Mr. THOMAS. What will you do with the new ones?

Mr. SIMKIN. The new ones we will use in connection with our regular work outside the missile sites.

Mr. THOMAS. I imagine it takes you a year or two to train them.

Mr. SIMKIN. Yes, it does.

Mr. THOMAS. You will not be able to hold this type of personnel at 12, will you?

Mr. SIMKIN. That is right.

TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION

Mr. THOMAS. Travel and transportation is $28,000.

Mr. MOORE. In some of these missile sites it requires considerable travel.__ We have one at Great Falls, Mont., which involves long travel. Mr. THOMAS. How is this money spent, by car?

Mr. MOORE. In most cases, yes.

Mr. THOMAS. The figure of $28,000 seems a little higher, but it is purely a guess figure, is it not?

Mr. MOORE. No, sir, it is based on overall experience.

RENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. THOMAS. Your rent and communications amounts to $15,000. Local and long-distance calls shows an average cost of $500 for each of the 30 installations.

Mr. SIMKIN. Because of the importance of this work we have many telephone reports. We have regular routine weekly reports and then we have instructed all these mediators immediately to report by telephone.

INVESTIGATIONS

Mr. THOMAS. You have 16 positions at $6,000. You pay $350 for investigations. That seems a little high.

Mr. MOORE. For the past 2 years for any kind of investigation we have been charged the figure shown here. Regardless of how complicated the investigation it is $360.

Mr. THOMAS. I thought it was lower.

It seems to me you have been doing a fine job, gentlemen. Slowdowns have been very expensive and if you can avoid that you will certainly pay for your efforts many times over.

Mr. ŠIMKIN. For the months of June and July we are down to man-days lost for the entire program of only a little over 300 mandays a month, which is only a tiny fraction of what it was before this program began.

Mr. THOMAS. $350 is the per unit cost for investigations. You mean they do not bill you for less than $350?.

Mr. MOORE. No, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. Do you go into FBI investigations?

Mr. MOORE. We have had only one now. That is a very unusual request for us to make.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Kirwan?

Mr. KIRWAN. I have no questions.

Mr. ROONEY. I have no questions.

ROLE OF THE SERVICE IN A STRIKE

Mr. JENSEN. At what point after a strike is in progress do you folks come into the picture?

Mr. SIMKIN. Speaking of the missile program or the general work? Mr. JENSEN. In the general work.

Mr. SIMKIN. In our general work we almost without exception get into the picture before the strike occurs. We get a notice under the Taft-Hartley Act. A case is assigned to a mediator well in advance of the strike.

Our mediators contact the parties and attempt to get into the picture several weeks before the strike deadline.

There are rare occasions where we are not welcomed and where it is difficult to get in, but in general we are fully cognizant of the situation long before a strike occurs, and, of course, we are in the picture on those occasions when the strike does occur.

Mr. THOMAS. Was not John Steelman the first director?

Mr. SIMKIN. Yes, sir, and he was director a good many years before it became an independent agency.

Mr. MOORE. Cy Ching was the first director when it was an independent agency.

Mr. JENSEN. And you stay with it until the strike is settled?
Mr. SIMKIN. Yes, sir.

FUNCTION IN MISSILE STRIKES

On the missile program we have expanded the concept very substantially. Our normal function in most cases is to get in only at the time of contract expiration or renegotiation, but our work on the missile sites is deliberately planned to be a continuous contact with the parties, with the major objective being to get a correction of the problem long before a strike would occur. This is what we have called over the years preventive mediation, and this is preventive mediation on a large scale on the missile sites since our men at these sites are in contact with the Air Force personnel, with the labor people, with the contractors, and with the missile manufacturers on a continuous contact basis around the year.

We have done some of that activity in our regular work but this is being stepped up very substantially here so that we get into grievance matters, jurisdictional matters, and a whole host of complaints in addition to our more normal work of the negotiation of a new contract.

NATURE OF MISSILE CONTRACT STRIKES

Mr. JENSEN. Is a strike called on a missile contract because the labor leader wants more pay for his men? What is the general cause of a strike being called on a missile job?

Mr. SIMKIN. The bulk of the strikes in the past-of course we are down to a point now where they are almost negligible-have not been over money matters directly in terms of new contract demands. The bulk of the strikes in the past have been over jurisdictional questions, assignment of work between two unions, or grievance matters. That was the general picture through 1960.

Mr. JENSEN. Grievance matters of what nature?

Mr. SIMKIN. All sorts of matters.

Mr. HOWARD. For the prime period of June 19, through July 28, which was when this missile program got underway, we have had 11 very short stoppages. Of these, five were over work assignment. A contractor assigns work to men in a union. Another union felt it was their work. One union complains against the contractor that this is not their work. That is on 5 of the 11.

Three were over grievances, such as not paying the proper pay under the agreement. This was the interpretation of an already existing agreement.

A grievance matter might also be a discharge which the employees felt was unfair.

There was one stoppage which was jurisdictional where two unions were disagreeing over the matter of to whom the work should come. There was one stoppage over work investigation, and one stoppage over a dispute on rates of pay.

LIMITED POWERS OVER STRIKES IN NATIONAL EMERGENCY

Mr. JENSEN. In the case of a great emergency, such as during a war, a work stoppage at a missile site can be a serious matter. What powers does the President or what powers does the Government have to put men back to work in case of a national emergency where a strike is called for any reason?

Mr. SIMKIN. In terms of power in the raw sense I suppose we have very limited powers. However, this missile program is predicated basically on a no-strike pledge given to the President in connection with the establishment of the missile commission and these committees, of which our mediators are the chairmen. In a sense it is a voluntary program similar to what we had in World War II under the War Labor Board procedures.

You may recall during World War II actually we had very limited mandatory powers in terms of prevention of strikes but there at that time, too, we had a no-strike pledge.

There were a very few stoppages but our record in this country in World War II was better in terms of time lost than it was in any of the other democratic countries where the Government had even more extensive powers.

Mr. THOMAS. It was almost perfect, was it not?

Mr. SIMKIN. It was not perfect but it was a very good record in terms of the overall picture, Mr. Chairman.

Similarly in this program, at least up to date, when you take 300 man-days a month, the percentage of time lost in view of the magnitude of the problem is almost infinitesimal. Those stoppages which have occurred in June and July have almost without exception been one-day things.

Mr. THOMAS. The only authority you have is under what law? The answer is the Taft-Hartley, is it not?

Mr. SIMKIN. The Taft-Hartley procedure, that is right. That is the only direct power we have. The injunctive procedure in that law never has been invoked on a missile site.

Mr. JENSEN. The reason I asked whether strikes have been called because of labor leaders asking for more pay for the employees on

these missile contracts is because of the fact that I know a man who had very little experience in any phase of the construction of a missile project who last year drew $3.57 an hour for just pressing a button. Is that a going wage for a person who just presses a button on a missile contract?

Mr. SIMKIN. There are some rates that high. That is probably a little bit on the high side. I don't know what craft he was alleged to be working at.

Mr. JENSEN. Off the record.

(Discussion held off the record.)

Mr. SIMKIN. On the missile sites the wage rates generally are the construction rates that prevail in that particular area, so that if this man was getting $3.57 presumably that was the rate of one of the building trades unions in that immediate area which was likewise payable on the base.

Mr. JENSEN. Off the record.

(Discussion held off the record.)

ASSIGNMENT OF PERSONNEL

Mr. Bow. Do I understand that this GS-14 coordinator's position will be in Washington?

+ Mr. SIMKIN. One position will be in Washington.

Mr. Bow. And the 12 mediator positions are on the sites?

Mr. SIMKIN. They are replacements for men who are on the sites. Mr. Bow. The men on the sites will be 14's?

Mr. SIMKIN. Almost without exception.

Mr. Bow. And these GS-12's will be replacing the 14's here in Washington?

Mr. SIMKIN. Not in Washington but out in the country at large. The total staff of mediators is scattered all the way from Maine to San Diego.

Mr. Bow. How many do you have in the Washington staff now? Mr. SIMKIN. Fifty-two total personnel in Washington.

Mr. Bow. What is the staff in the field?

Mr. SIMKIN. 323 in the field.

Mr. Bow. Would you for the record insert the areas in which these 323 are assigned?

Mr. SIMKIN. We would be happy to give you a list. It would be a long list because our setup is roughly this: We have seven regional offices.

Mr. Bow. Give us the seven regional offices and the people working out of those seven regional offices.

Mr. SIMKIN. We have one in New York, one in Philadelphia, one in Atlanta, one in Cleveland, one in Chicago, one in St. Louis, one in San Francisco. These men are assigned on a duty-station basis either to the regional office or an even larger number to various cities and localities in these regions.

We can, if you would like, give you a complete list.

Mr. Bow. Break it down as to the number of people working in these various areas.

Mr. THOMAS. And the District of Columbia. Give us the District of Columbia and the seven regional offices.

(The requested information follows:)

Includes 1 regional director and 1 assistant regional director position. 12 new mediator and 3 new clerical positions were authorized by the basic fiscal year 1962 appropriation to become effective on Sept. 1, 1961. 7 mediator positions have been filled since July 10 because of critical need at missile sites.

316 new positions proposed in this request for supplemental appropriation are budgeted on an anticipated effective date of July 24. Postponement of effective date to limit utilization for a 9-month period only, would enable a savings accrual of about $27,500.

Mr. Bow. Will these people working on this missile project handle only the disputes which occur at a missile site or will they follow through with the work at the factory where the missile is being manufactured?