LABOR AND HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1963 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1962 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 1318, New Senate Office Building, Hon. Lister Hill (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Hill and Cotton. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS STATEMENT OF HARRY WEISS, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ACCOMPANIED BY JAMES F. TAYLOR, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PERSONNEL AND MANAGEMENT; EDWARD C. SYLVESTER, ASSISTANT TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS; PAUL K. PASCHKE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PERSONNEL AND MANAGEMENT; ANTHONY L. TRIOLO, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS; V. S. HUDSON, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR; AND CHARLES D. CARLSON, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER APPROPRIATION ESTIMATE "BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS "SALARIES AND EXPENSES "For expenses necessary for the conduct of international labor affairs, [$500,000] $950,000. To provide technical and office staff to strengthen Department of Labor participation in international organizations activities, in the conduct of aid and exchange programs, and in the foreign economic policy field (4 positions, $30,900; nonlabor, $19,100) -To provide additional technical and clerical staff to strenghten Department of Labor participation in the development and implementation of country labor and manpower programs designed to promote economic development and to assist in attainment of U.S. foreign policy objectives (4 positions, $30,300; nonlabor, $15,700) . To provide staff for a new departmentwide program to make comparative analyses of labor and manpower methods and techniques to provide a more adequate basis for designing labor policies and programs in support of U.S. foreign policy (15 positions, $18,000; nonlabor, $182,000, including $126,000 for allocation to participating bureaus) To provide additional technical and clerical staff to improve the overall management, policy guidance, coordination and direction of the Department of Labor's activities in international affairs, the selection and servicing of labor officers for oversea positions and the internal management of the Bureau (6 positions, $35,800; nonlabor, $18,200)_. Total change--- $500,000 950, 000 +450, 000 +50,000 +46, 000 +300,000 +54, 000 +450, 000 PREPARED STATEMENT Senator HILL. We have with us this morning Mr. Harry Weiss, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor, International Affairs. Mr. WEISS. Mr. Chairman, Assistant Secretary Weaver was hoping to be here with you but he had to go to Europe to attend a governing body meeting of the ILO. Senator HILL. We are very happy to have you here, Mr. Weiss. Mr. WEISS. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Weaver left with me a 2%1⁄2-page statement which I can either read or put in the record, whichever you prefer. Senator HILL. Would you want to put it in the record and summarize it? Mr. WEISS. Yes, sir. Senator HILL. Suppose you put it in the record and summarize it. Mr. WEISS. Very good, sir. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I welcome this, my first opportunity to discuss with you the international activities of the Department. Because this is our first formal and official meeting together, I wish to let you know where I stand on several basic principles before discussing the specific requests contained in our budget. We fully recognize that our job is to support and not to supplant-the Department of State. We consider it imperative that, in today's complicated world, there be unified policy direction, by the Secretary of State, for all U.S. international activities. This fundamental principle underlies everything we do. It is equally imperative that the specialized and technical resources of the Department of Labor be intelligently mobilized for the effective use of the U.S. foreign affairs agencies. If we fail to do this, either our Nation will fail in respect to the labor and manpower aspects of foreign affairs or it will be necessary to build duplicatory specialized labor staffs within each of the foreign affairs agencies. Neither alternative seems acceptable. Within the Department of Labor, it is the job of our Bureau to provide competent advice to the foreign affairs agencies concerning labor and manpower aspects of foreign policy and to mobilize the Department's specialized resources to help implement the policies laid down by the President and the Secretary of State. Our budget was consciously shaped with these considerations in mind and, in all of our relationships with the foreign affairs agencies, we are guided by these principles. Three of This year our budget is broken down into four principal activities. these activities 1, 2, and 4-are not new. For these we are requesting relatively small increases. Activity 1 includes the work we do in respect to the International Labor Organization and other U.N. agencies; and our work in respect to foreign economic policy-tariffs, trade, etc. We are requesting two new professional employees under this activity. One will devote his full-time attention to assisting the State Department in respect to U.N. agencies, other than the ILO, where to an increasing extent there are important labor and manpower factors to be dealt with. The other is needed to strengthen our work in respect to tariff and trade matters. Activity 2 includes our geographic area specialists who play a crucial role in developing and implementing concrete foreign policy plans and programs for the specific countries abroad. Here we need two additional assistant area specialists. Activity 4 includes the staff in my immediate office for executive direction; the Bureau's administrative office; and our activities in respect to labor attachés and other Americans on labor assignments abroad. Here we are requesting three junior level professionals to strengthen the Bureau's internal administration. Activity 3 is new and represents the largest part of our requested increase. I wish, therefore, to deal with it in more detail. These remarks also relate to the other things we are doing and will give you some idea or our general thinking. Needless to say, our Nation faces grave problems in respect to the underdeveloped areas of the world. This is partly because we are prosperous and successful in a world where poverty still abounds. Whether we like it or not, we are immersed in a competitive struggle to win the friendship of masses of people whose overriding goal is to achieve decent living standards. In a very real sense, our ability to maintain our own way of life depends upon our ability to give these people hope that they can achieve decent standards and, at the same time, retain their freedom. They need to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Our task is more difficult than the Communists. Their program is simple"put yourself in bondage to us, we will take from the rich and give it to you." In the face of this we have the difficult job of persuading these people that we are genuinely concerned with their plight, and that there are workable alterna tives to the panacea offered by the Communists. This cannot be accomplished through reassuring phrases. It requires concrete and specific plans that will yield some swift and tangible results. To have a chance of success, these plans (1) must be consciously geared to the particular cultural, economic, political, and social environment of the specific country and (2) must embody techniques and methods, either old or new, which can be expected to meet the peculiar needs of the country concerned. Our new activity 3 is focused on this target but so, in a more general way, is everything we are doing. To achieve the broad objective as it relates to the labor and manpower field, this Government needs to know appreciably more than it does, on a country-by-country basis, about the specific problems, personalities, ideological and philosophical currents, and organizational institutions which are molding the future of the countries concerned. It is equally necessary that we know more than we do about the specific methods and techniques which might succeed in yielding progress in the labor and manpower fields in each specific country. This program thus would be pointed toward the development of a fund of labor and manpower knowledge based upon a comparison of worldwide experience. This knowledge would be invaluable to Government, business, the trade unions, educational institutions and the public. The request includes the services of seven professional staff members in the bureaus of the Department, but at the same time all existing facilities, resources, and information now available in the Department would be fully utilized. The activity will also provide for staff in our Bureau who will provide departmentwide leadership for the program and carry on the necessary interagency relationships. I appreciate this opportunity to meet with you and will be happy to answer your specific questions. SUPPORT OF STATE DEPARTMENT FOREIGN POLICY Mr. WEISS. First of all, I think we should emphasize that our work in the international labor area is in full support of the Department of State. We have no desire or intention to complicate our foreign policy by suggesting that each agency have its own separate role. We believe that we should work in this area in view of our technical competence in full support of State Department foreign policy. I think, Mr. Chairman, that it is well to note the fact that in many of the newly emerging countries of Africa as well as in Latin America and in Asia, the labor and manpower problem is an important one in our foreign economic policy and social policy and we are increasingly called upon by the State Department, by the AID agency, and by other government agencies to lend our assistance and technical know-how to assist in the formulation of economic and social programs as part of our foreign policy objectives. PRIMARY ACTIVITY That is the primary activity for which we are asking increased funds. We are trying to improve our capability of assisting these agencies by developing greater knowledge of the labor and the manpower problems in these various countries of the world on a country-bycountry basis so that when we are called upon for a specific assignment, such as in Vietnam or in Okinawa, as we have been in recent months, we can contribute in a better fashion than by just talking of U.S. experience. In many of these countries, the U.S. experience is not appropriate and we feel that, in order to suggest concrete programs of benefit to the countries, we should know a great deal about their background and what kind of experience would be most fruitful in helping them establish a free and democratic society. I think, Mr. Chairman, that is the gist of our statement. INCREASE IN BUDGET REQUEST Senator HILL. Mr. Weiss, I would like to ask you this question. I note that your appropriation for this year was $500,000; is that correct? Mr. WEISS. Yes, sir. Senator HILL. And that the Budget has increased it to $950,000. Mr. WEISS. That is correct, sir. Senator HILL. Would you tell us the reasons for the increase? Mr. WEISS. The primary reason for it, Mr. Chairman, is this point I have just made that we are increasingly called upon to assist our foreign affairs agencies in specific programs in a variety of countries, for example, Vietnam, Okinawa, and we were asked to help out in a Peruvian mission. In order to do that kind of assignment properly, we feel that the Government needs to collect a greater body of knowledge and experience on these countries rather than rely on the U.S. experience. Our objective with the increased funds is to develop experience and know-how to meet the labor and the manpower problems of these developing countries around the world. RELATIONSHIP WITH VIETNAM Senator HILL. You speak of Vietnam, and I am sure Senator Cotton is as interested as I am. As you know, Vietnam is in the news these days. What would be your working connection with Vietnam? Mr. WEISS. Well, sir, we are one part of a team which has been organized by the State Department to develop ideas on how to bring that country into a stable, viable economy, and it includes how to meet the trade union situation of the country, how the country should meet its manpower problems for their new industries they are trying to establish, training programs and things of that kind. Accordingly we have a representative on the team working closely with them to suggest concrete measures. Senator HILL. Would a country such as Vietnam have what we would term organized labor, today? Mr. WEISS. Yes, sir, they do have organized labor. We are trying to work with them and trying to orient them to our democratic trade union type of thinking, and we are in competition with the Communist world in that kind of situation. Senator HILL. They are there, too, trying to use every power they have, of course, to bring them into the Communist orbit, is that right? IMPORTANCE OF ACTIVITY Mr. WEISS. That illustrates the critical importance of this kind of activity. That is also true in Africa and Latin America, where we are in an intense struggle to orient the trade union movement toward our western democratic way of life. |