the machinery established under the Catering Wages Act which was passed by the House of Commons on April 20, 1943.1

A newly constituted Catering Wages Commission is to be empowered to examine the machinery for regulating the remuneration and conditions of employment in the catering trades, to report where they are adequate or can be made adequate, and to make proposals for the establishment of wages boards where necessary to obtain proper standards. The Commission may also make recommendations to any Government department on any matters affecting the remuneration, conditions of employment, health, or welfare of the workers in the industry.

The catering-industry legislation was sponsored by the Minister of Labor and met with strong opposition when the bill was considered in committee during March, but the opposition was later withdrawn. In providing for a Catering Wages Commission instead of a trade board, the Minister of Labor stated that he believed he was establishing something far preferable to the old trade-board machinery, and looked to the Commission for "a considered body of possible legislation for the development of a great new industry.'

Coverage of Law

Coverage under the law extends to all persons employed in an enterprise or part of an enterprise consisting wholly or mainly in the carrying on (whether or not for profit) of one or more of the following activities: The supply of food or drink for immediate consumption; the provision of living accommodation for guests or lodgers, or for persons employed in the enterprise; any other activity so far as it is incidental or ancillary to any of these activities of the enterprise.

Membership and Duties of Commission

Membership in the Catering Wages Commission is to consist of persons appointed by the Minister of Labor, of whom not more than three persons are to be independent persons and not more than two are to represent employers and employed persons, respectively. The Minister may name assessors in his discretion. The Minister is to appoint one of the independent members as chairman of the Commission, and another as deputy, to act in the absence of the chairman. Representatives of management and labor are to be appointed in equal number and after such consultation with employer and worker organizations, as the Minister may consider necessary. The Commission is to make such inquiries as it thinks fit, or as the Minister may direct, into the existing conditions of workers in the industry. If the Commission is of the opinion that existing machinery established by agreement between employer and worker organizations is adequate or can be made so, the fact is to be reported to the Minister. The Minister is to take such steps as he deems necessary to secure any improvements suggested by the Commission. If the improvements are not then made by the parties concerned, the Minister is to refer the report back to the Commission. In turn, the Commission will reconsider the matter, and make a further report to the Minister on the case.

1 Data are from Great Britain, Laws, Statutes, etc., Catering Wages Bill; Parliament, House of Commons, Debates, April 20, 1943, columns 1558-1633; and Labor Research, May 1943.

If the Commission decides that the existing machinery for regulating pay and conditions of employment is not adequate or cannot be made so, or if such machinery does not exist, the Commission may make "a wages board recommendation" to the Minister. Such a recommendation means that a wages board shall be formed in respect to the particular workers and their employers. Before making a wagesboard recommendation, however, the Commission is required to investigate conditions and publish a notice in a prescribed manner, stating terms of the proposed recommendation and that representations concerning them will be considered. After considering the representations and making necessary inquiries, the Commission will make its recommendations to the Minister, either as originally proposed or as amended in the light of the Commission's findings. When the Minister receives a wages-board recommendation, he may use his discretion in establishing a wages board for such workers and employers as are described. He may refer the wages-board recommendation back to the Commission for reconsideration, and the procedure in considering a case for the second time will be the same as in the case of an original recommendation.

Membership and Duties of Wage Boards

Orders creating wages boards are to be made by the Minister. Each order must be laid before Parliament, and if either House of Parliament resolves within 40 days that the wages-board order shall be annulled, it will become void thenceforth. A wages board will consist of not more than three independent persons and equal numbers of employer and employee representatives. One independent member is to be appointed chairman and another vice chairman, by the Minister. Employer and employee members will be appointed by the Minister after consulting the organizations which appear to him to be representative of the two groups.

A wages board may submit proposals to the Minister for fixing the remuneration to be paid (including holiday remuneration) either generally or for any particular work, by their employers to all or any of the workers in relation to whom the wages board operates; for fixing the intervals for meals or rest; and for requiring workers to be allowed holidays. Any wages-regulation proposals must be advertised, and the wages board must consider any written representations made within a specified period. The Minister shall make a wages-regulation order giving effect to the proposals submitted to him, but he has the right to refer the proposal back, instead to the wages board for reconsideration. When a wages-regulation order is made, it becomes effective without further formality.

In general, the statutory remuneration fixed by a wages board must be paid in cash without deduction. Wages boards are to be free to deal with tips in any way they consider necessary and practicable, having regard to the varied conditions of the industry.

Creation of Government Employment Service in Spain, 19431

PRIVATE employment agencies were abolished and a nation-wide employment service within the jurisdiction of the Falange (Spanish Fascist Party), under the supervision of the Ministry of Labor, was created by a law of February 10, 1943, published in the Official Bulletin of March 2, 1943. All workers, regardless of their trade, rank, and amount of wages, must obtain from the State employment service a work card. Both employers and employees are required to use the new service.

The compilation of statistics regarding employment and unemployment, migrational movements, etc., is a further activity imposed upon the new organization, to be effected through its Provincial, regional, and local branches. Labor migrations of exceptional importance are to require the authorization of the Ministry of Labor. Regulations for the enforcement of this law are to be prepared and published within a period of 3 months from the date of promulgation.

I Data are from report of Ralph H. Ackerman, United States commercial attaché at Madrid.

53487943- 4

Recommendation of Emergency Board in Dispute of Railroad Nonoperating Employees

FIFTEEN cooperating railway labor organizations representing about a million nonoperating employees served notice, about September 25, 1942, on various carriers, requesting a union-shop agreement and an increase of all wage rates by 20 cents an hour, with no rate of less than 70 cents to be paid to any employee. The notices were served on virtually all railroads in the United States and also on the Railway Express Agency, five refrigerator-car companies. and two stockyard companies.

Negotiations between the parties failed to settle the dispute. The National Mediation Board then undertook to mediate a settlement and later to arrange for arbitration. After these proceedings had resulted in failure to end the dispute, an emergency board, consisting of I. L. Sharfman (Chairman), Walter T. Fisher, and John A. Fitch, was established to conduct an investigation and to report thereon to the President. The processes of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration were brought to an end on January 16, 1943. The Emergency Board was named on February 20, 1943. By agreement of the parties, the action of the Emergency Board was extended beyond the period of 30 days prescribed by law in the absence of an agreement to the contrary. Forty-four days were devoted to public hearings. The Board reported to the President on May 24, 1943, recommending an increase in basic rates, amounting to 8 cents an hour, effective as of February 1, 1943.

The Board acted under the general authority of Executive Order No. 9172 of May 22, 1942. This order modified, for the period of the war, the procedure under the Railway Labor Act for adjusting disputes and created for that purpose a National Railway Labor panel, from which emergency boards were to be appointed. The jurisdiction of the National Railway Labor panel was affirmed, subject to the general conditions of the stabilization program, by Executive Order No. 9299 of February 4, 1943. In the course of the hearings before the Board, further changes occurred in the stabilization program in connection with Executive Order No. 9328 of April 8, 1943, and the policy directive of May 12, 1943, supplementing the order.

The central question raised by the last-named order and directive was the possibility of making wage adjustments for correcting_gross inequities and aiding in the prosecution of the war. The Board declared, however, that its clear and affirmative duty was to report

Report to the President by the Emergency Board appointed February 20, 1943, pursuant to the Railway Labor Act and Executive Orders 9172 and 9299, May 24, 1943. This report was based on the entire record but was presented in advance of the Board's full analysis of the evidence, which was presented in Supplemental Report to the President by the Emergency Board, May 29, 1943.

its findings of facts and make a recommendation in accordance with those findings.

The Board found that a gross inequity existed in the wages of the railroad workers and it recommended that in the interest of the prosecution of the war the gross inequity should be corrected. A protest by the carriers was followed by action by the Director of Economic Stabilization declaring that the Board's recommendation should not become effective on the ground that its acceptance would exceed the permissible limits of remedying the gross inequities indicated by the Board's findings of fact.2

Recommendations of Emergency Board

The Emergency Board recommended that all the carriers involved in the dispute, with certain minor exceptions, increase the basic wage rates of their employees represented before the Board by 8 cents per hour. February 1, 1943, was named as the effective date of the increases, this date being fixed on the ground that the time that elapsed between the conclusion of the processes of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration and the appointment of the Board was a result of circumstances for which neither of the parties to the dispute was responsible; namely, the necessity for affirming or clarifying the jurisdiction of the National Railway Labor panel, from which the Board was appointed, in relation to that of the National War Labor Board. The retroactive payments were to be made in United States War Savings Bonds, except for amounts below $18.75, which were to be paid in cash. This recommendation for the payment of retroactive wages in bonds was made in the interest of the stabilization program, for the purpose of preventing the sudden use of the accumulated lump sums in a manner that might have an inflationary effect. It was estimated that retroactive payments up to June 1, 1943, would amount to about $68,000,000, and up to July 1, 1943, to about $85,000,000.

The Emergency Board refused to approve the demand for a union shop, and it recommended the withdrawal of the request by the 15 labor organizations involved in the case. The Board found that the union-shop agreement, if granted, would compel the carriers to violate provisions of the Railway Labor Act. The carriers had argued also that a union-shop agreement would violate the unexpired Moratorium Agreement between them and the unions against changes in rules, and the Board held that this was not an unreasonable interpretation. It was stated also that no adequate showing was made in the record as to the need or utility or implications of the proposed union-shop agreement.

The recommendation of the Board for a general increase of 8 cents per hour applied to the Railway Express Agency as well as to the railroads. Two railroads were exempted from the recommendationthe Iowa Transfer Railway, because of lack of evidence that proper notice was served, and the Toledo, Peoria, & Western Railroad, because the Federal Government (which was operating the road) had the right not to be made a party to the dispute and had asserted that

Thus, up to July 6, the dispute which led to the appointment of the Board remained unadjusted.