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 |