Mr. FANNING. Yes, we have difficulty recruiting qualified judges in the numbers needed by the Agency. There are three possible sources from which OPM permits judges to be selected. The general register of qualified applicants maintained by OPM pursuant to its Announcement 318, the list of applicants selectively certified by OPM under Announcement 318 as having specialized labor experience, and those presently serving as Administrative Law Judges in other agencies. The Board looks primarily to those on the selective certification list as the source from which it recruits judges because in its experience judges with extensive labor law background become immediately productive and their background is invaluable in dealing with the problems that come before them. Primary reliance on this group is supported by the bar which practices before the Board on both the management and labor sides. Because of the pressing need for judges, the Board in the last several years particularly has also hired a number of experienced judges from other agencies who have some prior labor law experience or extensive experience as judges and are highly regarded. As a result of deregulation, we anticipate that a number of experienced judges will become available from other agencies who will be considered as prime candidates by the Board. Mr. CONTE. For the Record, what percentage of your budget did you spend in the last quarter of the Fiscal Year? Mr. FANNING. The Agency kept its fourth quarter obligations to only 25.4 percent of its total fiscal year 1980 obligations. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Salaries and Expenses For expenses necessary for the National Labor Relations Board to carry out the functions vested in it by the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended (29 U.S.C. 141-167), and other laws, $116,635,000 Provided, that no part of : this appropriation shall be available to organize or assist in organizing agricultural laborers or used in connection with investigations, hearings, directives, or orders concerning bargaining units composed of agricultural laborers as referred to in section 2(3) of the Act of July 5, 1935 (29 U.S.C. 152), and as amended by the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, and as defined in section 3(f) of the Act of June 25, 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203), and including in said definition employees engaged in the maintenance and operation of ditches, canals, reservoirs, and waterways when maintained or operated on a mutual, nonprofit basis and at least 95 per centum of the water stored or supplied thereby is used for farming purposes. $132,831,000 Note: The appropriation for this account for 1981 had not been |