Section 7 of the Railway Labor Act provides that when a dispute between a carrier and its employees is not settled either in conference between the parties or by appropriate adjustment board or through mediation, such dispute may by agreement be submitted to a board of arbitration, consisting of either three or six persons, as they may elect. The law provides that the failure or refusal of either party to submit the controversy to arbitration shall not be considered as a violation of any legal obligation imposed by the act.

The law provides that the expenses of the arbitration board, and any hearings conducted by said board, and the salary of the neutral arbitrator, shall be paid out of the appropriation made for such boards. It is the policy of the National Mediation Board to use every means possible to dispose of cases in mediation rather than having them submitted to arbitration.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937, there was but one arbitration board, involving the engineers and conductors on the Western Pacific Railroad, Sacramento Northern Railroad, and Tidewater Southern Railway Co.

EMERGENCY BOARDS

Appropriation, emergency boards, Railway Labor Act, May 20, 1926; 1939:

Balance carried over from prior years and made available for obligation..
Expended.....

Estimated expenditures 1939...

Reserved by administrative direction subject to release if and when needed.
Estimated expenditures 1938.

45, 149

45, 149
25,000

25,000

The National Mediation Board makes every effort to settle railroad disputes through mediation or to submit them to a board of arbitration when mediation fails, and if unsuccessful and there is danger that a strike will interrupt interstate commerce, it is the duty of the Board under the law to notify the President, who may thereupon, in his discretion, create a board to investigate and report respecting such dispute. Pending 'the report of the emergency board and for 30 days thereafter a status quo must be maintained by the parties and no strike action can take place. The appropriation for the emergency board is entirely under the control of the President.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937, there were three emergency boards created by proclamation of the President, one involving five transportation brotherhoods on the Chicago, Great Western Railroad Co., one the four transportation brotherhoods on the Southern Pacific Co., Northwestern Pacific Railroad Co., and the other involving the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks and International Longshoremen's Association on ten railroads entering New York.

PRINTING AND BINDING

This covers the printing of ballots and instructions in the field in representation cases, printing and binding of the annual report and letterheads, also miscellaneous forms, etc.

JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATES FOR NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1939

The amended Railway Labor Act, United States Code, title 45, chapter 8 (Public, No. 442, 73d Čong., approved June 21, 1934), created the National Railroad Adjustment Board. The Board is in effect an industrial court for the adjudication of disputes involving interpretation or application of wage and rule agreements. The Board is composed of 36 members, 18 selected and paid by the carriers and 18 selected and paid by organizations of railway employees which are national in scope.

Under the provisions of the act, the Adjustment Board is composed of four divisions, each of which has jursidiction over disputes involving certain groups of employees. For example, the first division has jurisdiction over disputes involving

train and yard service employees; the second division, shop craft; the third division, clerical forces, maintenance-of-way men, dispatchers, etc.; and the fourth division, water transportation and miscellaneous. It is believed the existence of this Board has in a large measure been responsible for the peace and harmony which has existed in the transportation industry during the past 3 years.

National Railroad Adjustment Board, National Mediation Board

The Board has now been in existence more than 3 years, and the estimate for 1939 presented to the Bureau of the Budget was based upon past experience, by which we endeavored to anticipate future requirements. We felt that conditions fully justified the amount requested, and feel that the amount under consideration here is more than justified.

We wish to stress the fact that the salaries of the 36 members of the Board are paid by the carriers and labor organizations, which amounts to approximately $300,000 per year, and the Government pays the salaries of the employees of the Board, as well as rent, supplies, and other incidental expenses. It may, therefore, properly be pointed out that a large portion of the cost of maintaining the Adjustment Board is borne by carrier and labor organizations.

Outside of salaries (personal services), rent, and printing and binding, the cost of maintaining the Board is very small.

PERSONAL SERVICES

Under this submission there is provision for 49 employees-46 of which are employed at the present time and 3 of which are vacant. The members' secretaries or confidential clerks are excepted from the provisions of Civil Service. All other positions are filled by civil-service employees.

The act creating the Board (Ü. S. Code, title 45, ch. 8) provides (sec. 153) for the selection of a referee to sit with the division as a member, in case of failure of the division to agree upon an award because of a deadlock or inability to secure a majority vote of the division members; they being evenly divided, half management or carrier members and half labor members. These referees are paid by the Government and $35,000 is provided in the estimates for that purpose.

RENT

The act also provides that the Board maintain headquarters in Chicago and the amount of $33,500 is provided for rental of space which is under lease.

PRINTING AND BINDING

The largest part of the amount of $40,000 set up for printing and binding is for printing and binding awards of the various divisions of the Board with the balance for printing and binding a cumulative index, annual report, letterheads, etc.

Number of cases received, docketed, and disposed of during fiscal year 1937

In addition to the above, there are hundreds of cases in our files, possibly lacking only details before being placed on the dockets. If these are considered pending (and they might well be so considered) there were some 2,500 or 2,600 cases pending at the beginning of the present fiscal year.

A number of railway labor organizations prior to the creation of this Board had no instrumentality for the settlement of their disputes and for that reason there were no cases in the course of preparation or pending at that time. However, the number of cases being submitted on behalf of those employees have been increasing rapidly and we believe will continue to increase for some time.

Approximately 400 more cases were handled during the fiscal year 1937 over 1936, and indications are that this rate of increase will be maintained or possibly exceeded in 1938.

FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD

Dr. LEISERSON. This appropriation is in two parts: One for the National Mediation Board, and the other for the National Labor Adjustment Board which operates independently of us, except that they get their appropriation through us. They have representatives of the Board here to explain the items in detail.

The National Mediation Board is charged with the administration of the Railway Labor Act, which has jurisdiction over labor disputes, both in railroad transportation and in air transportation. By amendment last year Congress adopted title 2 to the act which put air transportation under the Railway Labor Act.

The Board consists of three members, appointed by the President, and our total staff size is 23; that is, 20 other people besides the Board members.

Mr. HOUSTON. That is the amount of personnel you have?

Dr. LEISERSON. That is the total personnel that we have separate and distinct from the Adjustment Board.

Our work consists of mediating labor disputes. Each of the members of the Board acts as a mediator, plus nine other mediators to whom the law gives us authority to delegate mediation work. We have what we call senior mediators, three of them, special men who handle the more difficult cases; and six of them act as junior mediators. In addition to that we have a man who is head of what we call the statistical or technical division, that is, of the research work we have. We use him also a portion of the time for mediation work. In addition there is the secretary of the Board, and an assistant. The rest of them constitute the clerical staff. All of the members of the staff are under civil service with the exception of the secretaries of the members of the Board, and they are all chosen by examination and certification by the Civil Service Commission.

Mr. HOUSTON. That applies to each one of the secretaries; they are under civil service?

Dr. LEISERSON. No; all except those three secretaries for the Board; all of the others are selected under the civil-service law.

Our work is divided roughly into two kinds: one is the handling of mediation cases proper, where the dispute is between the employers and the employees. But we have another set of cases where the disputes are among the employees. Those were provided for by the amendment of 1934 to the Labor Relations Act. Originally those disputes were not covered, by the act of 1926.

This second set of questions involves holding elections, determining which group of employees wants particular organization to represent them for collective bargaining. The law provides that a majority shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative for the whole craft or class of employees.

Mr. HOUSTON. Does your work come in conjunction, to any extent, with the National Labor Relations Board?

Dr. LEISERSON. None whatever. The National Labor Relations Act exempts the railroad employees and air transportation employees; they are subject to the provisions of this act.

Mr. WOODRUM. The functions are similar?

Dr. LEISERSON. The same function is carried on by us.
Mr. HOUSTON. That is what I had in mind.

Dr. LEISERSON. That is correct. We have many disputes between company unions and A. F. of L. unions as well as disputes among different railroad unions; and we have to hold elections, but Congress has laid down the principle for us to follow in deciding these. have to take the vote by craft or classes of employees.

We

We try to operate with the least possible formality and red tape by having mediators go out and investigate these representation disputes on the properties just as we do in other disputes; and on the basis of the information that is reported to us we make our decision. But by a court ruling we were instructed that before we make decisions as to who shall participate in the various craft elections we must hold public hearings. And, that put an additional burden on our expenses. It put the Board in the position of having to sit as a quasi-judicial body. You will notice the expenses for the records of the hearings. That used to run about $150, but last year it jumped to $1,800, and this year it will probably be greater. That is to be explained by the court holding that we must hold these public hearings. Mr. HOUSTON. Where do you hold the hearings?

Dr. LEISERSON. In Washington.

Mr. HOUSTON. Always held in Washington?

Dr. LEISERSON. No; but usually here. Sometimes the individual members of the Board hold hearings away from Washington. We find it easier to get the people to come to Washington because they have passes on the railroads and traveling expenses are not as important as in other industries. But if it is a matter of time, then we go out to hold the hearings. That takes up a good deal of time of the Board, as you will see from the annual report, copies of which were left with your committee, and that limits the amount of individual mediation. work that the Board members can do. We now have to spend more time in Washington in order to hold hearings and to make these decisions.

Mr. Cook reminds me that so far as this function of handling representation disputes is concerned, that is the only thing in which our work is similar to that of the National Labor Relations Board. The other function of our Board, the primary function, is mediation, and the National Labor Relations Board does not have this function. In mediation our Board has no authority to enforce decisions; it is not a law enforcement agency. We have nothing to do with law enforcement; if a question of violation of the right to organize arises under the Railway Labor Act, that has to be referred to a United States district attorney, whereas the National Labor Relations Board must hold hearings on such questions and issue cease and desist orders. The laws differ in this respect.

Mr. WOODRUM. Right at that point would you, for the record, make a very brief statement of the relative or comparative duties and jurisdiction of the Mediation Board and the National Railroad Adjustment Board?

Dr. LEISERSON. Yes.

Mr. WOODRUM. Just a brief statement for the record.

Dr. LEISERSON. Yes. I have described the representation cases where we act in a quasi-judicial capacity. The National Railroad Adjustment Board has no such duty.

The other set of duties that we have is mediation, in which we have no authority whatever in the sense of authority to force the parties to accept our decisions or to even take our advice.

Mr. HOUSTON. You are what the term indicates, mediators?

Dr. LEISERSON. Mediators, friend of both sides, and our duties are to try to bring them to agreement.

Mr. HOUSTON. You have had a good deal of success, have you not? Dr. LEISERSON. Well, I think we have. We have to use our ingenuity, persuade and influence the disputing parties until we get a written mediation agreement. Since the amendments of 1934-we have gone through the recovery period, with but one serious strike. The important thing to remember about our work is that we get in before the trouble occurs.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is it.

SETTLEMENT OF RAILROAD DISPUTES BY MEDIATORS

Mr. HOUSTON. What percentage of cases have you had success, where you have been able to avoid strikes?

Dr. LEISERSON. Well, I should say easily 99 percent. For instance, we have had wage reductions during the depression; we have had wage increases; we have had all of the difficulties the other industries have had and you have not heard much about railroad strikes. You do not see anything in the newspapers because it is not news when there is peace. If there had been war you would have seen a great

deal about it in the newspapers.

We have had only one strike of serious proportions last year on the Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad. That was a strike where the carrier refused to follow the processes of the law. When we failed in our mediatory efforts there is a final step provided by the law; that is, an emergency board may be appointed by the President to make an investigation. Now, in the last 3 years we have never had more than three emergency boards in any one year.