any such complaint may be amended by any member of the Board or by any person designated for that purpose by the Board at any time prior to the issuance of an order based thereon; and the original complaint shall not be regarded as limiting the scope of the inquiry. The person so complained of shall have the right to file an answer, to appear and give testimony at the place and time fixed in the complaint, and to avail himself of the compulsory process of the Board in summoning witnesses in his behalf. In the discretion of the examiner or the Board, any other person shall be allowed to appear in the said proceeding