Mr. FLOOD. Now we have the National Mediation Board and the presentation will be made by Mr. George S. Ives, Chairman. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF WITNESSES (The biographical sketches follow :) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GEORGE S. IVES Born Brooklyn, N.Y., January 10, 1922. Son of Irving McNeil and Elizabeth Skinner Ives. Married Barbara K. Turner, August 14, 1948. Children: Elizabeth and Nancy. Graduate, Norwich High School, Norwich, N.Y., 1939; the Taft School, Watertown, Conn., 1940; Dartmouth College, 1943 (A.B.); and Cornell University Law School, 1949 (LL. B.). Admitted New York State Bar, 1949 and the Bar of the District of Columbia, 1959. Legal assistant to Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, 1949-50; associate attorney with Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett, New York City, 1950-53; administrative assistant and legal counsel to former U.S. Senator, Irving M. Ives (N.Y.) 1953-58; private practice of law and labor arbitration, Washington, D.C. 1959-69; appointment by the President and confirmed by Senate as member of the National Mediation Board, September 19, 1969, to serve term expiring on July 1, 1972. Military service in U.S. Naval Reserve (lieutenant S.G.) with active duty 1943-46. Member American, New York, and District of Columbia Bar Associations, National Academy of Arbitrators, and American Arbitration Association. Republican. Residence: 5969 Searl Terrace, Washington, D.C. 20016 (Bethesda, Md.). BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DAVID H. STOWE Professional experience: 1970 to present-Member, National Mediation Board. 1953 to 1970 Engaged in the practice of labor arbitration handling approximately 2,000 cases primarily in the industrial and transportation areas, including service as neutral member on System Boards of Adjustment in the railroad and airline industries and several positions as permanent umpire in the steel and shipbuilding industries. Public member of the President's Missile Sites Labor Commission (1961-67). Member, Atomic Energy Labor-Management Relations Panel (1962present). Director, Manpower Utilization-Job Security Study of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Longshore Industry, U.S. Department of Labor (1963-64). Organizational Disputes Arbitrator Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO (1955-70). Member of four Presidential emergency boards appointed under the the Railway Labor Act (various dates). Government experience: 1949 to 1953-Administrative Assistant to the President of the United States. 1947 to 1949-Deputy to the Assistant to the President of the United States. 1941 to 1947-U.S. Bureau of the Budget, Chief Examiner (1943-47). 1937 to 1941-Assistant State director, North Carolina State Employment Service. Other experience: 1931 to 1937-Teacher, history and economics in junior colleges in North Carolina. Affiliated with: National Academy of Arbitrators; American Arbitration Association; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Education: Bachelor of arts, Duke University, 1931; master of education, Duke University, 1934. Personal data: Born: New Canaan, Conn., Sept. 10, 1910. Married: Mildred Walker, Chapel Hill, N.C., June 1932. Two sons-both married. Residence: 7402 Glenbrook Road, Bethesda, Md. 20014. Mr. FLOOD. I see you have a statement. How do you wish to proceed? Mr. Ives. I would like to read it. Mr. FLOOD. You may proceed. GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. Ives. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, I appreciate your invitation to appear before the subcommittee and to discuss with you the National Mediation Board's budget for the fiscal year 1973. The Railway Labor Act, first established by Congress in 1926, and composed in its present form in 1934, is administered by the National Mediation Board. This statute is designed to provide orderly procedures for the settlement of labor disputes in the railroad and airline industries. Additionally, the National Mediation Board handles questions of representation as they arise in these industries and interprets agreements made in mediation. The National Railroad Adjustment Board was also established in 1934 under the Railway Labor Act for the purpose of disposing of grievances arising under the terms of collective bargaining agreements in the railroad industry. The section of the Railway Labor Act which deals with the disposition of what are termed "minor disputes" was amended by the 89th Congress in Public Law 456, approved June 20, 1966, to permit the decentralization, in some measure, of grievance disposition machinery. Under Public Law 456, new grievances and those which have been on the docket before the National Railroad Adjustment Board for a period of at least 12 months may be referred to a local board of adjustment on each individual railroad for expeditious disposition. Thus, under the Railway Labor Act, Congress has provided for the railroad and airline industries specific machinery and procedures for the adjustment of labor-management disputes; that is, for mediation and the investigation of questions of representation; for emergency dispute procedures and arbitration; as well as for boards of adjustment and a National Railroad Adjustment Board to handle individual and group grievances arising under agreements between management and the labor organizations concerned. The total amount requested to administer the Railway Labor Act is $2.8 million, an increase of $29,000 over the amount available for fiscal year 1972. The budget justification, as submitted, is designed to identify the functions just discussed and the amounts requested for each. MEDIATION First Mediation, which is concerned with the making and amending of agreements. This activity is the responsibility of the National Mediation Board. A total of $1,195,000, an increase of $39,000 over the amount available for 1972, is being requested to finance the Board's activities in fiscal 1973. This increase is required to meet obligations which will be incurred as a result of increased travel costs, and will also permit the Board to continue a program of intensive training of its staff. This program has been undertaken to equip our field men with the latest techniques and procedures for reconciling differences between labor and management. ARBITRATION AND EMERGENCY BOARDS The second activity of the Board relates to voluntary arbitration and the investigation of critical disputes through the emergency board procedure. In arbitration proceedings, disputes are voluntarily submitted by labor and management to a neutral party for final and binding decision. The Board hopes it will be able to persuade management and labor to more frequently utilize the arbitration provision of the act to dispose of contract disputes. Emergency boards are created pursuant to section 10 of the act when the Board notifies the President that a dispute threatens substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential transportation. The President may, in these circumstances, in his discretion, create an emergency board to investigate and make recommendations as to the settlement of the dispute involved. The Board is not able to anticipate precisely the total expenditures for these arbitration and emergency board activities, and it is therefore, advisable to have a small reserve available for emergency situations. For the fiscal year 1973, the Board is requesting a total of $120,000 which is the same amount allotted for this activity in fiscal year 1972. ADJUSTMENT OF RAILROAD GRIEVANCES The third activity carried on under this appropriation is the adjustment of grievances in the railroad industry. This activity pertains to the operations of the National Railroad Adjustment Board mentioned earlier, which is concerned with the interpretation and application of wage and rule agreements in the railroad industry as well as boards of adjustment established by individual carriers and organizations for the same purpose. In this submission all expenditures relating to the settlement of grievance disputes; that is, special boards of adjustment and public law board expenses, have been included in this activity. For this activity $1,510,000 is requested, a decrease of $10,000 over the amount allocated in fiscal year 1972. SUMMARY In summary, the National Mediation Board is requesting a total of $2,825,000 to finance activities under the Railway Labor Act for the fiscal year 1973. This is an increase of only $29,000 over the amount authorized for fiscal year 1972. REASONS FOR BACKLOG REDUCTION Mr. FLOOD. You anticipate a very significant reduction in your backlog of mediation cases by the end of 1973. Is this due to an increase in your productivity or is the workload declining? Mr. Ives. This is really a combination of things, Mr. Chairman. There were several national agreements negotiated during the last year. We have in our files many local disputes. Mr. FLOOD. What is a local dispute? Mr. IVES. Between an individual carrier and a labor organization involving some of the same issues that were handled nationally. I give as an example the national dispute between the United Transportation Union and the Nation's railroads represented by the National Railway Labor conference. One of the issues involved was the use of radios. There were numerous disputes between individual carriers and the same union involving that precise issue. It was handled nationally, resolved nationally, and those local notices dealing with radios will ultimately be withdrawn. That will dispose to some degree of cases. That is a good example of that type of reduction. Mr. FLOOD. For the record, will you supply two or three more national examples of about the same magnitude? Mr. IVES. Yes. (The information follows:) Other examples of issues which have been negotiated and disposed of at the national level and thus eliminated local disputes include: Inter-seniority districts-interzone runs whereby trains may be run through divisions and seniority districts. Switching service for new industries whereby equitable procedures have been worked out to compensate road and yard crews involved in providing service. Development of programs for training locomotive engineers. WORKLOAD ESTIMATES Mr. FLOOD. Have any of your workload estimates been revised since this budget was prepared? When did you prepare it, last fall sometime, October or November? Mr. IVES. November I believe. Mr. FLOOD. Are your backlogs continuing to decline as you expected? Mr. IVES. They are living up to our expectations. Mr. FLOOD. Have you made any revisions of your estimates since then? Mr. IVES. Not as far as our financial needs are concerned, with one exception, which are pay increases for fiscal year 1972, that was $30,000 additional which we are able to absorb out of our present budget. Mr. FLOOD. But the decline you expected is progressing as you expected and the budget is based on the same figures? Mr. IVES. Yes, sir. ISSUES IN AIRLINE INDUSTRY Mr. FLOOD. You seem to anticipate a decrease in railroad cases this year and I suppose after what we just heard you are expecting an increase in airline disputes? Mr. Ives. Correct. Mr. FLOOD. What are the major issues under discussion in the airline industry? I don't want you to right now tell us all about the disputes, but we would like to have an example of a major dispute within the airline industry. Mr. IVES. I can be more general and yet more specific. Mr. FLOOD. That is a great trick. Mr. IVES. The International Association of Machinists represent machinists on a number of trunk carriers. All of their contracts are now open. Mr. FLOOD. What do you mean by open? Mr. Ives. They are open for renegotiation as to wages basically and other working conditions. Contracts under this act are continuing as you know and they are reopened for specific purposes such as wages and other specified working conditions. Two of these are now in mediation, and the others, where the parties are still in direct negotiation, have yet to be processed by the Board. There are at least a half a dozen of these major disputes. There are very real questions with respect to wages which await action by the Pay Board or at least further guidelines from that body. This is an element of consideration in these negotiations. Does that answer your question? Mr. FLOOD. It is exhibit A. Let's have B, C, and D for the record. (The information follows:) In addition to the wage problem, which is a paramount issue at this time in the airline industry, the issue of job security has been aggravated by the number of job force reductions in the industry. Another item of great concern arises out of mergers between airlines and involves the desires of organizations to negotiate, prior to the merger, conditions which will be beneficial to the employees they represent. REQUEST FOR TRAINING FUNDS Mr. FLOOD. The only significant increase that you propose in your entire mediation budget is $25,000 for training? Mr. IVES. Yes. Mr. FLOOD. What does that involve? Why is that necessary? Why do you earmark that? Mr. Ives. Actually this has been done with the approval and concurrence and to some degree advice from the Office of Management and Budget. Our sister agency has a full-time training program, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. This Board has never had that. We really have had on-the-job training for new mediators, most of whom come to us from experience in labor-management relations. In the last several years we have had a number of new employees, a substantial turnover, including three new Board members and about half of our professional complement. In any event, we thought that we would have a more formal program and this year we are scheduling a seminar at Cornell University where we have invited some of the leading mediators in the private sector, such as Mr. David Cole, Dr. John R. Steelman, Mr. Theodore Kheel, and others who are going to work with our mediators at Cornell. That is the basis of it this year. |