NUMBER OF CASES PENDING BEFORE BOARD AND IN THE FIELD

Mr. TABER. Let me see if we can get a picture of this matter How many cases do you have pending at the present time?

Mr. FAHY. In court?

Mr. TABER. How many cases do you have pending now for enforcement?

Mr. FAHY. Do you mean cases before the Board now?

Mr. TABER. Yes.

Mr. FAHY. We have 80 cases in Washington under review for Board decision.

Mr. TABER. How many do you have in the field?

Mr. WOLF. About 2,000 cases.

Mr. TABER. At what rate are you disposing of them?

Mr. WOLF. That is very difficult to say.

Mr. TABER. How can we know anything about the situation if you do not tell us?

Mr. WOLF. I would say they were coming in faster than they are being disposed of.

CASES PENDING ON, RECEIVED, AND DISPOSED OF SINCE APRIL 1, 1937

Mr. TABER. Suppose you put in the record a statement showing day by day, since April 12, the number of cases undisposed of in the field, the number disposed of, and the number of new cases coming in day by day since April 12, so we can see what there is to it.

Mr. WOLF. We can give it month by month.

Mr. TABER. I would like to know the number received and the number disposed of at the end of each day.

Mr. WOLF. We can give that month by month. Our statistics are not made up on the day by day basis. If we did that, we would have to devote a lot of time to statistics, taking it from other work.

Mr. TABER. Then, let us have it month by month; although I am frank to say that I do not think it will give us much of a picture on that basis.

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. They are making bi-weekly reports now. We have relieved the pressure of paper work to that extent, because of the inadequacy of the force. We can give it to you on a 2-weeks

basis.

Mr. TABER. Then, give it for every 15 days, beginning with the 1st of April.

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. We will do so.

(Statement requested is as follows:)

Record of cases received and handled since Apr. 1, 1937

Record of cases received and handled since Apr. 1, 1937—Continued

(NOTE.-The Board's complete statistical records on cases are compiled monthly and the information requested is therefore given in monthly form.)

PRESENT AND PROPOSED NUMBER OF DEPARTMENTAL AND FIELD PERSONNEL

Mr. TABER. How many employees do you have in the field at the present time? Do you not have a statement of the number of employees in the field?

Mrs. STERN. No, sir. The pay roll is $18,912. Those are permanent employees only.

Mr. TABER. What is the number of employees in the District at the present time?

Mr. WOLF. The pay roll for the District is about $33,000 for the month.

Mr. TABER. What is the average pay of those people? How many employees do you have in the District, and what is the average pay? Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. May I interpose this statement: A mere break-down of that would not be helpful so far as the average pay is concerned. In the field, in which we havde regional offices, we have several classes of employees, ranging from directors and field examiners to the clerical staff, and the average of such a heterogeneous group would not give what you are looking for, I imagine.

Mr. TABER. Could you take the set-up that you have given us on the green sheets, showing what you propose to have during the fiscal year, and give us the number of employees, and tell us which ones are on the pay roll now?

Mr. WOODRUM. We would like to have a statement of that in the record. Take the green sheets and build it up on the basis of your organization as it will be if and when this additional money is granted. We would like to have that showing in parallel columns, for each group, showing the number of employees that you had during the fiscal year 1937, at some given date, July 1 or June 30, 1937, and then in the next column show the number you expect to add to the force if you have this increased appropriation.

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. That can be done easily.

Mr. WOODRUM. You do not have those figures now?

Mr. WOLF. I think the justifications show the number, or the increased number in each of the categories.

Mr. WOODRUM. Put them in columns, and furnish the statement for the record.

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. We will do so.

Mr. TABER. Where is the increased personnel shown in the justifications?

Mrs. STERN. On the white budget sheets, page 5. The field personnel is shown on page 7, with the appropriation for 1938.

Mr. TABER. I do not think that gives it in the way we want it.
Mr. WOODRUM. No; we want it in tabular form.

Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. I might say, with regard to the increased number of attorneys and field examiners, who, of course, are the most important agents of the Board when it comes to the matter of securing settlements and doing the work of the Board, the increase in this estimate is approximately three times what we have today, yet the work has increased approximately 1,000 percent.

Mr. SNYDER. To what extent do you anticipate those cases will decrease as the strike situation levels down, as it will do, of course? Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. I think that probably there will be a slight decrease, but not during this fiscal year, for the reason that so far as the law itself is concerned, we have really had the Supreme Court validation only since April 12, and there naturally has been a material increase since April 12. The reason we have a back log and piling up of cases is because we do not have sufficient personnel to handle the cases or to properly function. It is very important in the interest of the communities generally, and in endeavoring to alleviate the industrial strife which now exists, that we be able to promptly handle cases, and we cannot do that now. To make any estimate regarding any decrease in the future is very difficult. It is very hard to attempt that.

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. It should be borne in mind in that connection that the decision of the Supreme Court authorizing our jurisdiction over a very wide area of the industrial field corresponds also to an increased movement in the organization of labor. We are all familiar with the increased organization activities on the part of the C. I. O. and A. F. L., which organizations have mutually stimulated each other. Therefore, with the increased organization of labor the field in which these cases may arise has broadened.

BASIS FOR INCREASED PERSONNEL REQUESTED

Mr. WOODRUM. Is this estimate for additional personnel based on the business as of today, or is it based on a further increase of the business, and, if so, to what extent, or in what proportion?

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. It is based on the business as of today, considering this figure of an average of 1,000 percent increase, which we have had thrown upon us since April 12. We are not allowing for any increase beyond that point during the remainder of the year, but we have no reason to anticipate that it will be less.

Mr. TABER. Referring to that increase of 1,000 percent in business, tell us how many cases you had pending on April 1.

Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. I think we had 600 cases pending on April 12. Mr. TABER. And you say you have 2,000 now. That, according to my arithmetic, is an increase of 300 percent.

Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. The number of cases pending now as compared with the number pending on April 12 is not a good criterion, but it is the number of cases we receive monthly now as compared with those received monthly prior to April 12. We have actually received that many more cases, and by the monthly average, we are receiving 10 times as many cases now as we received monthly prior to April 12.

Mr. TABER. How many men does it take to dipose of a case, and how many days does it take them to dispose of the average case? Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH. That depends on the size of the case.

Mr. TABER. I said the average case. You should be in a position

to tell us that.

Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. The average case, I would say, requires at least one examiner, when a charge is filed in a regional office, to make the preliminary investigation and endeavor to settle the case, and it requires one attorney to prepare and handle the case. Then it requires the attorney and examiner about an average of at least 5 days in the hearing of the case. It requires a trial examiner to hear the case, and when the hearing is completed and the case is concluded in the field, it requires at least one attorney in Washington to review the record and prepare the memorandum of the case and present it to the Board for decision.

Mr. TABER. Does every case require that procedure? Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. Yes, sir; in all formal cases. In an informal case, where a charge is filed alleging unfair labor practices but it is thought that informal action might successfully settle the issues, the regional director conducts an investigation interviewing the various persons concerned in the charge, and then endeavors to settle the matter by conferences with the employer and various employees involved, or their representatives.

Mr. TABER. What percentage of them are formal cases?

Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. About 20 percent of them are formal cases. Mr. TABER. Twenty percent of them are disposed of informally. Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. Yes, sir; in the manner I have mentioned. Mr. TABER. Then 80 percent of them must go through that procedure you have described.

Mr. DONALD W. SMITH. Yes, sir. The reason that is necessary is this: We must establish a proper record in all cases in the event the respondent in the case appeals to the C. C. A. Also we take the cases to the C. C. A. for enforcement. The Board is only a factfinding body, and the C. C. A. can only act upon the record.

Mr. TABER. Here is the record: Out of 2,382 cases, 324, or 10 percent of them, were disposed of before formal action was taken; 1,293 were disposed of by agreement, and 602 were withdrawn. That