[PUBLIC-No. 256-69TH CONGRESS]

[S. 3440]

An Act To regulate the interstate transportation of black baas, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when used in this Act the word "person" includes company, partnership, corporation, association, and common carrier.

SEC. 2. It shall be unlawful for any person to deliver to any common carrier for transportation, or for any common carrier or for any person knowingly to transport or carry, by any means whatsoever, from any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, to or through any other State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or to or through any foreign country, any large-mouth black bass (Micropterus salmoides) or any small-mouth black bass (Micropterus dolomieu) which has either been caught, sold, purchased, or possessed in violation of the law of the State, Territory, or the District of Columbia wherein the delivery of such black bass for transportation is made or the transaction or the carrying thereof begins.

SEC. 3. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding $200, or imprisonment for a term of not more than three months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 4. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the several States and Territories from making or enforcing laws or regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, or from making or enforcing laws or regulations which shall give further protection to large and small mouth black bass.

SEC. 5. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the shipment in interstate commerce of live fish and eggs for breeding or stocking purposes.

SEC. 6. This Act shall become effective immediately upon its passage and approval.

Approved, May 20, 1926.

[H. R. 9463]

An Act To provide for the prompt disposition of disputes between carriers and their employees, and for other purposes.

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

DEFINITIONS

SECTION 1. When used in this Act and for the purposes of this Act:

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First. The term " carrier " includes any express company, sleepingcar company, and any carrier by railroad, subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, including all floating equipment such as boats, barges, tugs, bridges and ferries; and other transportation facilities used by or operated in connection with any such carrier by railroad, and any receiver or any other individual or body, judicial or otherwise, when in the possession of the business of employers or carriers covered by this Act: Provided, however, That the term "carrier " shall not include any street, interurban, or suburban electric railway unless such a railway is operating as a part of a general steam railroad system of transportation, but shall not exclude any part of the general steam railroad system of transportation now or hereafter operated by any other motive power;

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Second. The term "Adjustment Board" means one of the boards of adjustment provided for in this Act; Third. The term "" "Board of Mediation means the Board of Mediation created by this Act; Fourth. The term commerce means commerce among the several States or between any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia and any foreign nation, or between any Territory or the District of Columbia and any State, or between any Territory and any other Territory, or between any Territory and the District of Columbia, or within any Territory or the District of Columbia, or between points in the same State but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign nation.

Fifth. The term "employee" as used herein includes every person in the service of a carrier (subject to its continuing authority to supervise and direct the manner of rendition of his service) who performs any work defined as that of an employee or subordinate official in the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission now in effect, and as the same may be amended or interpreted by orders hereafter entered by the commission pursuant to the authority which is hereby conferred upon it to enter orders amending or interpreting such existing orders: Provided, however, That no occupational classification made by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be construed to define the crafts according to which railway employees may be organized by their voluntary action, nor shall the jurisdiction or powers of such employee organizations be regarded as in any way limited or defined by the provisions of this Act or by the orders of the commission.

Sixth. The term "district court" includes the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia; and the term "circuit court of appeals " includes the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.

This Act may be cited as the Railway Labor Act.

GENERAL DUTIES

SEC. 2. First. It shall be the duty of all carriers, their officers, agents, and employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise, in order to avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier growing out of any dispute between the carrier and the employees thereof.

Second. All disputes between a carrier and its employees shall be considered, and, if possible, decided, with all expedition, in conference between representatives designated and authorized so to confer, respectively, by the carriers and by the employees thereof interested in the dispute.

Third. Representatives, for the purposes of this Act, shall be designated by the respective parties in such manner as may be provided in their corporate organization or unincorporated association, or by other means of collective action, without interference, influence, or coercion exercised by either party over the self-organization or designation of representatives by the other.

Fourth. In case of a dispute between a carrier and its employees, arising out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, it shall be the duty of the designated representative or representatives of such carrier and of such employees, within ten days after the receipt of notice of a desire on the part of either party to confer in respect to such dispute, to specify a time and place at which such conference shall be held: Provided, (1) That the place so specified shall be situated upon the railroad line of the carrier involved unless otherwise mutually agreed upon; and (2) that the time so specified shall allow the designated conferees reasonable opportunity to reach such place of conference, but shall not exceed twenty days from the receipt of such notice: And provided further, That nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to supersede the provisions of any agreement (as to conferences) then in effect between the parties.

Fifth. Disputes concerning changes in rates of pay, rules, or working conditions shall be dealt with as provided in section 6 and in other provisions of this Act relating thereto.

BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT GRIEVANCES-INTERPRETATION OF AGREEMENTS

SEC. 3. First. Boards of adjustment shall be created by agreement between any carrier or group of carriers, or the carriers as a whole, and its or their employees.

The agreement

(a) Shall be in writing;

(b) Shall state the group or groups of employees covered by such adjustment board;

(c) Shall provide that disputes between an employee or group of employees and a carrier, growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, shall be handled in the usual manner up to and including the chief operating officer of the carrier designated to handle such disputes; but, failing to reach an adjustment

in this manner, that the dispute shall be referred to the designated adjustment board by the parties, or by either party, with a full statement of the facts and all supporting data bearing upon the dispute; (d) Shall provide that the parties may be heard either in person, by counsel, or by other representative, as they may respectively elect, and that adjustment boards shall hear and, if possible, decide promptly all disputes referred to them as provided in paragraph (c). Adjustment boards shall give due notice of all hearings to the employee or employees and the carrier or carriers involved in the dispute;

(e) Shall stipulate that decisions of adjustment boards shall be final and binding on both parties to the dispute; and it shall be the duty of both to abide by such decisions;

(f) Shall state the number of representatives of the employees and the number of representatives of the carrier or carriers on the adjustment board, which number of representatives, respectively, shall be equal;

(g) Shall provide for the method of selecting members and filling vacancies;

(h) Shall provide for the portion of expenses to be assumed by the respective parties;

(i) Shall stipulate that a majority of the adjustment board members shall be competent to make an award, unless otherwise mutually agreed;

(j) Shall stipulate that adjustment boards shall meet regularly at such times and places as designated; and

(k) Shall provide for the method of advising the employees and carrier or carriers of the decisions of the board.

Second. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit an individual carrier and its employees from agreeing upon the settlement of disputes through such machinery of contract and adjustment as they may mutually establish.

BOARD OF MEDIATION

SEC. 4. First. There is hereby established, as an independent agency in the executive branch of the Government, a board to be known as the Board of Mediation and to be composed of five members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The terms of office of the members first taking office shall expire, as designated by the President at the time of nomination, one at the end of the first year, one at the end of the second year, one at the end of the third year, one at the end of the fourth year, and one at the end of the fifth year, after January 1, 1926. The terms of office of all successors shall expire five years after the expiration of the terms for which their predecessors were appointed; but any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of his predecessor. Vacancies in the board shall not impair the powers nor affect the duties of the board nor of the remaining members of the board. A majority of the members in office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the board. Each member of the board shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum, together with necessary traveling expenses and subsistence expenses, or per

diem allowance in lieu thereof, subject to the provisions of law applicable thereto, while away from the principal office of the board on business required by this Act. No person in the employment of or who is pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of employees or any carrier shall enter upon the duties of or continue to be a member of the board.

A member of the board may be removed by the Prsident for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or ineligibility, but for no other cause.

Second. The board shall annually designate a member to act as chairman. The board shall maintain its principal office in the District of Columbia, but it may meet at any other place whenever it deems it necessary. The board may designate one or more of its members to exercise the functions of the board in mediation proceedings. Each member of the board shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations. The board shall have a seal which shall be judicially noticed. The board shall make an annual report to Congress.

Third. The board may (1) appoint such experts and assistants to act in a confidential capacity and, subject to the provisions of the civil service laws, such other officers and employees, and (2) in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923 fix the salary of such experts, assistants, officers, and employees, and (3) make such expenditures (including expenditures for rent and personal services at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books, periodicals, and books of reference, and for printing and binding, and including expenditures for salaries and compensation, necessary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred for subsistence, and other necessary expenses of boards of arbitration, in accordance with the provisions of section 7) as may be necessary for the execution of the functions vested in the board, or in the boards of arbitration, and as may be provided for by the Congress from time to time. All expenditures of the board shall be allowed and paid on the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the chairman

FUNCTIONS OF BOARD OF MEDIATION

SEC. 5. First. The parties, or either party, to a dispute between an employee or group of employees and a carrier may invoke the services of the Board of Mediation created by this Act, or the Board of Mediation may proffer its services, in any of the following cases:

(a) A dispute arising out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions not adjusted by the parties in conference and not decided by the appropriate adjustment board;

(b) A dispute which is not settled in conference between the parties, in respect to changes in rates of pay, rules, or working conditions;

(c) Any other dispute not decided in conference between the parties.

In either event the said board shall promptly put itself in communication with the parties to such controversy, and shall use its best efforts, by mediation, to bring them to agreement. If such efforts to bring about an amicable adjustment through mediation shall be unsuccessful, the said board shall at once endeavor as its