Exhibit No. 1614

[Introduced into evidence in Volume 24, Part I, August 1, 1940]

tions From Monthly Labor Comments Classified by Year and Region

he labor situation during the past month has changed materially, as I supis the case generally throughout the country. The tendency in this area ns to be the formation of company unions to block out or discredit the out! unions. A little more finesse and cleverness is used than formerly and it I be difficult to prove the company's influence in the formation of these ons, although generally [they] seem to leave a loop hole that we can take d of. Lawyers disassociated with the company are appearing for these ions and as you know we have received petitions from some of them. We are tching ourselves very closely in these matters and in one instance we are paring a complaint against the Semet-Solvay Company. We have in the ice 25 affidavits of foremen soliciting membership in this particular company dou.

There will be a petition on the part of a company union to intervene in the ewton Packing Company case when it goes to hearing on Monday. In almost every instance of a strike, there is a hurried organization of an side union usually beginning a day or two after the strike started. Consent elections are an increasing topic and in accordance with confidential astructions of the Board, they are being carefully scrutinized before we will ven consider them. In some instances we have managed to arrange for sole argaining rights without elections.

There is at no time in the reception room less than half a dozen people, and often times it is crowded into the hall. All these people must be given attention and our staff is woefully inadequate to do this. Of course they all want to talk about their troubles and even if we have no jurisdiction, and explain it to them, they try to persuade us that we have. We hate to be abrupt because they all are in trouble, consequently we are not working union hours.

Another thing we find takes a good bit of our time is men who have gone on strike. the strike has been settled, the men have returned to work, and then they realize they should have received back pay for the time they were out. Others have brought in back pay claims dated as far as 1930. Of course we explain that the Board is not a collection agency and that the Board at its discretion may order back pay or may not as it decides, and that can only come from the Board, and after a hearing where testimony must be submitted, and that they have no claim when they have accepted the settlement that was offered them and they have been returned to work.

FRANK H. BOWEN.

EIGHTH REGION-APRIL 1937

Perhaps the most important change in the labor situation in this area in the past mouth, is that caused by the Supreme Court's decision on the Act. Considerable publicity has been given to the history, personnel, and operation of the Board, as well as renewed interest in the activities of the regional office. Several of the employers' associations and the Chamber of Commerce have held roundtable meetings designed to acquaint their members with the content, procedure and practice under the Act.

Organization efforts of the A. F. of L., C. I. O., and M. E. S. A. unions have been redoubled since the Act was declared constitutional, and it is anticipated that at least half of our cases will be the result, directly or indirectly, of interunion disputes. There is no indication in this area that any compromise will 218054-41-vol. 24, pt. 2-10

be worked out between the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O., nor are there any efforts in that direction.

In this connection it should be noted that the rush for organization is leaving in its wake many local units unready to stand on their own feet. They do not know how to complete their organization or how to conduct their contacts with management. It would seem that the employes are enrolled in the union and then deserted with instructions to call upon the Labor Board for assistance. Drives in the knit goods industry have been announced by the Textile Workers Organizing Committee, and counsel for that committee has advised that they expect to file charges against a number of such employers.

The C. I. O. and A. F. of L. disputes are bringing many questions of appropriate units, inasmuch as the former desire plant-wide representation and the latter is unwilling to surrender certain departments in which they have organizations of long standing.

It is expected that there will be a considerable increase in election cases, inasmuch as employers are now saying that they will bargain with the union if it is shown by election that the union represents a majority. This same stand is taken by some employers in whose plants both A. F. of L. and C. I. O. groups exist. Others who already have A. F. of L. agreements prefer to wait until the expiration of the contract before making any new arrangements. A few cases have been noted where present agreements were quietly and hurriedly extended for a year or more.

RALPH A. LIND,

Regional Director for the Eighth Region.

NINTH REGION-APRIL 1937

COMMENT ON CURRENT LABOR SITUATION. REGION IX

Labor conditions in the Ohio Valley indicate a lull before the storm. There have been few strikes. Threatened strikes have been solved more easily than usual. But the vanguard of the C. I. O. is on the march and a vigorous organization issue is coming shortly.

That organization issue is going to prove or disapprove the validity of the contentions we have been making. It seems from the situations we have been in that the number of strikes varies indirectly with the way the Wagner Act is lived up to. For instance-In Louisville, where the Law is most flagrantly flautted, the number of strikes has been very great; in Cincinnati or Columbus, on the other hand, where observance is fairly good and the employers at least have caught the spirit of the Act, strikes not only are much fewer but the unions bring the cases to the Board before they consider more drastic action.

I suppose we are like all other offices; flooded with work. The company unions are suddenly mending their ways and a general campaign of reorganization. allegedly free from employer domination, is being embarked on. I have my suspicions.

A significant development in several of our cities is the sudden number of disputes arising in local industries such as department stores and the like. I do not feel that the sudden rise there is due to the fact that our law is probably not applicable but to the sudden appearance of organization of white-collar workers. The disputes are rather vicious when they start, but are pretty easily settled.

The most significant development in the entire region is that the employers are urging their employees to become members of the A. F. of L. in instances where the C. I. O. begins to get action. We have already received one charge of violation in a case that appears rather flagrant, and I look for a dog fight on that issue.

P. G. PHILLIPS, Regional Director.

SIXTEENTH REGION-APRIL 1937

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

To: Estelle S. Frankfurter.

MEMORANDUM

MAY 1, 1937.

From: Sixteenth Region.

Subject: Comments on current labor situation in this territory.

Several things of interest have occurred in our region, and some interesting trends have been observed.

It is good news to us that the first contract in Texas with the Newspaper Guild has just been made in El Paso, Texas with the El Paso Herald Post, a Scripps-Howard paper. The announcement provides for a five day, 40 hour week, minimum weekly wage of $25.00 for editorial writers of three years' experience, and $40.00 minimum wage for 5 years' experience or more. This, no doubt, will be an encouraging factor to other editorial and repertorial staffs over the state.

We have had brought to our attention the organization of other groups involving employees of the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post, newspapers of Houston, upon which we have made informal activity reports.

The C. I. O. drive in the oil industry in Texas, which was started on April 5th and held with much publicity, has been a keen disappointment to some of the men who have been active with this organization as organizers for some time, for they feel that the C. I. O. did not bring to them the assistance which was promised and that the organization's activity has not been up to promise either to the public or to them. The criticism, however, is leveled at Fremming, their International president, more so than at the C. I. O. and they feel that it is his own inertia that caused the C. I. O. to give less support to them than was promised. They feel that had Fremming made the proper requisitions, then proper organization personnel would have been furnished by the C. I. O.

I met Germer, personal representative of Lewis, and who was sent into the Gulf coast area by the C. I. Ö., and found him to be an able man and he made a very good impression upon all of those who heard him and met him. The local organizations referred to above are greatly disappointed that he is now leaving the Gulf coast area.

The Oil Workers Union, however, has made some very substantial gains, if we view the situation as a whole. In some small establishments, the union has heen able to gain agreements, and has added to its numbers in the larger companies, in spite of the terrific opposition which was presented to them in the pre-court decision days by so-called "Loyal Employees”.

We have been a bit amused by the announcement of the Humble Company that it is withdrawing from the "Joint Conference Plan", through which negotiations with its workers had been conducted for many years. It was stated in the publicity given to this action that it was done in order to comply with the company's legal department's interpretation of the requirements of the Wagner Act. The amusement concerning the situation, however, becomes a bit more acute in view of the fact that hardly had the ink dried on the announcement of the dissolution of the "Joint Conference Plan" when an organization called the "Employees Federation of the Humble Oil and Refinery Company, Baytown Refinery" sprang into being with a full grown proposed constitution and at the same time an announcement to the men, signed by a committee of sixty, that an election was to be held to determine the approval or the rejection of the "Employees Federation". We have just a "slight" suspicion that the spirit of the old company union joint conference plan still marches on under cover of a self organized "Employees Federation". I am enclosing a copy of the Federation's constitution, ballot which is being used in their election now in progress, and the announcement of the committee of sixty, made on April 27th.

There seems to be an epidemic of these organizations, because hardly had I found out about the reorganization of the Humble set-up when an employee of the Hughes Tool Company at Houston called me stating that the "Employees Welfare Organization of the Hughes Tool Company", a long used joint conference company union set-up, was being replaced because of the decision of the court on the Wagner Act by the "Federal Workers of the Hughes Tool Company".

These employees wanted us to come in and hold an election, because they r there was a bit of confusion as to whether the employees wanted it to repres them or not. We refused, of course, to give our blessing to it or conduct a election for them at that time.

The Armour and Company has just recently issued a bulletin under dat April 17th, in which it states that it intends to strictly comply with the law cause of the court decisions, but we are interested when it quoted Section 2, p graph 5 of the Act in its bulletin addressed to the employees in noting that it j. in capital letters and underscored the words EMPLOYEES REPRESENTATIO COMMITTEE OR PLAN, and stated underneath, after the completion of *: quotation, "It will, therefore, be seen that your Conference Board of Elect Representatives is a recognized labor organization under the law and is not 6: lawed." We are attaching a copy of this interesting bulletin published over · signature of E. S. Eldred, vice-president. While this bulletin was published Chicago, it was posted on the bulletin boards in the Fort Worth plant.

It is of further interest to note that the Greyhound Bus Lines is being bese12 here by the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, for purposes of organizing th drivers. Some headway is being made. Mr. Mueller, during my absence th week, was visited by representatives of this organization, as well as by a group ( employees of the company who desired to set up an organization to take the pe of the old company union which was outlawed by the decision of the court. T group of employees from various cities (Kansas City, Fort Worth, Memphis Houston, Abilene, Texarkana, etc.) were seeking advice as how to proceed. It was interesting to learn that they were on company time during this period of organ: zation; and they were advised concerning the danger of such a practice.

We can understand that it would be very easy for some of these joint confere schemes to live again in some of the new "set ups" which purport to be employers organizations, initiated and maintained by employees, because some employers feathered their own nests with the employer by being active in these so-calle "loyal" organizations and these employees can carry forward the ideas perfecti in these new organizations. I am quite sure that in the case of the Humble al the Hughes Tool companies, these new organizations have the unctious blessing of the companies. In neither of these cases, however, have the unions who have representation in the companies, sought to present formal charges to us. I talked at length with the Oil Workers Union, which has some strength in the Humbie Company, and it was their feeling that they wanted to sponsor with more vigor their organization campaign among these employees and at some later time they would be able to contest the majority now held by the "Employees Federation”. We have been visited and called over long distance by companies, seeking advice as to what they should do about various matters in order that they might be in conformity with the Act. There is quite a respect now for the Act, reluctantly as this respect may have been brought about. Some employers, however, have con fided to me that the group as a whole had been very foolish to follow the lead of the fifty Liberty League lawyers and spend money fighting organization and at the same time have brought upon themselves the ill will of their employees and of a certain respectable group of the public.

It seems that the defense now which the employer is using against the encroachment of organization upon his premises is the feverish hastening on his part to raise wages. Some of the oil companies in our area have given as many as three raises since the first of the year. Others who have given one raise are contem plating another at this time. The other day in Houston the mechanics in the local garages there went on a city wide strike. The Fort Worth operators of garages sent a delegation to Houston to study the situation (I will say that they were fair enough to visit the men on the picket lines as well as the employers) and imme diately after the Fort Worth group received the report of their delegation, they raised wages, shortened hours, provided minimum wages for certain classifications, and went on a six day week and provided for certain holidays. It may be that we shall in some measure, through the validation of the Act, give such impetus to labor organization and the principle of collective bargaining that there may ac tually be a better distribution of the products among the masses of the people. It may be that we will overcome, in part, and I hope a very substantial part, the great lag which now exists between wages on the one hand and production and prices on the other, which, if allowed to continue, will bring us by 1939 or 1940 to a worse crisis than that which we suffered in 1929. We shall have a better distribution of the economic goods of the country either through peaceful means or violent means, and I trust that the validation of our own Act has opened the way for the peaceful treatment and attainment of this end.

In contrast to this thought of ours, we have heard it said in our region, "Will bor run amuck?", "Will not the validation of the Act drunken labor with a sense its own power?", "Will it not become arrogant and therefore abusive of its ivileges?" We hear again the question asked, has not the validation of the Act oosened a monster" which, if unrestrained, will overwhelm industry and practally take it over? Will it not become a Frankenstein and create a public opinion erwhelmingly against itself? Here and there there is constant reference to the ed of requiring the unions to incorporate. I was interested in an article by ard in the Nation of some two or three issues ago which gave, I think, the best swer that has been given to this problem. I have noticed some editorial coment recently which expresses the hope that the Wagner Act may be amended in och manner that the same facilities for mediation will be incorporated in that et as are now found in the Railway Labor Act.

The C. I. O.-A. F. of L. fight is still bitter, but it is interesting to us to note hat the increasing number of the rank and file of the A. F. of L. organization re expressing in private their belief in the principle of the C. I. O. and have onfidence in the advantages which the C. I. O. offers over the A. F. of L. set up. A representative of the Butcher Workmen's organization has just in confidence old Mr. Mueller and me that they are going to organize along industrial lines, ind that while they do not intend to withdraw from the A. F. of L., on their TMwn initiative, if the A. F. of L. does not approve this type of organization on their part they will gladly be "kicked out" and will go to the C. I. O. A group of Cement Workers who have had a Federal charter under the A. F. of L. have recently expressed to me their confidence in and really their preference for the . I. O. organization. There are many individuals in the rank and file of the A. F. of L. organizations who have more confidence in the C. I. O., and in its ability to make lasting and effective the labor movement in the country, but they are cowed and dominated by their bureaucratic officialdom and can and o give little expression other than to some one in whom they have confidence. In the maritime situation, the I. S. U. and M. F. O. W. fight is still going along the water front. The discredited I. S. U. appointees still hold forth and still dominate all of the jobs with certain shippers, because they have favor with these shippers. The shippers generally are quite unfavorably inclined toward The Maritime Federation group, for they fear its effectiveness and they fear the honesty and integrity of the Maritime Federation leadership.

Our papers in this area are full of labor news, and we could write interminbly of things of interest, but I believe we have covered at least the high lights. We would like to express our appreciation for the questions that were presented and the answers given in News Week of May 1st concerning the meaning of the ecision and the effects it will have upon the Board.

EDWIN A. ELLIOTT, Regional Director, Sixteenth Region.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

MAY 4, 1937.

Memorandum.

To: E. S. Frankfurter.

From: Sixteenth Region.

Subject: Monthly Report.

I wish to supplement my monthly report by the addition of two items which have come to my attention since the writing of the report.

The Texas Federation of Labor, Saturday, was officially recorded as opposed to the sit-down strike. Mr. Wallace Reilly, secretary of the Federation for Texas, declared that the "bona fide unions are strongly opposed to the confiscation of property without due process of law, which the sit-down strike is." I Was interested in this statement by Mr. Reilly for I happen to know that many of the rank and file of the A. F. of L. are very strong for the sit-down. The only sit-down strike in Texas that we have had was sponsored by the rank and file of an A. F. of L. organization (International Association of Machinists). I have heard a great many other rank and file A. F. of L. men express consid erable appreciation for the sit-down technique.