EXHIBIT 30 STATEMENT BY MRS. GERTRUDE FOLKS ZIMAND, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE, SUBMITTED TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR WITH REGARD TO SECTION 6 @ S. 1349, AMENDING THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Section 6 of S. 1349 amends the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Stand ards Act by including, in section 12 of the present act, a subsection (b) direct prohibiting an employer engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce from employing oppressive child labor in or about, or in connection with, any enterprise in which he is so engaged. Under the present act only those employers are covered by the child-labr provisions who actually "produce" and "ship" goods. This means that children employed in such work as telegraph messenger service, or on boats or railroads operating in interstate commerce, are not protected by the act. More children under 16 years are employed in telegraph messenger service than in any other single industry. On March 31, 1943, it was found that 1114 percent of the messengers employed by the Western Union Telegraph Co. were under 16 years of age (U. S. District Court, Southern District of New York. Katharine F. Lenroot, Chief of the Children's Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor plaintiff versus the Western Union Telegraph Co., a corporation, defendant). Messenger work is one of the least desirable forms of employment for childreɛ under 16 years. The accident rate is high, and the work frequently involves night employment for boys attending school. The 16-year minimum age for employment set by the Fair Labor Standards Act, with work at 14 years permitted only in those industries and under those conditions which the Chief of the Children's Bureau finds will not interfere with their health, schooling and well-being, is the minimum of protection which should be granted to children employed in all industries under the act. The minimum wage and overtime provisions of the act already apply to this broad coverage. Surely there should be no hesitancy in extending the coverage of the child labor provisions to include all the industries already covered by the wage and overtime provisions. We urge a favorable report by the subcommittee on section 6 of S. 1349. EXHIBIT 31 STATEMENT OF CALIFORNIA FISH CANNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. California Fish Canners Association, Inc., is a trade association composed of canners and processors of fish,' with its principal office at Terminal Island, Calif. Its members can the major portion of tuna fish produced in the United States and also can large quantities of mackeral and sardines. They also produce fish meal and oil. Senate bill No. 1349, now being considered by the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, provides, among other things, for the elimination from section 13 (a) (5) of the sea food and fishery exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 'the following words: "and including employment in the loading, unloading, or packing of such products for shipment or in propagating, processing, marketing, freezing, canning, curing, storing, or distributing the above products or byproducts thereof." 1 Members of the California Fish Canners Association, Inc., are: California Marine Curing & Packing Co., Terminal Island, Calif. Coast Fishing Co., Wilmington, Calif. Franco-Italian Packing Co., Inc., Terminal Island, Calif. French Sardine Co., Terminal Island, Calif. Sardamack Fisheries, Wilmington, Calif. Southern California Fish Corp., Terminal Island, Calif. South Coast Fisheries, Inc., Terminal Island, Calif. South Pacific Canning Co., Long Beach, Calif. Terminal Island Sea Foods, Ltd., Terminal Island, Calif. Van Camp Sea Food Co., Inc., Terminal Island and San Diego, Calif., and Astoria, West Coast Packing Corp., Long Beach, Calif. Westgate Sea Products Co., San Diego, Calif. The effect of this amendment will be to subject the canners of fish and processors of the byproducts of fish to the minimum-wage and maximum-hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The California Fish Canners Association, Inc., hereby protests the enactment of such legislation or any similar legislation changing the present seafood and fishery exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is elementary that after fish are recovered from the ocean and other waters, the recovery must be followed as rapidly as possible by canning or processing in order to preserve the catch. Canning or processing commences immediately following the landing of the fishing boats. On May 24, 1938, Congressman S. O. Bland, chairman of the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, United States House of Representatives, speaking in behalf of certain provisions of the bill that is now the Fair Labor Standards Act, said: The "By all the rules that apply to agriculture, and then some, the fishery industry ought to be exempted. If there is any industry under heaven that cannot measure its operations by the rules that are applicable under this bill, it is the fishery industry. It is as varied in the different sections of the country, almost, as the different fishing sections themselves, some by reason of participation in the fish caught, some by reason of wages, as well as various other operations. industry is confronted not alone by the vicissitudes that apply to agriculture, but also wind, wave, action of the tide, fogs, and various other conditions that must, necessarily, determine operations in the fishery industry. You may legislate all you please as to the number of hours, but the fish that are running will not obey your legislation. You may legislate all you please with respect to any provision in this bill, but when it comes to fogs and waves and wind and tide you are dealing with a situation that is far beyond this bill or the operation of any bill. You are dealing, when you deal with the fishery industry, with a condition that needs assistance, that needs help, and has received just about as little as any industry in the country. "I ask you, in defense of this great interest, that it be given the same benefits that are given to agriculture'" (83 Cong. Rec., p. 7408). Fishing, fish canning, and fish reduction are now equally important parts of the same industry. Congress recognized this in joining the treatment for all of these parts of the industry in one exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the seafood and fishery exemption, section 13 (a) (5). The processing and canning of fish, like time and the tides, wait for no man, and the number of hours required to process fish after the landing of a fish boat cannot be forecast. These "facts of life" caused Congress to enact the seafood and fishery exemption (sec. 13 (a) (5)) in the first place. These facts likewise caused the operation of fish canneries and fish-processing establishments to be based on: (a) Processors ready to process fish as scon as fishing boats land; and (b) Processors and the employees thereof ready and willing to continue processing operations without interruption as long as necessary after the fishing-boat arrivals, to insure the preservation of the natural resource--fish. Collective bargaining agreements negotiated in each and every instance in southern California on the part of the workers by strong unions-either affiliates of the AFL or CIO—provide not for a 40-hour week but for continuous operation until fish is processed. Congress, in enacting in the Fair Labor Standards Act, sought to eliminate "labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of ninimum standards of living, necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers" (declaration of policy contained in 29 U. S. C., sec. 202). There are no labor conditions "detrimental to the maintenance of minimum standards of living necessary for health, efficiency, and the general well-being of workers" in the fish-processing industry in southern California. Imposition of the 40-hour week on this industry would actually lower average pay and contribute to a reduction of minimum standards of living of employees. Congress should not add to the momentum of forces constantly discriminating against small business that necessarily tend to force monopolistic conditions. The small fish processor cannot stand additional regimentation. Respectfully submitted. CALIFORNIA FISH CANNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., By CHAS. A. WINKLER, Secretary. EXHIBIT 32 STATEMENT OF CALIFORNIA SARDINE PRODUCTS INSTITUTE WITH REFERENCE TO REMOVAL OF WAGE-AND-HOUR EXEMPTION FROM THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT California Sardine Products Institute, a nonprofit trade association, representing local trade associations in California, whose membership includes over percent of the California sardine canners and processors, hereby protests the enactment of any law by the Congress of the United States that will repeal the present seafood and fishery exemption contained in section 13 (a) (5) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U. S. C. 213 (a) (5)). Specifically, the institute protests the provision of Senate bill 1349, which would remove from seafood and fishery exemption the following words: “and including employment in the loading, unloading, or packing of such products for shipment or in propagating, processing, marketing, freezing, canning, curing, storing, or distributing the above products or byproducts thereof." If the Fair Labor Standards Act should be so amended, as proposed in Senate bill 1349, the minimum-wage and maximum-hour provisions of the act would, for the first time, be made applicable to fish canning and the processing of byproducts of fish. Subjecting the canners and processors of fish to the minimum-wage and maximum-hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act will not be in the public interest, for the following (among other) reasons: 1. Fish canning and processing are closely meshed and integrated operations connected with and upon which a large part of the American fishery essentially depends for its existence. 2. In order to prevent wastage by spoiling, fish must be canned or processed as rapidly as possible, commencing immediately after the landing of fish boats. 3. Canning and processing, once commenced, must continue without interruption until the entire boatload of fish is canned or processed. 4. Because of the vagaries of nature, no one can foretell when a boatload of fish will arrive for processing, nor can the amount of the catch be forecast. Consequently, the length of time necessary to complete canning or processing is never known until the fishing boat arrives. This length of time varies from day to day and from boatload to boatload. 5. These facts impelled Congress to enact the seafood and fishery exemption. In so doing, Congress recognized that fishing and fish canning and processing were so irrevocably joined as to be parts of the same industry. For this reason, it included all parts of the industry in the seafood and fishery exemption. 6. These facts are recognized in collective bargaining contracts between strong unions, AFL or CIO affiliates in each instance, and the fish canners and processors. wherein a 40-hour week is not provided for because all parties realized that fish canning and processing could not be straight-jacketed into any foreseeable number of hours of work in any week. 7. To limit the number of hours to be worked in a fish canning or processing establishment to 40 hours in a week will result in (a) Less take-home pay to the employees thereof; (b) Loss of the most competent employees, causing slowing down of the preservation process; (c) Inefficient operations: (d) A resultant loss in the use of this valuable natural resource to the people; (e) Increased cost of the product to consumers; (f) Increased burden on all canners and processors by reason of added bookkeeping, reports, etc.; and (g) An unduly heavy, if not impossible, burden upon the small operators. The workers in this industry all receive minimum wages far above that provided in the Fair Labor Standards Act; in fact, higher than proposed in Senate bill 1349. Congress, in enacting the Fair Labor Standards Act, sought to eliminate "labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers" (declaration of policy contained in 29 U. S. C., sec. 202). There are no labor conditions "detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health efficiency and the general well-being of workers" in the fish canning and processing industry in California. Imposition of the 40-hour week on this industry would actually lower average pay and contribute to a reduction of minimum standards of living of employees. Congress should not add to the momentum of forces constantly discriminating against small units in the fish processing industry that necessarily tend to force monopolistic conditions. The small fish processor cannot stand additional regimentation. Respectfully submitted. CALIFORNIA SARDINE PRODUCTS INSTITUTE, By DAVID V. OLIVER, Secretary. EXHIBIT 33 STATEMENT OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA SARDINE ASSOCIATION Central California Sardine Association most respectfully submits its objections to those portions of S. 1282 and S. 1349 the purposes of which are to eliminate the exemption of employees engaged in the processing, packing, and canning, etc., of fishery products as set forth in section 13 (a) (5) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is submitted that the reasons of policy which first caused the Congress to embody this exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act are still sound and should prevail. These are: 1. This industry and its employees are engaged in the processing of a perishable commodity by reason of which hours of work cannot be controlled. 2. The operations of the industry and the work of its employees must be integrated with that of the catching of fish, which, in turn, is subject to the vagaries and variations of weather, season, tide, evolution, and just plain luck. 3. The industry is engaged in converting and rendering into a form suitable for public use an economic asset (fish) which in its natural state is owned by the public. 4. Not only the industry but primarily the public has a direct interest in making certain that there is a minimum of economic waste in converting the fish, owned in their natural state by the people, into a form in which the people can utilize this public asset. At the present time the technology of the industry has not progressed to the point when fish can be preserved beyond a few hours and still be processed for human consumption. Canned sardines are one of the least expensive methods of getting into the human system calories, certain proteins, and certain important vitamins. It is the poor man's food. If the 40-hour week is imposed upon the industry, the probable consequences will be: (a) Fishing for sardines will be carried on only about 4 nights a week instead of 6 nights a week as at present, thereby shortening the legal sardine season of 6 months by one-third. (b) Because of the fluctuations of supply, there will be wastage in the processing of fish in that it cannot economically regularly be handled at overtime rates. (c) If the fish is processed at overtime rates this will so increase the cost of production that canned sardines will cease to be the poor man's food. The most important byproducts of the industry are fish meal and fish oil, which are very largely used in the feeding of animals. If the exemption is eliminated, there will follow a substantial increase in cost of this food to the farmers whose costs have already been so considerably increased by other factors. This protest is filed on behalf of all 25 member operators, employing approximately 3,000 workers at the height of the normal processing season, located in and near the port of Monterey, Calif. This is the principal industry of the city of Monterey, which city is one of the leading sardine-fish tonnage ports of the world, as the following figures will substantiate: To the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: The Maine Sardine Packers Association, which association represents practically all the packers of Maine sardines, wants to oppose the enactment of S. 1282 and S. 1349, so far as these two bills attempt to amend the present fair labor standards law, section 13 (a) of which exempts from the provisions of the act most of the employees engaged in the processing and packing of sardines. During the hearings preceding the passage of the present Fair Labor Standards Act, the question of exempting employees of fish processing and packing concerns from the provisions of the act was thoroughly discussed, and after long and serious consideration, Congress, realizing the uncertainties under which a fishpacking concern is obliged to operate, exempted employees of such concerns from the provisions of the act. The proposed acts place under the provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act all employees of sardine factories except those who are engaged in the actual catching of the sardines. Why should such a change be made at this time? Certainly there has been nothing since the original passage of the act that changes the conditions confronting the sardine-packing industry. The passage of either of these, amendments would be a serious, if not a fatal. blow to the sardine industry. Catching sardines, like most fish, is a very uncertain business, and this is especially true in the eastern part of Maine (where most of the sardines are packed), because of the extreme tides existing there. All sardines have to be caught on the tide and this is true whether the high tides serve during the day or during the night. Sardines, being small, are very perishable, making it essential to have them delivered to the factory as soon as possible after being freed of red feed. Therefore, when the tide serves in the night the fish are caught in the night and, when ready, the fish are loaded on the carrying boats and delivered to the factory. Thus, the fish may arrive at noon or midnight, early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and the packers must be standing by at the factory ready to start immediately when fish do arrive. There is no way to change this system because the fish cannot be held over the tide. It frequently happens that when large schools of fish are held within seins, that threatening weather makes it imperative that they be removed immediately to save both fish and gear, and these fish must be packed as soon as they arrive at the factory. It is essential that the packers be ready at the factory when the fish arrive, and in order to have them ready it is necessary to have them stand by for hours prior to the arrival of the fish when they arrive in the night, and this means that most of the packers are on overtime a very substantial part of the packing season. It is immediately apparent what it will mean to the industry if it is obliged to pay time and one-half for this type of labor, especially with the increase in the minimum wage. Portland sardine packers, for instance, are now paying 50 cents a case for packing, which would mean 75 cents a case for all packing done after 40 hours. During the current season of 1945, OPA put a maximum price on sardines, and unless the OPA ceiling is definitely and substantially raised on |