INCREASES-continued Office of the Administrative Assistant Secretary, to furnish duplicating facilities required because of the general program increases requested for other departmental, promotional, and operating programs and to eliminate the overtime necessary with current staff: 3 permanent positions__. Deduct lapse---. Office of Information, to provide for clipping service Supplies to furnish operating supplies for the new positions_ _ _ Total, activity No. 3______ Total increases_ $8, 301 639 7,662 32 7, 694 29 7,723 4, 650 200 12, 573 200, 000 1 GS-17 Special Assistant to the Secretary (Manpower)__ 13, 000 1 GS-17 Deputy Assistant Secretary for Standards and Statistics__ 13, 000 10, 800 1 GS-13 Program development technicians (Manpower) 8, 360 2 GS-7 Secretary. 8, 410 1 GS 5 Secretary (Manpower). 3, 410 Summary of new positions-Continued 1 GS-14 United Nations Operations Officer. Office of International Labor Affairs: 1 GS-15 Deputy Assistant to the Assistant Secretary 4 GS-14 area specialist.. 1 GS-13 Foreign Service operations officer. 1 GS-13 ILO operations specialist 1 GS-9 administrative assistant. 4 GS-5 secretary 1 GS-5 clerk-stenographer_ 1 GS-3 clerk-typist. Office of the Administrative Assistant Secretary-Procurement Division: Regular pay in excess of 52-week base.. Total.. 7,694 Secretary MITCHELL. I would like to take up the salaries and expenses item in the Office of the Secretary. Senator HILL. Good. Secretary MITCHELL. We requested an increase of $87,427; that was required, we felt, because of the need for top level direction, policy formulation, development of proposed legislation, and new coordination of the Department's programs. Additional staff assistants have been requested for the immediate Office of the Secretary, for the Office of the Under Secretary, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Standards and Statistics. This request involved a total of 5 positions and $47,427. In addition, the Department requested, as I stated before, $40,000 to initiate a program to study the problems in the development of the skilled labor force and to meet the needs of the expanding economy. All funds for additional staff assistance were disallowed by the House, but the full amount for the request of the skills and work force as I said before, were allowed. The denial of funds for these 5 additional positions involving $47,427 will seriously impair the ability of our Office to give what I consider to be appropriate leadership and direction to the Department's activity. NEED FOR POLICY GUIDANCE May I say here, gentlemen, that it has been my impression and the impression of the consultants that have gone in to help us evaluate the activities of the Department labor program, that the need for coordination in direction and policy guidance from my office is very great. Each of these bureaus, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Employment Security, and others, over the years have done an excellent job. I believe that we can increase this value to the people of this country by bringing them closer together, eliminating overlapping jurisdictions, and having their work directed from one central point to fulfill what Congress has told us to do, which is to be concerned with the welfare of the working people of this country. We need hands, we need people to help do that, and I consider this sum of $47,000 to be a very, very sound investment in good supervision. PROPOSED NEW POSITIONS Senator HILL. Let me ask, Mr. Secretary: Have these positions ever been in existence in the Department before? Secretary MITCHELL. No, sir. Senator HILL. These things vary. Sometimes you have more in one period than you do in another period. Secretary MITCHELL. No, sir, they have not, in the way we have described them. In some cases, additional personnel in the Office of the Secretary may have been secured when required on the socalled consultant basis. It is my belief that when you bring a man into an organization you need to make him a definite part of that organization if that is the function of his job. It is also my belief that if I am going to run the Department of Labor--and I assume that that is what Congress and the President want me to do-I can't do it alone and run it the way I want to run it, and I need this kind of assistance, and Mr. Larson needs assistance in order to do the job that is placed on us. Senator CHAVEZ. I agree with you, Mr. Secretary. I cannot get very much enthused on the consultant basis end of it at all, because they are there 3 or 4 or 5 days, and they go away, they lose track of what is going on in the Department and I think it is better to have someone that really belongs to the Department and is responsible to you every day of the year. Secretary MITCHELL. That is the way I feel about it. RECRUITMENT PROBLEMS Senator HILL. Do you experience difficulty in bringing men or women into the Department, Mr. Secretary? Secretary MITCHELL. Yes, sir. I have had difficulty getting the kind of people that I think are qualified to do the job that I would like to have done, because, by and large, the Department of Labor administrative and policy direction job is a professional job. It is a job that requires knowledge of unemployment compensation, statistics, labor relations, and all of the other things that are inherent in the job we do. The top jobs that we are talking about cannot be filled by people who just want a job. Senator CHAVEZ. As to the salaries, I notice that you are going to have 5 positions for $47,000. That is rather reasonable for that type of job. Secretary MITCHELL. Yes, sir. Mr. Dodson, the typical budget man here, you know, says it is not contemplated they will be on the rolls for the whole year, so if we get the money there will be some lapse savings for each individual position. But they are reasonable salaries, sir. And I would hope that this committee would seriously consider our plight with relation to this $47,000. Senator HILL. If you could not get them all, Mr. Secretary, do you have any priorities as to the ones you feel the strongest need for? Secretary MITCHELL. It would be difficult for me to indicate priority as established by these so clearly defined positions. If we got all or any portion of this money you may be assured that we would adjust ourselves to meet our needs to our best advantage, whatever it might be. GS-17 POSITIONS Senator HILL. Of the positions, I note three are in grade GS-17; that is $13,000 a year. Secretary MITCHELL. Yes, sir. Senator HILL. How many positions do you have now in that grade or higher, do you know? Secretary MITCHELL. I do not know offhand, but it is few; too few. Mr. DODSON. Under the classified system, other than Assistant Secretary, in the Secretary's Office, there would not be but 1 in the 17 classification. I think we have 2 in the 16 grade. Senator HILL. That is in the Secretary's Office? OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS Secretary MITCHELL. There is one other aspect in our office, and that is the Office of International Labor Affairs. The disallowance by the House of the entire increase of $100,000, as I said earlier, will I believe seriously impair our ability to do the job which I think is necessary. We asked for an assistant to Mr. Wilkins to help Mr. Wilkins discharge the functions of his office properly, because the very nature of Mr. Wilkins' job keeps him out of Washington on matters having to do with the ILO, for many, many weeks during any given year. He needs a full-time assistant, who would act for him when he is away from his desk. We have asked for four employees to assist in performing the great amount of staff work needed in connection with the participation of the United States Government in the activities of the International Labor Organization. And, as I said earlier, at this time it is more important than ever that we discharge our responsibilities because Russia has reentered the ILO as of last June and will certainly use that forum to its fullest advantage. ILO MEETINGS Senator CHAVEZ. How many ILO international meetings are held a year? Secretary MITCHELL. There is one meeting, sir, in Geneva, in June, which is the annual meeting and lasts for about 4 weeks. In addition, there at least 2 governing body meetings a year, which run usually about 2 weeks, and the United States is a member of the ILO governing body. These meetings, as I say, take about 2 weeks, and Mr. Wilkins necessarily has to be present at all of them. In addition to those meetings, there are industry meetings of various industries, sections of the ILO. Senator CHAVEZ. I thought when you had an ILO meeting you would have Government represented, you would have industry represented, and you would have labor represented? Secretary MITCHELL. That is correct. Senator CHAVEZ. What is the item in this bill for the transportation to the ILO meetings? Secretary MITCHELL. The amount in here, sir, is all personnel. The transportation, Mr. Wilkins points out to me, is paid from State Department funds. HOUSE COMMENT Senator HILL. For the information of the committee, I will say the House put a rather strong statement on this in their report and made the comment: This activity has been a perennial source of disagreement between the Department and this committee for a considerable period of time. It is the intention of the committee to have one or more of its members and the staff to make a personal and thorough study of this program before hearings are held on the next annual budget request. That is a rather strong position they took. I throw that out so that the committee might know it and that you might be fully advised. In other words, as you know, even if this committee acted with favor on your request we would have to get some agreement from the House. So I am sure you are making your case just as strong as you can here, sir. Secretary MITCHELL. That is the purpose, Senator. I had already read what you pointed out. I am not going to comment on the House's action, but I would like the committee to bear with me while I make my presentation. Senator HILL. You go ahead, sir. AREA LABOR SPECIALISTS Secretary MITCHELL. One of the other items that this $100,000 encompassed was the need for four area labor specialists to give specialized attention to the labor aspects of United States foreign affairs relating to four major geographical areas. May I say this, that I think that, from my own discussions with our labor attachés who have come to this country from abroad, in my discussions with organized labor people here in this country who are intensely interested in this aspect of the Department of Labor's program, that, as a Nation, in this respect and in others, we are missing a bet. We have an opportunity, it seems to me, particularly in areas such as South America, to bring to this country organized labor people from South America, students, businessmen, and others, so that they can see firsthand what our way of life is. We do that through exchange programs in which the Labor Department participates. But I am trying to make the overall point that the first attack of Communists always is on the labor unions. We have a great ally in this country in the American labor unions. We ought to use them more effectively in our international affairs because they know best how to defeat the Communists; they have done it in this country in the attack on their own unions. They can help tremendously in talking to them and as an example of how an American trade unionist 62284-55-3 |