Report of the President

MARTIN P. CATHERWOOD, Industrial Commissioner, New York
Department of Labor

I. Acknowledgments

It is a privilege and a responsibility of the President of IAGLO to report briefly to the membership on developments during his year in office. First, I would like to acknowledge with appreciation the help and contributions of all the members of the executive board and of our host, Commissioner Curtis Luttrell, who has met with the board during the year in connection with plans for the convention.

George Brown, as Secretary-Treasurer, serves as Mother Hen to the association. He performs the dozens of details necessary to make the work of the association and our program move smoothly. If the auditing committee, which I will appoint later this week, finds his books in order, I will recommend that his salary be doubled. I know we all appreciate his quiet, effective work without which this association would be lost.

As Vice President, Ernie Webb has been a major contributor toward the progress of the association. Never one lacking in a position or in positiveness, he identifies any guff in a hurry and keeps the ball moving. He heads the association's ad hoc committee on Walsh-Healey contracts, about which you will hear more later, and he has organized two of the four panel sessions which constitute our program for Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

The other members of the executive board-Carl Cabe, Paul Bachman, Bob Duvall, Bill Laney, John Otero, Les Peterson, and J. D. Wright-have all made major contributions through the meetings of the executive board, through correspondence, and through work on the program of this convention.

May I digress to say that I also have a couple of comments with respect to special activities of recent members or presidents of this association.

I am also indebted to Les Peterson, a former president of this association and Minister of Labour and Education for the Province of British Columbia. He played a special role as a luncheon speaker at Governor Rockefeller's conference on manpower training, held in Buffalo in early June. As you would expect, the several hundred who heard him were impressed, as all of us have been, by our sourdough from north of the border, and by his ability to articulate in the King's English and his broad grasp and understanding of progress in the related fields of labor and education.

Collaterally, reference should also be made to another recent past president of IAGLO and of a propaganda memo to his staff members, which one of my scouts recently brought to my attention. In this memo, Ray Male, Commissioner of Labor for New Jersey, calls attention to alleged accomplishments of the State of New Jersey in the field of labor legislation. He indicates in the memo that skepticism will turn to a mixture of astonishment and envy when he reports to IAGLO this year. Those of you who know Ray, as I do, will at least agree with his forecast of skepticism.

II. The Work of the Executive Board

The executive board met first on July 23, 1965, following the business session of IAGLO at Princeton, N.J. It next met in Washington, D.C., November 17, 1965, at which time it also met with Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz and his associates. Its third meeting was on March 16, 1966, the day before the Secretary of Labor's conference with heads of State labor departments. Its fourth meeting was held yesterday, July 24, 1966.

Private Sponsorship of Convention Entertainment.-At the business session in Princeton, the board made reference to the excellent convention sessions in recent years. The point of view was also expressed that competition among States, in an effort to put on an attractive program for the convention, should not carry to the point where some of the smaller States, in population and resources, might feel that they would be unable to host a comparable convention.

It was also suggested that sponsorship of receptions, luncheons, dinners, and entertainment by labor and management groups potentially poses problems for the Commissioners, Ministers, and Secretaries of Labor who attend the convention.

This issue was discussed at some length by the executive board and there was some disagreement. But it was concerned with the problem and inclined toward minimizing entertainment by nongovernmental agencies. The executive board felt, however, that the issue should be discussed fully at the business session of this convention. In the meantime, the executive board encouraged our host for this year, Commissioner Curtis Luttrell, to minimize on nongovernmental convention entertainment.

Convention Registration Fee.-Although the finances of IAGLO remain in good condition, the executive board was of the opinion that we might expect future demands on our resources to be in excess of those in the past.

Revenues for the operation of IAGLO are limited. As you will note when the report of the Secretary-Treasurer is given, the primary

funds coming in are membership fees, which, I believe, are $75 for each jurisdiction. The main supplementary source of revenue is the registration fee. The board considered whether an increase in the membership fee should be undertaken. The board also recognized that a little kitty is needed in advance, before the association can move very far in expanding its activities. Aside from the funds the association makes available to the host State to cover only part of the costs of an annual convention, one major outlay is travel expense: getting executive board members and special committee members of IAGLO together to discuss and plan progress on some of the special programs.

Being an organization with a farflung membership, travel expenses for these meetings add up quickly. Travel expenses of the association have been kept at a lower level than they would have been partly because some of the members of the executive board traditionally have charged their travel expenses to their respective State, rather than accept reimbursement from IAGLO. But this is not possible for many members of the association. Any real increase in activities of the board, or of special committees appointed by the board, would amount to a substantial increase in cost. I think I represent the thinking of the executive board in that we were reluctant to increase the annual dues above $75 until and unless this clearly becomes necessary in the months and years ahead.

We thought, however, that an additional contribution in registration fees would not impose an undue burden on the States that send only one or two staff members. But we would call on States that do send a number of members to our annual convention to increase modestly their financial support for the activities of the association. Consequently, the board took action by setting a registration fee of $25, and not requiring any registration fee for wives or other members of families who are delegates; providing also for tickets to luncheons for wives, if they wish to go, at a nominal cost in comparison to the actual cost of the luncheon. This fee also provides coverage for the delegates, their wives, and members of their families for the State dinner on Tuesday night.

The board also agreed, if it should be necessary, to increase its contribution to the host State for the costs of the convention. Traditionally, IAGLO makes a $1,500 contribution available to the host State to spend for the many expenses incurred. This year, the amount will be increased, up to $1,000, if it should be required. Present indications are that not all of this amount will be required. But any host State or Province is, of course, faced with substantial expenses in running a convention of this kind, and funds must come from some source.

The score is different in each jurisdiction as to whether or not appropriate funds are available. This can be discussed at length if any of the delegates would like to. If time does not permit today, there will be an opportunity at the Thursday morning session.

Resolutions.-During the past several years, the executive board has sought to improve procedures concerning resolutions. Whether we will ever be able to get most resolutions in advance of the convention is doubtful, although a real effort has been made.

A letter from George Brown, dated April 28, requested that resolutions be sent to him by July 1, 1966. He also sent a second reminder in July concerning advance filing of resolutions.

The executive board agreed that resolutions would be accepted up to 5 p.m. Monday, July 25—the end of the first full day of the convention. Any later submissions will be accepted only subject to unanimous consent of voting delegates. Because of the importance of having copies of all resolutions in the hands of voting delegates, substantially prior to their consideration, you are urged to submit any proposed resolutions before 5 p.m. today.

Copies of all resolutions will be supplied to the delegates within 24 hours of the 5 p.m. deadline. And the executive board has determined that no action will be taken on any resolution which has not been supplied in written form to the voting delegates.

Resolutions may be submitted to the chairman of the resolutions committee or to its members. The chairman this year is Carl Cabe of Kentucky. Other members are Paul Bachman, John Otero, and Les Peterson. The identification of the Thursday morning session as an executive session, with reiteration of the emphasis on one vote for each member jurisdiction, is simply to clarify and to avoid some of the confusion that has officially arisen in the past. There has been no complications where there was a ballot by ballot vote, because, traditionally, it has been one vote from each member agency represented in the business session. On voice vote, there has been a less formal understanding. But the executive board felt that this circumstance and issue should be handled on a clear-cut basis. We have welcomed and will continue to welcome guests from outside the organization, guests from outside the staff, at the various sessions of the organization, but such guests will not be permitted to attend the business session on Thursday morning.

Executive Sessions.-The executive board is trying out an experiment this year to expedite the orderly development of the association's business.

The business session scheduled for Thursday morning will be an executive session limited to heads of member agencies, such as Com

missioners, Secretaries, or Ministers of Labour, and to staff members from the agency whose attendance is sponsored by the head of the agency. As has been traditional, voting is on the basis of one vote for each member of the association.

III. Federal-State Relations in the Labor Field

One of the major problems of the Government in the United States is that of Federal-State relationships. To a degree, the same observation may be made concerning the Dominion of Canada and its Provinces, at least by an observer from south of the border. FederalState relationships in labor affairs have been the subject of discussions by the IAGLO board and the Secretary of Labor and his associates for at least the past 2 years.

Within the period that I have been a member of the IAGLO board, the States have been concerned about the cancellation of the working arrangements, whereby the States at the request of the Federal Department of Labor provided safety inspections required in connection with Walsh-Healey contracts. These problems were discussed with the Secretary during 1964-65, and Commissioners Boggs and Ricciuti were helpful in leading these discussions. During the past year, through the offices of Nelson Bortz and Under Secretary John Henning, it was suggested that a special committee of IAGLO might be helpful in discussions with the Federal Department of Labor. I designated Ernie Webb as chairman, and Bill Laney, Eddy Boggs, and Renato Ricciuti as members of this committee.

Without going into details concerning the work of this committee and some associated developments, I think it fair to say that representatives of the Federal Department of Labor and of the State labor departments have a new understanding of the problems and responsibilities involved. Furthermore, the States have probably achieved as much as they deserved to achieve in the new position taken by the Federal Department of Labor. There have also been some very constructive byproducts which will get attention later in this convention.

In the broader field of Federal-State labor relations, we are concerned with farm crew-leader registration, minimum wages, apprenticeship, on-the-job training, statistics and research, employment security, apprentice training, occupational safety, and many other areas which are of mutual concern to the Federal Department of Labor and to most State departments of labor. Many problems arise from preemption, dual jurisdiction, and financing.

There has also been discussion from time to time with substantial