Chronology of

Recent Labor Events

May 1, 1962

IN ITS SECOND REPORT (Chron. item for Jan. 11, 1962, MLR, Mar. 1962), the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy advocated amendment of the Taft-Hartley Act to permit an Emergency Dispute Board to recommend settlement terms "when deemed necessary" and to authorize the President, without seeking an injunction, to order an 80-day continuation or resumption of operations in a dispute which he believes threatens the national health or safety. (For excerpts of the report, see pp. 767-770 of this issue.) May 4

THE National Labor Relations Board ruled that members of a multiemployer bargaining association violated the Labor Management Relations Act by locking out and replacing their employees when one member was struck during contract negotiations. Since the employers could have continued to operate with their own employees, the Board held that the lockout was designed to inhibit a lawful strike. Thus, it was not a permissible lockout to preserve the solidarity of the bargaining unit which the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned in Buffalo Linen (Chron. item for Apr. 1, 1957, MLR, June 1957). The ease was John Brown, d.b.a. Brown Food Store and Local 462, Retail Clerks International Association.

THE Subversive Activities Control Board, adopting a hearing examiner's recommendation (Chron. item for Dec. 28, 1961, MLR, Feb. 1962), ruled that the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers is a "Communist-infiltrated" organization. If the ruling is not overturned by the courts, the union will lose its rights and privileges under the LMRA.

The following week, the United Steelworkers ousted the MMSW in a representation election at the Anaconda Co.'s smelter in Anaconda, Mont.-its first victory in recent challenges at several copper industry bargaining units.

May 6

THE Air Line Pilots Association and Trans World Airlines, Inc., agreed to an 18-month contract effective July 1, 1962, which included provisions for an 8-percent pay increase retroactive to November 22, 1961, with 5 percent retroactive to November 22, 1960. The parties put aside until June 18 the issue of how to reduce jet cockpit crews

from three pilots and one flight engineer to three men. (See also p. 799 of this issue.)

On May 21, the arbitration board in a dispute between the ALPA and Pan American World Airways ordered reduction of the jet cockpit crews to three after the company had reemployed 150 of 224 furloughed pilots and then a cut in maximum flight duty time for pilots. To retain their place in jet cockpits, currently employed flight engineers would have to take some pilot training. The award is not binding on the Flight Engineers' International Association, which declined to participate in the proceedings.

May 10

THE United Automobile Workers ended its national convention in Atlantic City after endorsing resolutions dealing with job security, collective bargaining in the aerospace industry, and organizing the unorganized. (For a report on the convention, see pp. 758-761 of this issue.)

May 13

IN New York City, Teamsters Joint Council 16 and the Management Hospitalization Trust Fund, created by employer contributions to Teamster welfare funds, initiated a 5-year, $3.7-million program to improve hospital and medical care for 45,000 Teamster members and their families. (See also p. 805 of this issue.)

THE New York-New Jersey Waterfront Commission announced that the International Longshoremen's Association had suspended four officers of Local 1826-the chenango local whose members load and unload bargeswho, as former convicts, were barred from holding office under recent legislation bringing the local under the commission's jurisdiction. (See MLR, May 1961, pp. 510-512.)

May 14

AN ARBITRATOR ruled that the Isbrandtsen Co.'s current contract with the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association must "continue in full force and effect" after the company transfers its fleet to a subsidiary for operation by the Isbrandtsen-controlled American Export Co. The latter company's engineers are represented by the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers, an affiliate of the National Maritime Union. The MEBA had been on strike, with short interruptions, from March 28 to May 8, to support its demand that Isbrandtsen either extend the contract to the subsidiary or submit the issue to arbitration.

THE U.S. Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Dave Beck, former president of the Teamsters union, for embezzlement and Maurice A. Hutcheson, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, for contempt of Congress. (See Chron. items for Feb. 18 and Apr. 11, 1960, MLR, Apr. and June 1960, respectively.) The Court found no evidence to support Mr. Beck's contention that extensive publicity had biased the juries by which he

was indicted and convicted. Mr. Hutcheson, the Court ruled, could not refuse to answer questions by the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field for fear his replies would prejudice his pending trial on charges growing out of an Indiana highway land scandal; any resulting unfairness could have been remedied on appeal.

May 15

THE U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia overruled the NLRB's decision in the Erie Resistor case that an employer acts illegally by granting superseniority to strike replacements, whether his motive is discriminatory or not (Chron. item for July 31, 1961, MLR, Sept. 1961). The court stated that "inherent in the right of an employer to replace strikers . . . is the concomitant right to adopt a preferential seniority policy which will assure the replacements some form of tenure, provided the policy is adopted solely to protect and continue the business of the employer." It remanded the case to the Board to determine whether the employer's motive had been discriminatory. LOCAL 2864 of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers and the Western Pine Corp. agreed to a 2-year contract calling for semiannual wage increases of 1 cent an hour for each dollar the Southwest price index for Ponderosa pine rises above $70 a thousand board feet, and for one additional paid holiday.

May 21

Opening the 2-day White House Conference on National Economic Issues, President John F. Kennedy called on business, labor, and public representatives to forget their preconceptions and make specific suggestions on how to get the economy operating at full capacity. The major issues were debated in four roundtable discussions-on automation, economic growth and wage and price policy, collective bargaining, and policies to keep the United States competitive in world markets. (For a summary of these discussions, see pp. 762-766 of this issue.)

THE U.S. Supreme Court set aside an Ohio State court's contempt sentence of an attorney who had advised a union to continue peaceful picketing in violation of a temporary restraining order. The Court found that the State court deprived him of due process by refusing his request for an opportunity to establish that it had no power to act in the dispute, which was arguably within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRB. The case was In re Green. (See also pp. 793-794 of this issue.)

ON THE SAME DAY, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court's decision (Chron. item for Apr. 11, 1961, MLR, June 1961) by upholding a ruling of the NLRB that an employer's unilateral change in working conditions under negotiation is a refusal to bargain under section 8(a) (5) of the LMRA. In NLRB v. Katz, the Court rejected the lower court's view that such a decision requires a finding of bad faith bargaining. (See also p. 793 of this issue.)

May 25

IN Montgomery Ward & Co. and Local 1099, Retail Clerks International Association, the NLRB modified its rule that long-term contracts bar an election for only 2 years (Chron. item for Sept. 17, 1958, MLR, Nov. 1958), by prohibiting a petition by either party to the contract during its entire term where the contracting union is the certified bargaining representative. The 2-year rule still applies to petitions by employees or rival unions.

IN ITS FIRST SUCH DECISION, the Civil Aeronautics Board tentatively ordered Southern Airways, Inc., which has operated with nonunion pilots during a 2-year strike by the Air Line Pilots Association, to resume good faith bargaining with the union within 30 days. The Board acted under a provision of the Federal Aviation Act that requires airlines to comply with the bargaining requirements of the Railway Labor Act or face possible loss of their operating license. (See also p. 800 of this issue.)

May 28

MEMBERS of two unions-the Papermakers and Paperworkers and the Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workersratified a 2-year contract with the Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers which provided a 21⁄2-percent wage increase and other benefits for some 20,000 employees. (See also pp. 800-801 of this issue.)

SOME 2,750 professional engineers at 11 Sperry Gyroscope Co. plants on Long Island voted to decertify Local 445 of the International Union of Electrical Workers as their bargaining agent, but about 650 technical workers voted to retain the union. The engineers had voted against the union in a 1960 decertification election which the NLRB set aside on an unfair labor practice charge against the company.

THE U.S. Supreme Court upheld the NLRB's decision that an employer unlawfully discharged seven nonunion employees who walked out to protest the extreme cold in their shop. In NLRB v. Washington Aluminum Co., the Court found that (1) the employees were engaged in protected concerted activity; (2) they were not required to make a more specific demand upon management as they had no bargaining representative and no established grievance procedure; and (3) their continuing dispute with management over heating the shop constituted a "labor dispute within meaning" of the LMRA. (See also pp. 794795 of this issue.)

May 31

THE TRIENNIAL CONVENTION of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union adjourned after hearing George Meany announce that the AFL-CIO would launch a national campaign to reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 35 hours and adopting a resolution empowering the ILGWU Executive Board to use "all available means to oppose" a union seeking to represent ILGWU staff employees. (See also p. 804 of this issue.)

Railroads. Representatives of the Nation's Class I railroads and 11 unions bargaining for a half million nonoperating employees on June 5, 1962, announced they had reached agreement on a new wage pact calling for wage increases of 10.28 cents an hour. The settlement-which followed closely the recommendations issued on May 3 by a Presidential Emergency Board called for a 4-cent-an-hour pay raise retroactive to February 1, and 6.28 cents retroactive to May 1. The agreement may be reopened with respect to wages after February 1, 1963, provided any adjustment would not be effective before May 1.

The chief departure from the Board's recommendations was the application of the second wage increase of 6.28 cents on an across-the-board basis; the Board had recommended a 2.5-percent raise. The industry practice of negotiating uniform pay increases, the Board had noted, had "compressed the wage structure of all classes and crafts of nonoperating employees," but the unions elected to provide all workers, regardless of pay scale, with the same cents-per-hour increase.

In announcing the carriers' acceptance the day before, James E. Wolfe, chief management negotiator, said: "In this instance, we have exhausted the procedures of the [Railway Labor] Act and the decision has gone against us. To follow the procedures of this act when you win and to ignore the act when you lose is inviting chaos." Moreover, he noted, Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg had advised management that it had "no alternative but to accept the Board's recommendations, since the country couldn't tolerate a strike of key railroads which was threatened by the unions." Following conclusion of the agreement, Mr. Wolfe said, "we still consider this to be an inflationary wage settlement, [and] there isn't any question but that the railroads will have to give serious consideration to raising their rates."

The railroads and five operating unions on May 23 agreed to resume their negotiations with the assistance of the National Mediation Board. At issue were changes in work rules and compensation, which had been the subject of a report issued by the Presidential Railroad Commission on February 28.2

On May 21, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen served notice to the carriers that it would seek a 25-cent-an-hour pay increase and a carrierspaid health and welfare plan. The BRT also sought a reduction in standard hours of dining car stewards from 205 to 180 a month, with time and one-half for all hours in excess of 180. The BRT represents about 100,000 of the 200,000 operating rail workers.

Airlines. Trans World Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association on May 6 agreed to an 18-month contract for 1,500 pilots, effective July 1, 1962. The agreement called for an 8-percent increase in rates of pay. This included retroactive payment of 5 percent of gross earnings for the year beginning November 22, 1960 (when the contract was first subject to amendment), and the balance retroactive to November 22, 1961. Additional wage adjustments were to be made for certain job categories, including the first and second officers' rates, which were raised to 66 and 50 percent of the captains' pay, from 64 and 46 percent, respectively. Flight time credit provisions were liberalized, resulting in a reduction in the average number of monthly flights from 21 to 16, according to union estimates. Improvements were also to be made in vacations, pensions, and health insurance provisions. Negotiations on the jet crew complement issue were deferred until June 18, and additional flight time credits were to be allowed upon resolution of this issue.

Presidential Emergency Boards set up to study disputes over wages and the manning of jet cockpits between the Flight Engineers' International Association and Eastern and Trans World Airlines, issued separate recommendations on May 2. With respect to manning, their reports endorsed the recommendations by the Feinsinger Com

•Prepared in the Division of Wages and Industrial Relations, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1 See Monthly Labor Review, June 1962, p. 680.

1 See Monthly Labor Review, May 1962, pp. 430-431. Substantial excerpts from the Commission's report were presented in the April issue of the Review, pp. 375-389.

mission in 1961 that jet airliner cockpit crews be reduced from four to three, that the third man have pilot qualifications, and that the Engineers merge with the Air Line Pilots Association.3 In addition, the Board in the Eastern Airlines dispute recommended a lump-sum payment to each engineer of 10.82 percent of his gross earnings from April 1, 1960, when the latest contract expired to April 1, 1962. It recommended further increases of 3 percent on April 1 of both 1962 and 1963. In the TWA dispute, the Board's recommendations called for a 5-percent raise, retroactive to January 1, 1961, 5 percent more on January 1, 1962, and 3 percent effective January 1, 1963. Union demands for reductions in maximum flight hours per month were rejected by both Boards.

In a tentative decision announced on May 25, the Civil Aeronautics Board found that Southern Airways, Inc., had failed to bargain in good faith with the Pilots, who have been on strike since June 1960. The Board acted under a provision of the Federal Aviation Act that requires airlines to comply with the negotiation requirements of the Railway Labor Act under penalty of alteration or revocation of their operating licenses. To enforce this provision, the Board ordered Southern Airways to resume bargaining with the Pilots within 30 days or be penalized. The Board also found that pilots replaced after a deadlock in bargaining occurred in July 1960 were entitled to reinstatement, but that the airline need not discharge replacements hired before the deadlock. This decision, the first of its kind by the CAB, is subject to formal approval by the Board. Southern Airways announced its intention of appealing when the formal order is issued.

Other Transportation. The Western Greyhound Lines and the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employes on April 24 agreed to a 2-year contract for some 5,000 employees in 11 western States. The settlement reportedly called for a 0.3-cent increase in mileage rates for intercity drivers, and an 8-cent-an-hour raise for other employees (including other drivers and station employees) retroactive to March 1, 1962. Additional raises of 0.2 cent a mile and 6 cents an hour are scheduled for March 1 of 1963. The cost-of-living escalator

clause was also continued and vacations, health and welfare benefits, and other provisions were improved.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Los Angeles and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen on May 9 negotiated a 25-month contract for about 2,700 bus and streetcar drivers. The contract reportedly provided a 17-cent wage increase retroactive to April 22, an additional 3 cents on March 1, 1963, and 2 cents more a year later. The operators' rate will be $2.72 an hour following the initial increase. Other contract liberalizations involved overtime, holiday, and vacation provisions.

Nondurable Goods Manufacturing. Members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on May 1 ratified a 2-year contract with the Planters Nut and Chocolate Co., affecting about 1,300 workers in Suffolk, Va. The contract raised rates of pay by 5 cents an hour effective May 1, 1962, and by 6 cents on May 1, 1963. Additional company contributions to the health and welfare fund-1 cent this year and another half cent in 1963-will bring total payments to 7 cents an hour. In addition, the settlement established a pension fund into which the company was to begin payments on November 1, 1962. The local union's president estimated that the plan will pay about $55 a month to retirees when sufficient funds are accumulated.

On May 22, a monthlong strike by the Sugar Workers Union (affiliated with the Seafarers' International Union) against the California and Hawaiian Sugar Corp.'s Crockett, Calif., refinery was ended by a 2-year agreement covering about 1,200 workers. The settlement reportedly called for an across-the-board pay raise of 19 cents an hour, retroactive to February 1, 1962 (when the previous contract expired), a 6-cent wage increase in the second year, and improved fringe benefits.

The Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers-22 companies with 49 plants in Washington, Oregon, and Californiaand two unions-the Papermakers and Paperworkers and the Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill

See Monthly Labor Review, December 1961, pp. 1376-1377; see also "Recommendations on the Airlines-Flight Engineers Dispute,” Monthly Labor Review, July 1961, pp. 750-753.

In New York City, the Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union announced on May 4 it had signed a 2-year agreement with the Printers League Section of the New York Employing Printers Association, Inc., for 3,550 pressmen. The contract provided a $5-a-week wage increase retroactive to April 1 and an additional $6 a week on April 1, 1963. Employers also agreed to contribute an additional $2 a week per employee (total $5) to the pension fund.

In Charleston and South Charleston, W. Va., E. I. Du Pont de Nemours Co., and Union Carbide Corp. put into effect in May pay increases of 8 cents an hour for 8,200 employees. The increases applied to about 2,200 hourly and nonexempt salaried employees at Du Pont's Belle works and some 6,000 hourly employees at Union > Carbide's Technical Center.

Other Manufacturing and Mining. Kaman Aircraft Corp. on April 30 increased wages and fringe benefits for its 4,600 hourly and salaried employees at plants in Connecticut. Wages were raised 3 percent, the 3-cent cost-of-living allowance was incorporated into wage rates, and hospitalization insurance benefits were increased one-third at no additional cost to employees.

Also in Connecticut, the United Aircraft Corp. in April negotiated 2-year contracts with the International Association of Machinists and the United Automobile Workers providing wage increases ranging from 6 to 11 cents an hour for about 8,400 workers. The settlement with the Machinists, affecting about 4,400 workers at the Hamilton Standard Division in Windsor Locks and Broad Brook, included provision for a wage reopener next year. Other contract provisions were continued essentially without change, according to the union's district business agent.

See Monthly Labor Review, May 1962, pp. 552-554

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The UAW agreement, affecting about 4,000 workers at the Pratt and Whitney Division in North Haven, also called for a wage reopener in 1963 and made relatively minor improvements in fringe benefits. These included giving employees retired in the past 10 years the option of converting their life insurance policies from an individual to a group basis (reportedly at a saving of about 75 percent of current cost), holiday pay for holidays during the employee's vacation, supplemental jury-duty pay, and funeral leave.

During negotiations, the UAW had not requested any wage increases, the local union's president explained, because of the "real danger [of] fighting for wage increases when in the end [they] only [go] to the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker in the form of higher prices.' Instead, the union had sought to have the company assume the cost of the employees' share of medical insurance premiums in order to increase their take-home pay without increasing their tax liability.

In late May, the Draper Corp., manufacturer of textile machinery, announced wage increases and improved fringe benefits for about 4,000 workers in plants in Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Georgia, most of whom are unorganized. Included were wage increases of 5 cents an hour, improved hospitalization benefits, increased life insurance, and an additional paid holiday. Similar improvements were also incorporated into 1-year contracts negotiated with the Molders' and Allied Workers' Union and the Pattern Makers' League, representing craft workers in Hopedale, Mass.

4

On April 13, the United States Steel Corp. and the United Steelworkers agreed to a contract for 8,000 salaried, technical, and office employees. The contract was essentially the same as the agreements covering production workers, except that effective January 1, 1963, salaried employees will be eligible for 3 weeks' vacation after 6 years' service (instead of 12 years) and a fourth week after 20 years. (Production workers receive 3 weeks' vacation after 10 years and a fourth week after 25 years.)

Agreements for production workers similar to those negotiated earlier by the union and 11 major steel companies were also negotiated by the Steelworkers with several smaller companies