HE745 CONTENTS Statements of Page James Mullen, National Maritime Union, Committee for Industrial 95 Philip Van Gelder, Secretary, Industrial Union of Marine and Ship- 99 103 AMENDING THE MERCHANT MARINE ACT OF 1936 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1937 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, and COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The committees met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10:30 o'clock a. m., in the caucus room, Senate Office Building, Senator Royal S. Copeland, chairman of the Commerce Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Copeland, Thomas of Utah, Guffey, Ellender, Vandenberg, White, Pepper, and Gibson. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. Is Mr. Thomas Ray here? Mr. PHILLIP VAN GELDER. He is sick, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Is Mr. James Mullen here? Mr. JAMES MULLEN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. At this point I shall ask to have inserted in the record committee print of S. 1710, as amended. (Committee print of S. 1710, as amended, is as follows:) [Committee Print] [8. 1710, 75th Cong., 1st Sess.] [Omit the part in brackets and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To provide means for the amicable settlement of all disputes between employers and employees that affect the service of carriers engaged in transportation of passengers and property in the water-borne interstate and foreign commerce of the United States, to promote industrial peace in maritime industry, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, TITLE I. EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS DECLARATION OF POLICY SECTION 101. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to [avoid all interference with, and interruption of, promote and maintain the free and safe movement of passengers and property in the interstate and foreign commerce of the United States and it is the purpose of this Act [(1) to regulate employment conditions in the maritime industry as a whole by setting up machinery for the settlement of disputes between employers and employees therein whereby disagreements resulting in strikes and industrial disturbances may be prevented by voluntary agreement and arbitration; (2)] (1) to safeguard the right of employees in the maritime industry to bargin collectively through representatives of their own choosing without interference, influence, or coercion on the part of their employers; [(3)] (2) to impose a binding duty upon employers to recognize and treat with the representatives of their employees; and [(4)] (3) to impose a corresponding duty upon employees to scrupulously observe their voluntary agreements with their employer; and (4) to set up machinery for the settlement of disputes between employers and employees in the maritime industry whereby disagreements resulting in strikes and industrial disturbances may be prevented by voluntary agreement and arbitration. No provision of this Act shall be construed to interfere with the freedom of contract [, to require of the employer the making of an agreement with his employees, or to interfere with the normal exercise of the right of the employer to select his employees and to discharge them. DEFINITIONS SEC. 102. When used in this Act and for the purposes of this Act(a) The term "employer" includes (1) any person engaged in the transportation by water of passengers or property between the United States or any of its districts, Territories, or possessions and a foreign country, or engaged in the transportation by water of passengers or property on the high seas or the Great Lakes from port to port between one State, Territory, district, or possession of the United States and any other State, Territory, district, or possession of the United States, including an operator of a cargo vessel commonly called an ocean tramp; (2) any person engaged in pilot boat, towboat, barge, or lighterage service in connection with the transportation by water of passengers or property as set forth in clause (1) hereof; and (3) any person who operates any equipment or facilities or performs any service in connection with the transportation by water of passengers or property as set forth in clauses (1) and (2) hereof, including the sale of transportation to passengers and including receiving, delivering, storing, elevating, checking, trucking, stevedoring, warehousing, refrigerating, or in any wise serving or handling any such property [; and (4) any person engaged in constructing, reconstructing, repairing, or outfitting any vessel, boat, barge, or lighter employed or to be employed as set forth in clauses (1) and (2) hereof, or engaged in constructing, reconstructing, repairing, outfitting, or supplying any equipment or facility employed or to be employed as set forth in clause (3) hereof.] (b) The term "employee" includes any person employed by the hour, day, week, month, year, or any other period, by any person defined in this Act as an "employer", provided the duties assigned to or services rendered by such employee, directly or indirectly, in any manner affect, relate to, or are concerned with, the transportation by water of passengers or property as set forth in clause (1) of subsection (a) of this section, or the furnishing of equipment and facilities therefor or services thereto, as respectively set forth in clauses [(2), (3), and (4)] (2) and (3) of subsection (a) of this section, it being the intent that this Act shall apply not only to those persons whose work may be exclusively in connection with the movement of passengers and property in the interstate and foreign commerce and traffic of the United States but also to those persons whose work may have such a close relation to the movement of such interstate and foreign commerce and traffic that the provisions of this Act are essential and appropriate to secure the freedom of that commerce and traffic from interference or interruption. (c) The term "person" includes corporations, partnerships, and associations existing under or authorized by the laws of the United States, or any State, Territory, district, or possession thereof, or of any foreign country: Provided, That the term "person" shall not include the master or the members of the crew of any vessel which is not documented, registered, licensed, or enrolled under the laws of the United States. (d) The term "representative" means any person or persons, labor union, organization, or corporation, as defined in section 2 Shipping Act, 1916, as amended designated either by an employer or group of employers or by its or their employees to act for it or them. (e) The personal pronouns "he", "his", and "him" include the feminine and neuter genders. The singular number includes the plural and the plural number includes the singular. (f) The term "Ship Labor Board" means the National Ship Labor Adjustment Board created by this Act. [(g) The term "Mediation Board" means the National Mediation Board created by the Railway Labor Act.] (g) The term "Maritime Commission" means the United States Maritime Commission created by the Merchant Marine Act, 1936. (h) The term "Mediation Board" means a Mediation Board that may be created under authority of section 301 of this Act. DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES SEC. 103. It shall be the duty [of all employers, their officers, agents, and their employees] (1) of all employers, their officers, and agents; (2) of all agents or representatives of employers or groups of employers as a class, and (3) of all employees and their representatives acting in the interests of employees as a class to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning methods of employment, rates of pay, rules and working conditions, and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise, without any interruption to or interference with the free and safe movement of passengers and property in the water-borne interstate and foreign commerce and traffic of the United States [, and to avoid interference with, or interruption of, the operations of any employer because of any dispute between any employer and the employees of such employer]. DISPUTES TO BE SETTLED BY CONFERENCES SEC. 104. All disputes between an employer and the employees of such employer shall be considered, and, if possible, settled, with all expedition, in conference between representatives designated and authorized so to confer, respectively, by the employer and the employees of such employer interested in the dispute. FREE CHOICE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEC. 105. Representatives, for the purposes of this Act, shall be [native born or fully naturalized] citizens of the United States; they shall be designated by the respective parties without interference, influence, or coercion by either party over the designation of representatives by the other; and it shall be unlawful for either party, in any way, to interfere with, attempt to influence, or coerce the other party in the choice of representatives. Representatives of employees need not be persons in the employ of the employer concerned in the conference or dispute and it shall be unlawful for any employer, by interference, influence, or coercion, to seek in any manner to prevent the employees interested in any such conference or dispute from making a free and untrammeled choice of the representatives of such employees. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SEC. 106. Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. The majority of any [craft or] class of employees of any employer shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of such [craft or] class for the purposes of this Act. No employer or group of employers, his or their officers or agents, shall deny or in any way question the right of his or their employees to join, organize, or assist in organizing the labor organization of their choice, and it shall be unlawful for any employer or group of employers to interfere in any way with the organization of his or their employees, or for any employer or group of employers to pay any money or contribute anything of value to any labor organization, labor representative, or other agency of collective bargaining, or do any act calculated to induce his or their employees to join or remain or not to join or remain members of any labor organization or to deduct from the wages of any employees, or to pay for any employee, any dues, fee, assessment, or other contribution, payable to labor organizations, or to assist in the collection of any such dues, fee, assessment, or other contribution: Provided, [That a member of the crew of any vessel operated by an employer may make an allotment of his wages for the payment of any such dues, fee, assessment, or other contribution and his employer may bay the sum or sums so allotted to the organization designated by such employee to receive such payment: And provided further,] That nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit an employer from permitting an employee, individually, or a local representative of employees, from conferring with the employer, or the officers or agents of the employer, during working hours without loss of time or deduction in pay, or to prohibit an employer from furnishing free transportation to an employee while he is engaged on the business of a labor organization. |