1943 May 24. The National War Labor Board extended the life of the advisory Daily Newspaper Printing and Publishing Panel (see Chron. item for Feb. 24, M. L. R. May 1943), "pending a review by the Board of the work of the panel, and the Board's determination as to what finally should be done." (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-662.) On June 16 the panel was authorized, subject to the Board's review, "to make final decisions on all unanimously passed voluntary wage or salary adjustment cases where the increase falls within the Board's 15-percent cost-of-living maladjustment formula." (Source: B-733.) However, on July 3, indirectly because of a provision in the War Labor Disputes Law of June 25, the panel was returned to its advisory status. (Source: B-780.) May 26. The National War Labor Board adopted a general order forbidding the granting without its approval, of wage increases in individual cases, based on merit, promotion or reclassification, apprentice or trainee systems, or on length of service. Not requiring Board approval are cases conforming to (1) a collective-bargaining agreement in existence on May 31, 1943, (2) the employer's practice before October 27, 1942, (3) a schedule specifically approved by the Board, and (4) methods and standards established by the Board. (See Chron. item for Oct. 9, 1942, M. L. R. February 1943.) (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-680; General Order No. 31.) May 27. The President by Executive order created the Office of War Mobilization, under the direction of Justice James F. Byrnes, to be assisted by a War Mobilization Committee composed of the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Chairman of the Munitions Assignment Board, the Chairman of the War Production Board, and the Economic Stabilization Director. Heads of departments and agencies will sit with the Committee when questions relating to their departments or agencies come up for consideration. The Office of War Mobilization, with the advice of the Committee and subject to the direction and control of the President, shall (1) develop unified programs and establish policies for the maximum use of the Nation's resources and manpower, and (2) unify and harmonize Government activities concerned with the production and distribution of military or civilian goods. (For text of Executive order, see Monthly Labor Review, June 1943, p. 1089.) (Source: White House, Press release of May 28, 1943, Executive Order No. 9347.) May 27. The President by Executive order created a new Committee on Fair Employment Practice, empowering it to "conduct hearings, make findings of fact, and take appropriate steps to obtain elimination” of “discrimination in the employment of any person in war industries or in Government by reason of race, creed, color, or national origin." (Source: White House, Executive Order No. 9346. For summary, see Monthly Labor Review, July 1943, p. 32.) Monsignor Francis J. Haas was appointed chairman of the committee. JUNE June 4. The National War Labor Board announced that the Executive order of April 8 did not prevent adjustments in wage rates without the Board's approval "to equalize wage or salary rates paid to females with the rates paid to males for comparable quantity and quality of work on the same or similar operations in the same plant.' (See Chron. item for Nov. 24, 1942, M. L. R. February 1943.) (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-693.) " June 5. The National War Labor Board, in a unanimous decision, in a case concerning the Southport Petroleum Co., ordered the abolition of pay differentials between white and Negro workers performing the same type of work. (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-702. For summary, see Monthly Labor Review, July 1943, p. 31.) 1943 June 9. The President approved the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943. This act put income tax paying on a current basis by canceling $50 of the 1942 or 1943-whichever is smaller-yearly income tax owed up to $66.67, and 75 percent of the tax over $66.67. The remaining 25 percent was made payable, half on March 15, 1944, and half on March 15, 1945. The larger tax, either for 1942 or 1943, will be paid from the amount accumulating to the taxpayer's credit from his two quarterly tax payments in 1943, part of his Victory Tax (see Chron. item for Oct. 21, 1942, M. L. R. February 1943), and from the deductions to be made from his pay checks by his employer after June 30, 1943. Employers were instructed to withhold 20 percent of each employee's pay, after proper exemptions. Not subject to the withholding tax are farm and domestic workers, members of the armed forces, clergymen, and certain others. Self-employers and others with taxable incomes will have to file estimates of their yearly earnings by March 15 of the taxable year and make quarterly tax payments. Farmers, however, were given time until the fifteenth day of the last month of the taxable year to file estimates of their tax. All taxpayers will file their final returns for the preceding year on or before March 15, as has been done heretofore. The difference between the estimated tax and the withheld tax will then be adjusted. (Source: Public Law 68.) June 9. The Office of Price Administration announced that it had created machinery for the formation of advisory committees to cover all industries affected by OPA price regulations. Hitherto, the 92 existing industry advisory committees had been formed at the request of industries exercising their right under the Emergency Price Control Act. The OPA also announced that in this connection "opportunity would be given for consultation with representatives of organized labor through the OPA Labor Policy Committee, established more than a year ago, and through subcommittees to be set up by the Labor Policy Committee. The subcommittees are be to composed of representatives of particular unions interested in particular price regulations." (Source: Office of War Information, Office of Price Administration, OPA-2654.) June 15. War Production Board Chairman Donald M. Nelson, at the conclusion of a meeting of the WPB Labor-Management Council (see Chron. item for Mar. 30, M. L. R. May 1943), announced the creation of two new offices within the War Production Board-Manpower Liaison and Labor Production-in order to enable the active participation of men from labor's ranks in WPB policy making. The heads or vice chairmen of the two new offices (Clinton S. Golden, C. I. O., and Joseph D. Keenan, A. F. of L.) report directly to Executive Vice Chairman Charles E. Wilson on matters pertaining to the determination of labor requirements and increasing labor productivity. (Source: Office of War Information, War Production Board, WPB-3896.) On June 16 the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission announced the appointment of Mr. Golden as Vice Chairman of the Commission, as a further step to coordinate the operations with respect to labor relations of the two organizations. (Source: Office of War Information, War Manpower Commission, PM-4402.) June 23. The President approved an act to protect the reemployment rights of persons entering the merchant marine. (For summary of act, see page 307, this issue). (Source: Public Law 87.) June 23. The War Manpower Commission announced the completion of plans for the establishment and operation of the first U. S. Employment Service office in Puerto Rico. (Source: Office of War Information, War Manpower Commission, PM-4403.) 1943 June 25. Congress by a two-thirds vote passed the War Labor Disputes Act over the President's veto of the same day. (For summary of act, see page 305, this issue.) (Sources: Public Law 89; White House, Press Release of June 25, 1943. June 27. The National War Labor Board announced that it had accepted jurisdiction over the formal review of wages in shipyards. Under the President's Executive Order No. 9250, of October 3, 1942, the Shipbuilding Stabilization Committee has no authority to approve changes in prevailing wage rates. Approximately a million workers in 188 shipyards are covered by the stabilization agreements. (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-670.) June 29. The National War Labor Board announced that nonprofit organizations operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes may obtain exemption, upon application, "from the necessity of filing applications for approval of wage and salary adjustments of employees within the jurisdiction of the Board." All wage adjustments, however, will have to comply with the national wage and salary stabilization program. (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-762.) June 30. The War Manpower Commission authorized its regional directors to classify laundries as "locally needed," and hence "eligible for the same preferential treatment now accorded essential war industries under stabilization plans now in operation throughout the country." In order to qualify for preferential treatment-which includes referral of workers by the U. S. Employment Service, protection from labor piracy, and the stabilization of their labor force-laundries would have to comply with the Commission's standards, aimed at the discontinuance of luxury services. (Source: Office of War Information, War Manpower Commission, PM-4410.) June 30. The National War Labor Board, by a vote of 8 to 4 (the labor members dissenting), reaffirmed its decision of May 21, 1943, which granted a general wage increase of 3 cents per hour-to correct maladjustments and provide a differential increase for night-shift workers to approximately 76,000 employees in the Akron, Ohio, plants of the "big four" rubber companies (United States Rubber Co., B. F. Goodrich Co., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.). The Board reversed its panel's recommendations of a maladjustment allowance of 8 cents per hour, holding that the panel had erred in considering the Akron companies as separate cases. The Board decided that "the industry approach to these cases is not only practical and equitable but the only approach which will provide for the stabilization of wages required under the National Economic Stabilization policy." (Source: Office of War Information, National War Labor Board, B-770, Directive Order of May 21, 1943.) AUGUST 1943 Agriculture and Agricultural Labor Effects of war on the social and economic status of farm laborers. By Paul S. Taylor. (In Rural Sociology, Raleigh, N. C., June 1943, pp. 139-148. 75 cents.) Farm workers from Mexico. By Charles M. Smith. (In Agricultural Situation, U. S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Washington, June 1943, pp. 12-14. 5 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington.) Brief account of the program for recruitment and transportation of Mexican farm laborers for work in the United States, under the 1942 international agreement between the two nations. Includes information on number of workers recruited, selection and transportation procedures, distribution by States, and grower-worker relations. Objectives for Canadian agriculture in 1943. Ottawa, Dominion Department of Child Labor and Child Welfare Trend of child labor, 1939 to 1942. By Ella Arvilla Merritt, U. S. Children's Bureau. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1943. 20 pp. (Serial No. R 1520; reprinted from March 1943 Monthly Labor Review with additional data.) Free. An abstract of laws governing the employment of minors in New York State. Albany, Department of Labor, Division of Women in Industry and Minimum Wage, June 1943. 26 pp.; mimeographed. Day care of children in wartime. Ottawa, Canadian Welfare Council, 1942. 22 pp., bibliography; mimeographed. Outlines the basic functions of child-welfare services, the framework of daynursery organization, and plans for such an agency. Includes also provisions for children of school age and suggestions for foster-home day care. Consumer Problems Consumer problems and projects. By Brooks Spivey Creedy. New York, Woman's Press, 1942. 72 pp. 35 cents. Covers such subjects as food, clothing, housing, health, personal care, recreation, savings, credit, and insurance, with suggested projects designed to arouse community interest and study. Consumers in wartime: A guide to family economy in the emergency. By Leland J. Gordon. New York, Harper & Bros., 1943. 154 pp. $1.75. The stated purpose of this book is to offer helpful suggestions to consumers on how to spend their money wisely in these days of abnormal conditions. Titles of the five chapters are: You are always a consumer; What war does to you as a consumer; What do you really want?; Getting your money's worth; Making the most of it. EDITOR'S NOTE.-Correspondence regarding the publications to which reference is made in this list should be addressed to the respective publishing agencies mentioned. Where data on prices were readily available, they have been shown with the title entries. The amounts do not include postage, and also they are subject to change. Damming and diversion of consumer credit. By William Trufant Foster. Newton, Mass., Pollak Foundation, 1942. 22 pp. (Pollak pamphlet No. 45.) 10 cents. Argues against further Government control of credit (loans, installment buying, etc.) and contends that inflation should be controlled, rather, by controlling "the main streams of purchasing power." Cooperative Movement The cooperative movement and post-war reconstruction. By James McFadyen. Montreal, International Labor Office, 1943. 6 pp.; mimeographed. (Cooperative Information, No. 4, 1943.) Points out the great possibilities of use, in post-war reconstruction, of the cooperative network in collection and distribution of food and other supplies, in connection with medical care, etc. Developments in consumers' cooperation in 1942. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1943. 17 pp. (Bull. No. 738; reprinted from March 1943 Monthly Labor Review.) 5 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington. Legal phases of cooperative associations. By L. S. Hulbert. Washington, U. S. Farm Credit Administration, 1942. 456 pp. (Bull. No. 50.) 55 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington. Gives the legal provisions and relevant court decisions on the various points cooperative associations need to know: Matters relating to organization, incorporation, boards of directors, officers and employees, meetings of associations, marketing contracts, taxes, etc. Data relate to agricultural-cooperative laws and decisions regarding them, but much of the information is also helpful to consumers' cooperatives. Revision of previous bulletins. Research guide on cooperative group farming: A research bibliography on rural cooperative production and cooperative communities. By Joseph W. Eaton and Saul M. Katz. New York, H. W. Wilson Co., 1942. 86 pp. $1. Student cooperatives in the United States, 1941. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1943. 42 pp. (Bull. No. 740; reprinted from April 1943 Monthly Labor Review, with additional data.) 10 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington. Cooperative movements in South America. By James D. Lecron. (In Foreign Commerce Weekly, U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington, May 22, 1943, pp. 14, 15, 37.) 10 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington. Education and Training Digest of annual reports of State Boards for Vocational Education to the U. S. Office of Education, Vocational Division, fiscal year ended June 30, 1942. Washington, U. S. Office of Education, 1943. 59 pp., charts. Contains summaries of reports of the war-production vocational-education program, and on the agricultural, trade and industrial, home economics, and business education programs. Report of the Commission on Post-War Training and Adjustment. New York, Columbia University, Teachers College, Institute of Adult Education, 1942. 54 pp. Free. Statement of principles relating to the educational problems of returning soldiers, sailors, and displaced war-industry workers, which will have to be met after the close of the war. Time schedules in job training. New York, National Industrial Conference Board, Report on training for the building industry. London, Ministry of Works and Planning, Central Council for Works and Buildings, Education Committee, 1942. 56 pp. 1s. Describes existing schemes for training building craftsmen in Great Britain and makes recommendations as to the training of both youths and men to meet the labor needs of a rapidly expanding building industry after the war. |