scribed by the Railway Labor Act had failed, without the management's fault, to secure agreement on the railroads' proposal for such changes. In November 1959, the railroads notified the unions, pursuant to section 6 of the act, of intended changes that would reduce the number of employees in certain railroad operations. A presidential commission was appointed in 1960 to study this general problem, and it reported to the President in February 1962.10 The railroads accepted the commission's recommendations, but the unions did not.

On May 21, 1962, the unions requested mediation by the National Mediation Board (NMB) under section 5 of the act. Subsequently, the parties held 32 meetings without reaching any agreement. On June 26, the Board tried to persuade the parties to submit the dispute to arbitration under section 7 of the act, but the unions. refused. On July 17, after the Board announced that it had exhausted its means to settle the dispute, the railroads promulgated the work rules changes which the unions challenged in this suit. The court of appeals affirmed the district court decision upholding the railroads' rights to make the changes. Relying on previous court rulings, the appellate court considered the carriers' actions as being within the area of management prerogatives, subject to the obligation arising under the act to bargain collectively over rates of pay, rules, and working conditions. The court also found that the unions' refusal to conform to the results reached at the various stages of negotiation reduced their participation to a mere "sterile discussion" of their differences with the management. After complying with the act's procedural requirements of collective bargaining, the railroads may freely exercise their managerial prerogatives in the disputed area.

In a companion case involving the same parties, the court of appeals affirmed the district court's injunction restraining the railroads from making the changes pending an appeal. The court rejected the contentions of the railroads that an

Extensive excerpts from the Commission's report were carried in the Monthly Labor Review.

Globe Democrat Publishing Co. v. Industrial Commission (Mo. Ct. of App., No. 31040. Oct. 16, 1962).

This section provides: "A claimant who is unemployed and has been determined to be an insured worker shall be eligible for benefits for any week only if the deputy finds that... he is able to work and is available for work; provided, however, that no person shall be deemed available for work unless he has been and is actively and earnestly seeking work.

injunction was barred by the Norris-LaGuardia Act and was an abuse of the district court's discretion. An examination of the public policies and of the legislative history of the NorrisLaGuardia Act, the court said, revealed that the act is "a charter of the rights of labor against capital" and, as such, bars injunctions against employees and unions but not against employers except in certain circumstances.

Unemployment Insurance

Seeking Job Through Hiring Hall. The Missouri Court of Appeals held " that, under the facts in evidence, a laid-off employee's registration with his union hiring hall was sufficient to support the Commission's finding that he was "earnestly seeking work" as required by the State employment security law.

The claimant, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was laid off from work in January of 1960 and a day later registered his name on the out-of-work list of his union hiring hall and with the public employment office. He made no other effort to secure employment. Evidence in the record showed that the claimant had registered with his union for work after his previous layoff in 1959 and the union had found him employment within a week; and that the claimant had secured three different jobs through the union since working for the employer in this appeal.

The issue in the present case was whether mere registering with the union met the requirement of section 288.040 (2) of the Missouri employment security law. 12

The employer contended that the trial court erred in affirming the Commission's decision, that claimant had made a sufficient search for work, since it was not supported by competent and substantial evidence. It argued that the claimant had not met the requirement of section 288.040(2) was not met by merely registering his name on the out-of-work list at the union hiring hall and, therefore, had not been seeking employment actively and earnestly. Furthermore, there was no evidence that this was the usual manner for union members to seek employment.

The appellate court found that claimant's testimony that it was usual for unemployed members of the union to put their names on the out-of-work

list to have been sufficient for the Commission to conclude that unemployed union members secured most of their work through the union hiring hall. It further found that, by registering with the union hiring hall-the agency designed for members of the union to secure employmentand by using the system that had proved effective

to him on three previous occasions, the claimant did what a reasonably prudent person could be expected to do. Thus, the court concluded, the claimant's effort could not be viewed otherwise than as a reasonable and good effort to secure employment, and his efforts satisfied the requirements of the law.

Chronology of

Recent Labor Events

November 1, 1962

RYAN AERONAUTICAL Co. employees represented by the United Automobile Workers turned down a proposal for a union shop in a National Labor Relations Boardconducted election at the company's San Diego and Torrance, Calif., plants. With a two-thirds majority of the 1,377 votes cast needed for adoption, 60.5 percent of the employees favored a union shop. Similar proposals were defeated in elections at six divisions of North American Aviation, Inc., and Convair Division of General Dynamics in October. (See Chron. item for Oct. 19, 1962, MLR, Dec. 1962.)

November 2

THE NLRB placed the job-referral procedures of Operating Engineers Local 138 under direct supervision of the Board's New York regional office for at least a year to eliminate alleged discriminatory practices, particularly in the referral of five members who had opposed the local's president, William DeKoning, Jr.

November 4

A WAGE DETERMINATION by Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz offered workers alternative minimums for contracted Mexican lettuce harvesters in six States: either the greater of the prevailing hourly rate for lettuce harvesters or the hourly "adverse-effect" rate, which amounts to 95 cents in Arizona; $1, California; 90 cents, Colorado; $1, Kansas; 75 cents, New Mexico; and 70 cents, Texas, or the greater of a crew piece rate of not less than 24 cents per carton or the prevailing piece rate, with guaranteed hourly earnings no less than the adverse-effect rate. (See also Chron. item for Apr. 6, 1962, MLR, June 1962.) FIFTY-SEVEN labor market areas suffering substantial unemployment were designated eligible for Public Works Acceleration Act assistance by Secretary of Labor Wirtz, bringing the total of certified areas to 144. (See Chron. item for Sept. 14, 1962, MLR, Nov. 1962.) The 57 are in 11 States: Arkansas has 20; Kentucky, 17; and Georgia,

6.

November 7

A U.S. COURT OF APPEALS Sustained a district court ruling (See Chron. item for June 5, MLR, Aug. 1961) that an employer-financed, jointly administered trust fund, pro

moting the use of lath and plaster, violated the Labor Management Relations Act's prohibition of payments by an employer to a representative of his employees. The court did not object to the purposes of the trust, but found that they did not come within the specific exceptions permitted by the act. The case was Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons, Local 2 v. Paramount Plastering, Inc. November 15

PLEDGES by AFL-CIO affiliates to end all discrimination against minority groups were signed by representatives of 116 national and 300 directly chartered local unions and by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. (See Chron. item for Mar. 6, MLR, May 1961.) Procedures for measuring the progress of the fair practices programs are being worked out by the Committee and the Federation. (See also pp. 58-59 and 68 of this issue.)

AMERICAN MOTORS CORP. provided 27,000 production workers stock worth about $129 after 1 year of operation under the company's profit-sharing, UAW labor contract. In addition, 5,200 salaried workers were each awarded $178 in stock. Increased benefits for both worker groups were partly financed by company profits. (See Chron. item for Aug. 26, 1962, MLR, Oct. 1961; see also p. 69 of this issue.)

November 16

A PERSONAL AND CORPORATE income tax reduction was recommended as the "main tool for promoting our economic objectives in 1963" by the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy in its report on fiscal and monetary policy. (See p. 51 of this issue for excerpts from the report.)

November 19

THE U.S. Supreme Court, in Los Angeles Meat and Provision Drivers Union, Local 626 v. United States, upheld a district court order to remove grease peddlers from the Teamsters union local. The appellants agreed with the lower court's ruling that they had violated antitrust laws by fixing prices and monopolizing the grease market, but appealed the membership termination order as an abridgement of federally protected labor activities. The Supreme Court ruled no labor dispute or legitimate union activity was involved, because the purpose of the peddlers' union membership was a "concededly illegal scheme to control the distribution and processing of grease." (See pp. 61-62 of this issue.)

November 21

IN a unanimous decision, the NLRB extended from 2 to 3 years the period during which an existing long-term labor contract may bar a representation election.

TRANS WORLD AIRLINES signed a Flight Engineers' International Association contract-which interlocks with three other agreements among the Engineers, the airline, and the Air Line Pilots Association-and became the first major carrier to resolve all aspects of the crew complement controversy. Engineers have priority to fill the third position in the reduced (from four men to three) cockpit crews, with severance pay of $10,000-$39,000 for those declining or failing to take the required training. (See Chron. item for June 21, 1962, MLR, Aug. 1962 and pp. 70-71 of this issue.)

work rules changes. A temporary injunction preventing the changes while five operating railroad brotherhoods appealed the district court's ruling was to expire in 15 days, unless extended pending further court action. (See also p. 70 of this issue.)

November 30

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR James J. Reynolds announced bonding requirements for administrators, officers, and employees of welfare and pension plans. The regulations governed: The method of estimating the amount of funds to be handled by the person, group, or class to be bonded, bonding in excess of the statutory amount of $500,000; and excepting plans from bonding requirements when the plan's administrator offers adequate evidence of the plan's financial responsibility or other adequate bonding arrangements.

CONSOLIDATED EDISON Co. and the Utility Workers agreed on a 3-year contract effective immediately for 21,000 workers, raising weekly wages $14 over the period for workers in the highest wage bracket, $10 for the middle bracket, and $9 for the lowest. Pension plan changes called for an average benefit increase of 25 percent. The maximum limit on pension credited service was eliminated; the company is to assume full costs for medical insurance; and 4 weeks' vacation after 20 years' service was provided. (See also p. 72 of this issue.)

MACHINISTS at two Lockheed Aircraft Corp. California divisions ended a 2-day strike at the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and following President John F. Kennedy's invocation of a Taft-Hartley inquiry board. The dispute's central issue is the company's refusal to allow a union shop election similar to those held at other major aerospace firms. (See Chron. item for Nov. 1, this issue; see also p. 68 of this issue.)

Developments in Industrial Relations*

Trade Union Activities

Teamster Organizing. In one of several National Labor Relations Board elections in which it had been involved in recent months, the Teamsters union defeated a group of dissident members called the Voice of the Teamster Democratic Organizing Committee (VOICE), which had sought to represent 7,000 members of Philadelphia Local 107 and 1,000 menibers of locals in Delaware and southern New Jersey. Of the more than 7,000 ballots cast November 15-17, the Teamsters won by fewer than 600 votes. VOICE asked the NLRB to set the election aside on the basis of 63 objections filed with the Board, chiefly alleging that acts of violence by the Teamsters union had influenced the election. Previously, the VOICE group had tried unsuccessfully to arrange for American Arbitration Association supervision of elections of local officers. Indictments have been handed down recently against Local 107's secretary-treasurer on charges growing out of his handling of the treasury and against its recording secretary on charges of perjury.

On November 28, Teamster Local 293 won bargaining rights for 1,100 employees of the Automotive Division of Gabriel Co. in Cleveland, in its fourth contest at this plant with the previously certified International Association of Machinists. The first election was set aside. following complaints by the Teamsters, and the second after IAM objections; neither union won a majority in the third contest.

The Federation of Telephone Clerks of Illinois announced November 21 that its members voted 2 to 1 against affiliation with the Teamsters union. The 1,000-member federation represents clerks in the accounting department of the Illinois Bell Telephone Co. in Chicago, Springfield, West Chicago, Joliet, Harvey, and Arlington Heights, Ill. Richard W. Long, president of the independent union, had supported the plan for affiliation with the Teamsters.

A representation election requested by the Teamsters union was conducted by mail in December for 17,000 Western Electric Co. telephone equipment installers in all parts of the country. The installers voted to retain the Communications Workers of America by a margin of nearly 3 to 1. A new NLRB rule would have prevented the agency from conducting the election until the CWA contract expired in 1963, but the union and the company agreed to waive this rule.

AFL-CIO. The fall meeting of the AFL-CIO Executive Council in Washington on November 12-13 approved allocation of $150,000-$175,000 for a pilot organizing campaign among some 750,000 employees of 3,000 firms in Los Angeles. Federation President George Meany announced that since preliminary plans for the campaign were accepted by the Council last spring, international unions had allotted organizers and $250,000 for the drive in addition to the Federation's contribution. Two steering committees, one each for soft goods and hard goods plants, have adopted a plan to avoid jurisdictional conflicts and are to guide the assignment of plants to a specific union or group of unions. Reportedly, participating unions had agreed to the Los Angeles effort with the understanding that it implied no precedent for organizing elsewhere. Franz Daniel, AFL-CIO assistant director of organization, was to direct the campaign.

The Council left the question of filling an existing vacancy in its ranks 3 to be worked out between Mr. Meany and AFL-CIO Vice President Walter P. Reuther, who were to confer upon Reuther's return from a trip to Japan. At the same meeting, the Council voted to continue support of 5,500 striking employees of six oil and chemical companies and to send $50,000 to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions for new headquarters in Brussels.

Anti-Discrimination Activities. At the Executive Council meeting, Whitney M. Young, Jr., executive director of the National Urban League, proposed a cooperative plan between the Federation and the League to deal with racial discrimination Prepared in the Division of Wages and Industrial Relations, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1 See p. 23 of this issue.

See Monthly Labor Review, June 1962, p. 685.

Caused by the retirement of Leland 8. Buckmaster in February 1962.