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sardines, the packers could not pack with any increased cost such as is bound to follow if the suggested amendments become laws.

Any increase in cost of packing would also render more difficult the problem of our packers in competing with Norwegian and other foreign sardine packers, who are already starting to ship their sardines into this country.

The sardine packers' problem is different from almost all other types of packers. For instance, a tomato packer, a bean or corn packer, can tell with some accuracy how much produce he has to pack, about when it will become available, and approximately how long the pack will last, so that when an employee has worked 40 hours, he can arrange to have a new employee ready to start so there will be no overtime paid. This is also true of many types of sea food, such as oysters and clams which are in beds and can be dragged or dug at almost any time, but it is certainly not true of sardines which run in large schools, and a factory may be obliged to run nights and days to keep up with the supply for a week or two and then there will be periods when no fish are caught.

It therefore respectfully requests that no amendments be passed, altering the present exemption of employees of our factories from the terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

MAINE SARDINE PACKERS ASSOCIATION, By JAS. ABERNETHY, Secretary.

EXHIBIT 35

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM S. SNOW, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES AssoCIATION COOPERATIVE, IN OPPOSITION TO THAT PORTION OF SENATE BILL NO. 1349 WHICH SEEKS TO EXTEND THE WAGES-AND-HOURS LAW TO PERSONS EMPLOYED IN PROCESSING, HANDLING, LOADING, AND UNLOADING, ETC., OF SEAFOOD AND FISHERY PRODUCTS

To the chairman and members of the Committee on Education and Labor of the United States Senate:

The writer has been closely connected with the fishing industry in practically all its branches for more than 40 years and is familiar with the sea-food industry in all sections of the United States. It is my humble opinion that any person who is reasonably informed as to the facts, will readily realize that the peculiar nature of fishery products would require that exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act should extend to all operations upon fishery products until such products have reached a state of processing that will insure their preservation. In support of this belief, I suggest to the committee the following reasons: 1. Fishery products are probably the most perishable of all foodstuffs and in order to insure the consumer a healthful and nutritious product, it is necessary that all processing operations of whatever kind including canning, salting, reduction, or other forms of preservation take place within a few hours after these products reach the shore.

2. The uncertainty that is inevitable in the taking of fishery products is recognized in the bill under consideration at the present time by continuing the exemption of persons employed on fishing vessels. The present bill takes cognizance of the fact that the taking of fishery products from the sea is dependent upon weather, tide, water conditions, temperature, phases of the moon, and various other natural phenomena over which man has no control, and for this reason, it is not practical to fix the hours for the performance of this work. It is, therefore, inconsistent to extend the exemption to the catching of fishery products and to fail to continue the exemption to the loading, unloading, processing, canning, etc., of such products.

4. The four largest fisheries in the United States are the pilchard, salmon, tuna and menhaden. In most of these industries the workers are paid a fixed salary by collective bargaining contracts with active labor unions of national scope, and in many instances the workers pay is at a rate in excess of the minimum fixed by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

5. Where fish processing plants are located in populous communities and come into competition with other industries for labor, the fisheries industry

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has found it necessary to pay a higher wage scale in order to obtain labor by reason of the fact that the handling of fishery products is not considered the most pleasant of occupations.

6. In most of the smaller processing plants, the worker's pay is fixed on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. This has been found necessary in order to insure to the worker a steady take-home pay.

7. Where fishing processing plants are located in isolated places, it is necessary for the employer to provide domitories, mess halls, and other necessary living quarters in order to insure a steady level of employees ready at all times to process the catch upon arrival at the shore station.

8. To require that workers in fishery processing plants be employed on an 8-hour basis would result in either of two systems: The employers would be required to maintain three shifts of workers at all times, or else, would be obliged to pay employees for 8 hours on a basic wage scale and for 16 hours on an overtime basis. This statement can be readily borne out by anyone who is familiar with the fisheries industry and who is aware of the fact that the time of arrival of the vessels at shore stations is as uncertain as the elements that govern the taking of fishery products.

9. The result to the workers would necessarily mean a reduction in take-home pay because of the small margin of profit upon which the processing plants are obliged to operate and the uncertainty as to the catch. Many of the smaller processing plants would be obliged to go out of business, and the larger processors would be obliged to arrange for the presence of the workers only at those periods when there were fishery products to be processed; thus, the relationship between employer and employee whereby the employee is guaranteed a steady pay envelope would be destroyed.

10. During the poor seasons when the catch of fishery products fell below normal, prosessing plants would hesitate to risk operations on a basis of overtime pay for 16 hours, or else would be unable to obtain a sufficient number of employees to operate on a three-shift basis.

11. The catching and processing of fishery products is the greatest gamble in all industry, and individuals engaged in both branches of the industry often hold on in the face of loss by reason of the fascination of chance taking; however, if the employer is required to operate on a basis of pay that would insure loss except during periods of exceptionally godod catches, the element of chance would largely disappear and the business would then be operated of necessity in the same manner as an industry engaged in processing steel, or other manufactured commodities.

SUMMARY

I. therefore, believe that the committee should leave the law as it is. I further believe that after a careful study of the facts, the committee will realize that the extension of the wages-and-hour provision to the processing of fishery products will result in harm to both employee and employer, and will further result in a sharp reduction in the amount of sea food available to the consumer.

In the United States the fisheries industry receives less encouragement from the Government than in any other maritime nation on earth, and for that reason among others, the fisheries industry has been for many years known as a sick industry.

Any attempt on the part of the Federal Government to fix hours of work in an industry where the element of uncertainty exists as it does in the fisheries industry will in some instances offer additional handicaps, and in others, complete destruction of an industry that furnishes employment and food to those areas of the Nation where food and employment are most needed.

I firmly believe that the proposed bill now under consideration will create a chaotic condition far beyond the imaginings of those persons who sponsor the present bill.

AMERICAN FISHERIES ASSOCIATION COOPERATIVE,
WILLIAM S. SNOW, President.

EXHIBIT 36

Hon. LEVERETT SALTONSTALL,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C.

GENERAL SEAFOODS CORP., Boston, Mass., October 4, 1945.

MY DEAR SENATOR: We wish to call your attention to Senate and House bills, S. 1282, S. 1349, H. R. 3719, H. R. 3827, H. R. 3829, H. R. 3841, H. R. 3844, H. R. 3914, and H. R. 3928, and ask your aid in defeating the proposed amendmentsection 13 of the act which reads as follows: "Section 13 (a) The provisions of sections 6 and 7 shall not apply with respect to * * * (4) any employee employed in the catching, taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacea, sponges, seaweeds, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life, including the going to and returning from work;".

Any change in this amendment which has been in effect since 1938 would vitally affect the ordinary conduct of the fish business as practiced in the entire fishing industry, and especially, the fishing industry as constituted here in New England. The effect of the amendment would be to create a condition whereby minimum wages apply only to shore help and would not apply to "offshore" fishermen under the proposed amendments.

There are several reasons herein outlined which would seriously cripple our New England fishing industry, and possible result in the business interests being forced to abdicate the fish business as a going unit.

1. We are well aware of the fact that nature provides no clock to time the catching of fish.

2. Fish must be handled when it arrived at the dock to maintain high levels of quality and production, and to prevent serious deterioration in a valuable food. 3. Without the coordination of shore workers, offshore fishermen would be helpless inasmuch as catching the fish is only the first step in placing the product itself upon the consumer's table.

4. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there are 100,000 persons employed on shore and 110,000 fishermen actively engaged in catching fish at the present time. Needless to say, a large percentage of this total employment is engaged in New England fisheries.

5. To distinguish between offshore and onshore is to cut a business in half, exempting offshore fishermen and not exempting onshore workers. We do not believe that a law of this type, which cuts a line in two, could be administered successfully and would result in evasions causing our industry considerable trouble.

6. It would also provide serious hardship for the small distributor of fishing products, which we believe is a direct attack on Congress in its attempt to create favorable laws for the small businessman.

7. We are also faced with serious competition from foreign markets, for they could very easily and no doubt would take advantage of the split created by such an amendment.

8. As stated heretofore, this law has been in effect since 1938 and was enacted only after serious consideration of the problems confronting the industry. Extensive hearings provided basic material for the act. We in the industry know that there have been no changes made in the ordinary conduct of the business which would warrant a change in the law itself. We feel that any change in the sound practices of the industry has been made, and we believe that the present law conforms with these practices. Also the proposed amendment would necessarily effect a change which would lead to chaos and an inevitable conflict in the industry.

It has been understood that hearings on the Senate bills start before the Education and Labor Committee of the Senate on September 25, 1945. Also the National Fisheries Institute has been tentatively assigned October 11 for their hearings.

We sincerely ask your act of support in the defeat of the proposed amendments and assure you that it is for the best interest of the whole industry in your district and throughout the New England coast. It is our understanding that hearings are being heard on the Senate bills at the present time and that House hearings, which will be separate, are not yet scheduled.

We trust that when these hearings are scheduled all House Members located in our fishing communities will present a strong front in defeating the provi

sions of sections 6 and 7 in section 13 of the bills numbered in our opening paragraph.

Yours very truly,

GENERAL SEAFOODS CORP.,
MATTHEW J. DILLON, Plant Manager.

EXHIBIT 37

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM H. BRANSON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE
OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS ON THE EFFECT OF PROPOSED MINIMUM-WAGE LEGIS-
LATION ON MISSIONARY INSTITUTIONS OF RELIGIOUS BODIES

From the earliest times unselfish sacrificing groups of men and women have placed the spiritual welfare of their fellow men above their own financial wellbeing, and out of this service have come our great missionary movements. We are confident that Congress has no desire to thwart in any way the missionary practices of the religious bodies of this country and for that reason we present this statement outlining the possible effects of pending legislation on mission institutions and missionary training schools.

In the beginning, permit me to make it very clear that our denomination is entirely in sympathy with every legitimate effort to better the conditions of laboring men and women. We believe in reasonable hours of work, healthful surroundings, time for recreational and cultural pursuits, wages commensurate with services rendered, etc.

We do not appear here to oppose the bills which are before you, but to request that in the event they are considered favorably, certain modifications be included in order to safeguard the work and interests of not only our church and institutions but with that of other similar organizations.

In that connection it might be well to stress that our institutions are conducted on a missionary basis, and those individuals connected with them likewise carry on their activities with a missionary spirit rather than on a solely remunerative basis.

As the result of following scriptural examples in this respect we are able to offer standard educational courses at rates that are lower than those of many other institutions, and in addition we are able through our self-help program. to provide part-time employment whereby our students may earn part of their tuition. Ninety percent of the students in our institutions earn a part of their tuition, and about 50 percent earn at least half of their expenses.

You may wonder how the provisions of the bills you are now considering could affect the work of a religious body. Our church organization, besides its regular evangelical activities, carries on a very large institutional program. SeventhDay Adventists have, for instance

1. Their own system of education, and conduct church schools from the elementary course through the college level, and also operate a medical college and theological seminary.

2. We operate publishing houses solely for the production of denominational literature.

3. We operate medical institutions such as sanitariums, hospitals, and dispensaries for the care of the sick, and for the training of medical missionary nurses. Connected with some of these medical institutions are health food factories.

All of these non-profit-sharing enterprises are carried on with the idea of fostering the growth of our denominational work and are financed and controlled by the church. There has been established a scale of wages which applies to all workers, regardless of the particular branch of church work in which they are employed, and since these are church missionary projects, those employed in them come under the denominational wage scale.

Schools

In addition to the literary courses given, every secondary boarding school and college founded by Seventh-Day Adventists in the past 50 years offers training and experience in one or more lines of manual labor and industrial arts. Manual training, industrial work, and those things which tend to develop the recognition of the dignity of labor on the part of the youth are a very vital and integral part of our Seventh-Day Adventist educational plan and policy.

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All of our educational literature published since the very beginning of this denomination is saturated with this principle. We believe such training has a definite social significance; that it makes for peace in the social order. Though a man may reach a managerial position, if he has once worked with his hands, he is not likely to consider the laborer as his inferior. The one who gains experience in any kind of handicraft knows that the skillful artisan must recognize the connection between cause and effect and must reason accurately. Such training tends to keep men from following mere speculative theory. Further, the employer or foreman who has worked as a journeyman is in a position to judge what is fair remuneration for work done. This is in harmony with the best American traditions for in early American history we find that the four R's were taught in school, while trades, manual labor, and the household arts were taught by parents in the home and shop and on the farm. American education today is endeavoring to restore this practical side of education through vocational training in high schools.

Educators today in general recognize that education and life are too far apart. In our Seventh-Day Adventist system of education it is our attempt to keep them tied closely together. We believe in the principle that was enunciated by William Penn, that "in any educational system worth-while, the intellectual, the spiritual, and the industrial are inextricably mixed." Because of that belife, our institutions are usually established in rural environments, most of them on good-sized farms where at least sufficient food can be produced to supply the needs of the members of the institution.

We have also established, in connection with these institutions, for the purpose of education and training, departments of agriculture, printing, woodworking, broommaking, and in some instances, mechanics, auto mechanics, and chenille work. In these various industries connected with our educational institutions, through the work-privileges provided, it becomes possible for a large number of youth, who otherwise would not be able to finance a college education, to earn a portion or all of their school expenses. About 50 percent of our students earn at least half of their school expenses in this way, while some while some 90 percent earn at least a portion.

The wages paid to teachers and to all the leaders in these institutions are strictly on a church missionary basis. As already stated, the denomination wage scale applies to all its workers, whether evangelical or institutional, and this scale is applied in principle to its work throughout the world. Thus the maximum wage in 1945 for senior college presidents is fixed at $50 per week, while for junior college presidents the scale ranges from $36.50 to $47.50 per week, and academy principals from $36.50 to $45. Teachers in the respective institutions receive a few dollars less.

While some of the industries in connection with our colleges have grown to be quite large and to a considerable business, yet all of these institutions are eleemosynary, nonprofit organizations and are subsidized by charity through various churches and conferences. Any profits that may accrue in any of these industries go to the general upbuilding of the institutions of the church and not to any individual, nor even to the industry itself. The industries are organized for the one purpose of training the students in labor, maintaining an atmosphere of work for everybody about the institution, and providing opportunities for the students to earn a portion of their own way through school on a basis of self-help.

Inasmuch as these students work only a few hours each day, and also because the majority of the time we are using immature and untrained help, and since the student-worker will be engaged in that type of labor only for the period necessary for the course of study being pursued, you can see our problem, if we were compelled by law to pay the same wages that regular commercial industrial firms are able to pay for regular workers. Since the student-workers must integrate their manual labor with their classroom work, many of them are able to put in only from 1 to 5 hours per day, and therefore could not be classed as regular laborers in the industry.

There is also, of course, a very rapid turn-over of student labor, and this, together with the broken time that students are able to work, the fact that unskilled labor reduces the production of the machines, the spoiling of materials, and the damage done to the machines by those who are not well acquainted with their operation, all contribute to the high cost of production of the finished article. This results in a lack of efficiency in these industries that would not appear in a regular commercial factory.

The charges made to our students for their education, board, and room a lower than those of other institutions of equal size and equipment.

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