(By direction of Senator Murray, the following material is inserted in the record:) INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT, AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (U. A. W.-C. I. O.), Detroit, Mich., May 2, 1944. The Honorable Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: During the presentation of my testimony before your Committee on War Contracts on April 26 you inquired whether profit figures of automobile manufacturers submitted for the record were before or after renegotiation. I am informed by our research department that the net profits after taxes are after renegotiation, wherever renegotiation has already taken place. Sincerely yours, R. J. THOMAS, President, UAW-CIO. UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, Hon. ROBERT R. REYNOLDS, Chairman, Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Commission refers to S. 1823, now before your committee, which proposes to establish an Office of War Mobilization and Adjustment in the Executive Office of the President. Section 102 (b) gives the Director of War Mobilization and Adjustment authority "without regard to the civil-service laws, rules, and regulations, and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, and except as herein otherwise provided, employ and fix the compensation of such officers and employees, Section 504 of the bill contains the following provisions: "The Work Administrator may, without regard to the civil-service laws, rules, and regulations, and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, employ and fix the compensation of such officers and employees, * * *." It is the belief of this Commission that any proposal to exempt positions from the civil-service requirements does not constitute desirable legislation, particularly in view of the present manpower shortage and the high cost to the taxpayer because of several agencies bidding against each other in their efforts to secure qualified employees. It is urged, therefore, in the interests of efficiency and good administration that the words "without regard" which appear in line 4 on page 3 and also in lines 13 and 14 on page 22 be deleted, and the words "in accordance with the provisions of" be substituted therefor in both instances. The Bureau of the Budget advises there is no objection to the submission of this report. By direction of the Commission. HARRY B. MITCHELL, President. Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, AMERICAN COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION, Committee on Post-war Plans, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The enclosed resolution was adopted at the Seventh National Convention of the American Communications Association, Congress of Industrial Organizations, held in Kansas City March 27 to April 1, 1944. I felt that you would have a particular interest in the subject matter of this resolution. Very truly yours, JOSEPH P. SELLY, President. RESOLUTION No. 17. STATEMENT ON POST-WAR PLANS FOR MARITIME INDUSTRY Despite the numerous and difficult problems which beset the shipping field the outlook for a prosperous and expanding industry is bright. Shipping is essentially an international industry. Its prosperity is dependent upon a stable, peaceful, expanding world economy. Such an economy is envisioned in the Cairo and Tehran Declarations. A new situation has arisen in the maritime field. For the first time important segments of the American shipping industry (together with important segments of all American industry) recognize the necessity for working cooperatively with labor, government, and our allies in order to restrict the areas of sharp economic conflict and to promote world trade. This real collaboration between labor, government, and certain sections of industry puts the spotlight on that reactionary portion of capital which is concerned with the return to normalcy of the twenties and thirties when the Nation had up to 12,000,000 unemployed; with imperialist venture the rule of the day, with reactionary control of the Government, and with destruction of the tradeunion movement the goal of these forces. These die-hard imperialists will not stop short of betraying our Nation and delivering it to fascism, if necessary, to assure their domination. Consequently the continual growth of collaboration between the various branches of maritime labor, and the progressive section of capital, is of utmost importance. Shipping interests have begun to propagandize the American people along the following line: "Twice before our Nation has built great merchant fleets. Once in the famous 'clipper ship' days, when the California gold rush and the tea trade of China were the incentives; once under the urgency of World War I. Both times we dissipated that fleet because of disinterest on the part of the American people once the initial emergency was passed. We must not let that happen again." This is a fallacious picture. The American merchant marine was dissipated during the 1920's not because of disinterest of the people, but by the greed and avarice of American shipping interests. The essential difficulty of the American merchant marine was that it was being utilized for a series of financial manipulations designed to milk subsidies and to make profits on ship sales, instead of for the legitimate purposes of the carrying trade. The Black Senate investigation of ocean mail contracts exposed the deplorable situation, and the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 enacted pursuant to this exposure, although a compromise, set forth a more realistic basis for a sound maritime policy. American maritime labor, along with the operators, stands committed to a large, modern, fast merchant marine. However, we know that there can never be stability in the maritime field as long as the traditional policy of cut-throat rivalry prevails. We know that the meaning of the Tehran and Cairo Conferences is that the United Nations will strive to remove the areas of sharp economic conflict, and that if the perspectives of Tehran are to be realized the unity forged by wartime necessity in the United Nations coalition must continue in the field of post-war economic collaboration. Shipping economics are international economics. It is good business for maritime interests to view shipping as an international rather than a national issue. The problem can be solved only with such an outlook. It is not too soon for preliminary international agreement on tonnage quotas, routes, rates, and minimum labor standards. Such agreement will do much to allay the fears which are causing shipowners of all nations to cry for diversion of vessels from wartime needs to private, economic trade routes at the very moment when the maximum concentration of shipping is required for the imminent land invasion of Europe. The shipping industry of most countries has been in distressed straits for many years. The major problem has been that there have been more ships than trade. The surplus of cargo space over demand was 21 percent in 1929 and 68 percent in 1932. Despite a reduction of world tonnage by 5,000,000 gross tons during the great depression, tonnage was still 44 percent greater in June 1937 than in June 1914 while world trade was only 30 percent greater. If we look forward to a post-war fleet of 15,000,000 gross tons, or even if we and the British reach a parity of 20,000,000 gross tons apiece, there is no need for sharp economic rivalry. The combined pre-war fleets of Germany, Japan, and Italy totaled 131⁄2 million gross tons, of which over 6 million was probably in foreign trade. If the foreign trade fleets of the Axis Nations are to be restricted, the gap will have to be made up by the Allied Nations. However, in the long run, the solution to the shipping problem is to increase the carrying trade. The stable, progressive, more united world envisioned in the Tehran Declarations; the coming economic and political emancipation of the colonial peoples; the growing maturity, economic independence, and potential prosperity of China, India, and the Latin-American countries are the preconditions for a vastly increased world trade. The vast reconstruction and relief needs of war-ravaged Europe will require tremendous shipments for many months after the war, giving the maritime industry additional time for an orderly transition to peacetime operation. Pious and vague resolutions for increased world trade will not solve the problem. What is needed is preliminary international agreement reached now for the restriction of areas of sharp economic conflict, for lower tariff barriers, for multilateral rather than bilateral trade agreements, and for the abolition of discriminatory trade provisions. LABOR AND POST-WAR PLANNING The voice of maritime labor has matured greatly in recent years. This voice must be prominent in the council halls that determine post-war shipping policy. It is a nonpartisan voice, nonpartisan because it is cognizant of the fact that seamen's conditions are completely dependent upon a sound national and international maritime policy. We recognize that the post-war merchant fleet will be a privately owned fleet. In large measure, it will be given to American shipowners at costs which are greatly written off. We are interested in a constructive policy and therefore we shall not pursue the course of muckraking. That part of the fleet that is written off must be written off as wartime costs. We do know from experience, however, that ship speculations do not promote a healthy maritime policy. The merchant marine must be sold in an orderly and planned fashion. We feel that the suggestion of Admiral Land that a fair and equitable floor be placed on the prices of ships is a sound one, if properly implemented. These and many other problems which will confront the American merchant marine are in the hands of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, and in the hands of Admiral Land's Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. We know the strong influences that the shipowners exert on both of these organizations. To date the only recognition accorded labor has been advisory, on two minor subcommittees of the Maritime Commission's Post-war Planning Committee. These subcommittees have never met. Labor must be accorded a more important role in policy formation. AMERICAN COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION PROPOSALS While it is premature to offer a detailed blueprint post-war plan for the maritime industry, it is not too soon to establish some general principles and some minimum specific proposals. In regard to general principles for conversion of the maritime industry in the post-war period, we believe that in the main the general principles enunciated in the Baruch-Hancock report, insofar as they are applicable to the maritime industry, are sound and provide the basis for a correct national policy. At this point we would only add, subject to periodic review, the following specific guaranties that should be incorporated in any post-war plan for the protection of the wages and working conditions of marine radio officers and in the public interest. 1. Basic wages must be raised to a decent minimum level consistent with the training, experience, qualifications, and responsibilities of a marine radio officer. 2. Proper safeguards for maintaining maximum protection of life and property at sea must include the maintenance of round-the-clock radio watch. Three radio officers on a ship is a sound and necessary policy for peace as well as war. 3. Labor must be given direct and equal representation with the operators and the Government on all policy-making and administrative questions dealing with post-war planning for the maritime industry. We believe this general statement of principles is consistent with and implements the Baruch-Hancock report as applied to the maritime industry. (Earlier hearings are contained in Parts 10 to 16 of hearings HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE U.S. Congress, Senate. COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE SEVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 1730 J A BILL TO CREATE AN OFFICE OF DEMOBILIZATION, ESTABLISH S. 1823 A BILL TO ESTABLISH AN OFFICE OF WAR MOBILIZATION AND ADJUSTMENT 98534 PART 3 Printed for the use of the Committee on Military Affairs UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1944 |