VII-b. (Source: Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. In Synopsis of Presidential Boards of Inquiry Created under National Emergency Disputes Provisions of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 (revised March 1967))

EMERGENCY DISPUTES UNDER THE TAFT-HARTLEY ACT

A Synopsis of:

Presidential Boards of Inquiry

Created under the national emergency provisions of the
Taft-Hartley Act.

18.

Maritime Dispute, Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Coasts, 1961

E.O. 10949

24.

E.O. 11181

E.0. 11314

25.

26.

Longshore Dispute, Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, 1964
General Electric Company-Evandale, Chio Dispute, 1966
Union Carbide-Kokomo Dispute, 1966-7

E.0. 11321

*There were two separate disputes affecting employees of the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company. Although the members of the Boards of Inquiry were identical in each case, the Boards were created by separate Executive Orders and their hearings were also conducted separately.

575

Parties:

Location:

Proceedings:

Settlement:

Presidential
Report to
Congress:

Work
Stoppage
Data:

Mediation
Activity:

1. ATOMIC ENERGY, March-June, 1948

Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation v. Atomic Trades and
Labor Council (AFL) - 900 in unit

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Board Created: March 5, 1948, by E. 0. 9934, because of
threatened strike.

Board Members:

John Lord O'Brian, New York and Washington attorney, Chairman
C. Canby Balderston, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce,
University of Pennsylvania

Stanley F. Teele, Harvard Graduate School of Business Adminis-
tration

Henry G. Baker, Jr., Executive Assistant

Initial Report: March 15, 1948.

Board Reconvened: March 24, 1948 by the President.

Injunction Issues: March 19, 1948, USFDC, East Tennessee.

Final Report of Board: May 18, 1948, found parties' positions unaltered.

Final Offer Ballot: June 1 and 2, 1948. Employer's final offer rejected 771-26.

Injunction Dissolved: June 11, 1948.

June 15, 1948, after continued negotiations without resort to strike following dissolution of injunction. Terms of agreement provided for wage increases ranging from 61⁄2¢ to 401¢ retroactive to December 18, 1947, (average of 15); and modified sick leave benefits.

June 18, 1948, with recommendation that a study be undertaken to suggest special methods for handling Atomic Energy disputes.

No strike. Injunction issued on threat of strike. Following
dissolution of injunction, employees continued to work during
continued negotiations.

The Service actively entered the case on February 24, 1948.
Joint and separate conferences were held in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
Knoxville, Tennessee, and Washington, D. C., under the direction
of the Assistant Director, William N. Margolis, and Commissioner
Clyde M. Mills. The Service also maintained a close liaison
with the Atomic Energy Commission. Both before and during the
period of injunction order, the Service brought the parties
together on numerous occasions in an effort to induce them to
reach a settlement. These efforts were intensified during the
last days of the injunction period but were without effect in
producing an agreement. Immediately after the discharge of the
injunction, the parties were again convened in joint session by
the Service, and remained in session for over 50 hours. These
negotiations finally produced an agreement.

Parties:

Location:

Proceedings:

Settlement:

Work
Stoppage
Data:

Mediation

Activities:

2. MEATPACKING DISPUTE, March-June, 1948

Five major meatpacking companies--Armour, Swift, Cudahy, Wilson, and Morrell--(182,000 employees) v. United Packinghouse Workers of America (CIO), 83,000 in unit.

Nationwide

Board Created: March 15, 1948, by E. 0.9934-A because of
threatened strike March 16, 1948.

Board Members:

Nathan P. Feinsinger, University of Wisconsin Law School,
Chairman

Pearce Davis, Department of Business and Economics, Illinois
Institute of Technology

Walter V. Schaefer, Northwestern University Law School

John E. Dietz, Executive Assistant

Board Report: April 8, 1948. There was only one report, delayed at the Board's request from April 1, 1948. Board analyzed the union's demand for 29¢ per hour increase in wages and the companies' offer of a 94 per hour increase. (No further action was taken under the national emergency provisions of the LMRA.)

Wages were the only issue. Settlement provided wage increases of
9¢ per hour. Settlements reached with Swift, Armour, Morrell and
Cudahy plants on May 21, 1948. Settlement at Wilson plants, June 5,
1948, under approximately the same terms.

Strike at all plants from March 16, 1948, to May 21, 1948, involved 83,000 workers. Strike continued at 7 Wilson plants until June 5, 1948, with 10,000 employees participating.

The Service entered the case on February 23, 1948, with the
assignment of Commissioner T. J. Cleland to the dispute. Shortly
thereafter Mr. Cleland was joined in the mediation effort by
Regional Director J. J. Spillane and Assistant Regional Director
J. P. Holmes. The three-man panel met with the parties on numerous
occasions and offered several suggestions for resolving the dis-
pute. Among these were: (1) arbitration, (2) extension of con-
tract, (3) extension of the strike deadline, and (4) submission
of the companies' final offer to the employees. All suggestions
were alternately unacceptable to one or the other of the parties.
Mediation was interrupted by the appointment of the Board of
Inquiry but was resumed immediately following submission of the
Board's report. Despite unrelenting and determined mediation
efforts, the strike continued until the union accepted the
employers' original offer of a 9¢ per hour wage increase.

Parties:

Location:
Issues:

Proceedings:

Settlement:

Work
Stoppage
Data:

Mediation

Activity:

3. BITUMINOUS-COAL MINERS' PENSION DISPUTE, 1948
United Mine Workers of America (Ind.) v. Bituminous-Coal Mine
Operators

Nationwide

Dispute over the activation of a welfare and retirement fund. The
fund, of over 30 million dollars, was to be dispersed in accordance
with a program of administration approved by a board of trustees--
one each from labor and management and a third picked by the rep-
resentatives of both parties. The trustees were unable to agree
upon a plan of distribution and administration and the Impartial
trustee resigned. The remaining trustees were unable to agree on
a replacement and a work stoppage Involving 320,000 miners ensued
on March 15, 1948.

Board Created: March 23, 1948, by E. 0. 9939.

Board Members:

Federal Judge Sherman Minton, Chairman

George W. Taylor, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce,
University of Pennsylvania

Mark Ethridge, Louisville Courier Journal

Thomas Kennedy, Executive Assistant

Board Report: March 31, 1948. Board found the union had Induced the miners to stop work in a concerted fashion and that the stoppage was not an Independent action by miners acting individually and separately.

Restraining Order: April 3, 1948, a 10-day temporary restraining order issued at USFDC, District of Columbia. Miners did not return to work.

Contempt of Court: April 19, 1948. John L. Lewis and UMWA
found guilty of criminal and civil contempt of court. Lewis
was fined $20,000; UMWA $1,400,000.

Injunction Issued: April 21, 1948. Eighty-day injunction was
Issued at USFDC, District of Columbla. Miners returned to work.
Injunction Dissolved: June 23, 1948.

Shortly after the Injunction order was issued, the trustees for
the union and management agreed upon the Hon. Styles Bridges as
the third trustee of the fund. A majority of the trustees,
Mr. Van Horn for Management dissenting, then approved a plan of
distribution. The legality of their action was challenged by
Mr. Van Horn in the USFDC, District of Columbia. The suit was
dismissed on June 22, 1948, in favor of the majority of trustees
and the injunction was consequently removed.

March 15, 1958 - April 24, 1948. 320,000 workers.

Service activity included the direct participation of the Director, Cyrus Ching, and the Assistant Director, William N. Margolis. Although the subject matter of this dispute was one not readily adaptable to the mediation process, both the Director and his assistant held numerous joint and separate conferences with the parties in a determined attempt to reach a settlement.