techniques and procedures in group training sessions, as required. Inservice refresher sessions are held by the national office on selected subjects and for selected personnel. Complementing these direct efforts are correspondence courses on the trade union movement and on union accounting. The accounting course has been designed to augment on-the-job training of nonaccountant compliance officers. We expect to achieve our goal of every investigator possessing sufficient skill to perform financial investigations, thereby affording the maximum flexibility in work assignment and travel commitments. It is anticipated that training activity in fiscal year 1967 will approximate the fiscal year 1966 level. Division staffing at the national office is held to a minimum by the assignment of especially skilled professionals to specific parts of the program where the greatest effectiveness results from their specialized abilities. Administration NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM Overall executive direction is supplied by a Director, Deputy Director, special assistant to the Director, and secretarial and clerical assistance. Division chiefs, responsible to the Director, provide in-line direction and coordination to functions assigned to them. Changes for 1967 Mandatory changes amount to---- Financing changes amount to- Management improvement reductions amount to 4 positions--- 19661967___ +$197,000 -52, 000 -108, 700 +3,000 Activity 4. Promotion of compliance and assistance to veterans $830, 400 727, 900 NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM The primary functions of the Office of Veterans' Reemployment Rights are to provide direct assistance in connection with the reemployment rights of exservicemen, reservists, and members of the National Guard, and to promote employer compliance with the reemployment provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act. The primary objectives are (1) To promote a better understanding of the reemployment program by alerting ex-servicemen and employers to their rights and obligations provided in the law; (2) To prevent to the extent possible, through emphasis on disclosure and promotion of compliance, complaints, and disputes from arising; (3) To provide prompt and effective action on all complaints requiring investigation and negotiation; and (4) To provide prompt and effective processing of cases for referral to the Department of Justice. The revised promotion of compliance program which was planned in 1964 and instituted in cooperation with the Department of Defense in fiscal year 1965 has resulted in larger economies than were contemplated during the planning stage. A continuing evaluation of this program indicated that (1) the complaint caseload will be approximately 2,200 annually if our armed strength continues at the present level of about 2,700,000, (2) 1 professional and 1 clerical employee will be required in the field for each 100 complaint cases received, together with their promotion of compliance and other duties, (3) a reduction of 3 professional and 12 clerical positions can be made as a result of anticipated shifts among the types of workload, and of the consolidation of area offices with regional offices; thus eliminating, to the extent feasible, offices staffed with only one professional and one clerical employee, (4) revised procedures presently installed in military establishments should be mandatory rather than voluntary, and (5) section 9(h) of the Universal Military Training and Service Act should be amended to require employers to disclose their failure to reemploy ex-servicemen who apply for reemployment after military service. The cosolidation of area and regional offices will improve employee uitlization throughout the region by eliminating the weaknesses of offices operated by only one professional and one clerical employee. It will enable a regional director to give direct supervision and on-the-job training to all employees for whom he is responsible. It will enable him to orderly assign investigation and promotion of compliance work and to give his personal attention to the more difficult and complex cases requiring expert negotiations. Under the reorganization, the total staff would be reduced from 69 to 54 and the number of field offices from 19 to 10. The area offices to be discontinued are Washington, D.C.; Columbia, S.C.; Detroit, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Minneapolis, Minn.; New Orleans, La.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash. Professional staff affected by this reorganization have been offered positions with the Office of Veterans' Reemployment Rights in a regional office at no reduction in grade or salary. The fiscal year 1966 estimates contemplate slight increases in all aspects of the workload. The number of employer name cards and the resulting employer contacts from the Office of Veterans' Reemployment Rights are basically mechanical handlings. Increases in these elements during fiscal years 1966 and 1967 are within the capacities of the present semiautomated equipment. The fiscal year 1966 increase in the more substantive work items (compliance reviews, compliance cases and complaint cases) are manageable under contemplated staffing arrangements because of efficiencies anticipated from consolidation of the operation from 19 to 10 offices. The increases in compliance reviews and compliance cases which are projected in fiscal year 1967 are anticipated to be absorbable by the approximate 10 percent reduction in complaint cases. CHANGES FOR 1967 Mandatory changes amount to---. Activity 5. Executive direction and administrative services 19661967. OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR $23,000 -125, 000 $586, 900 604, 100 NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM The Assistant Secretary has been delegated the authority and assigned the responsibility, by the Secretary of Labor, to perform functions of the Secretary in the labor-management relations area, and to provide functional supervision and coordination to all Department programs and activities that bear directly on that field. The Administrator provides overall direction and coordination of the programs of the several offices in the Labor-Management Services Administration and, in all, assures an integrated, balanced, and comprehensive labor-management relations program. Primary emphasis will be upon developing arrangements and procedures among labor-management relations agencies for achieving coordinated policy development and program operations in dealing with collective bargaining and other labor-management relations problems, and in providing a continuing review and appraisal from a broad national interest aspect, of all programs, plans, and policy development in this field, including proposing new legislation or changes to existing legislation to achieve these objectives where necessary. Continuing efforts will be made to achieve economy through improvement in the quality and effectiveness of operations, organization, and administrative and management services at all levels of the Administration and in providing resources and program leadership for the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy and other interagency committees (activities) with labor-management aspects. OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM This Office provides the Administrator and Office directors with advice and assistance on matters pertaining to the effective management of program operations; and performs the budget, financial management, personnel manage ment, program, and organizational review and evaluation activities, and administrative services functions for the Labor-Management Services Adminis tration. Emphasis will continue to be directed toward increasing the quality and utility of planning and execution of programs and activities. Development and adaptation of the policies, procedures, and standards pertinent to Labor-Management Services Administration activities will be continued. A records management program for the efficient retention and orderly disposition of reports filed under the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and related files will be completed and installed. Scheduled organization reviews and management surveys (in lieu of the ad hoc variety necessary in new organizations) will be increased to provide an orderly method of assessing and improving operational effectiveness. The personnel management services rendered to all elements of the Labor-Management Services Administration will be under continuing review, evaluation, and refinement to achieve the most effective utilization of the work force, heighten employee morale, and guide and assist program managers. Channels of communication are being further extended and improved to expand knowledge and understanding of employees concerning the Labor-Management Services Administration and its programs and activities. The completion in fiscal year 1966 of centralization at the Department level of fiscal operations activities (payroll, leave, accounting and voucher examination) is reflected by a decrease of eight positions compared with fiscal year 1965 staffing, and by shift of the funds from personal services to the nonlabor objects from which the costs of all centralized services are paid. In addition, management improvements and productivity increases have permitted the elimination of one position. Implementation in fiscal year 1967 of the Department's program to establish consolidated personnel management services for all functions at appropriate regional headquarters locations is the basis for the transfer in the estimate shown in this budget request. Comparative transfers are reflected for fiscal years 1965 and 1966. The effect is a further reduction of three positions in this activity as compared with previous estimates. As a result of the foregoing changes, the staff of the Office of Administration and Management will be shifting emphasis from direction and coordination of the previously performed functions, to liaison with the centralized operation, and coordination, review, evaluation, and interpretation of the output of these central services in order to continue effective financial management and provide useful information and assistance to program managers. CHANGES FOR 1967 Mandatory changes amount to-- Management improvement reductions amount to---- $17,900 -700 Senator HILL. Now we will hear from Secretary Reynolds. Mr. REYNOLDS. I have a brief presentation for the budget request of the Labor-Management Services. I have with me here the Deputy Assistant Secretary, John Gentry; Albert Moore, of the Office of Administration and Management; Mr. Hugh Bradley, the Director of the Office of Veterans' Reemployment Rights; and Mr. Frank Kleiler, Director of the Office of Labor-Management and Welfare Pension Reports. Senator HILL. We are glad to have all you gentlemen. Mr. REYNOLDS. The Labor-Management Service Administration is responsible for the administration of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act, the various veterans reemployment rights statutes and various staff functions exercised in behalf of the Secretary in the field of labor-management relations. REDUCTION OF 19 POSITIONS Overall, the Administration has been delegated authority and responsibility for all labor-management functions vested in the Secretary. The overall budget request, Mr. Chairman, for the fiscal year 1967 is $8,510,000 which is a decrease of $38,000 from the comparatively adjusted current year appropriation. It represents a modest position reduction of 19 positions. |