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ing in the period between contract negotiations. Of particular value, in view of the Panel's unanimity, are the recommendations contained in the report;1

"A. We commend to companies and unions the utility, in the intervals between contract negotiations, of a continuing discussion of difficult and persistent problems and where, to promote this effort, mediation is indicated, we recommend the services of the FMCS in the creation and operation of continuing labor-management committees, study committees, or other appropriate devices.

"B. We recommend that:

"1. The present FMCS preventive mediation program be expanded;

"2. The FMCS establish outside the Service a roster of specialists in preventive mediation, similar to its roster of arbitrators to which parties can be referred for expert help in the highly specialized and complicated areas of collective bargaining;

"3. The FMCS continue and expand its advanced leadership training program for mediators, with particular emphasis on workshops designed to enlarge their areas of special competence to enable them to deal most effectively with specific bargaining subjects and accelerate their activities in this field of preventive mediation; and

"4. Adequate provision be made in the FMCS annual appropriation to finance these expanded services."

The tabulation below shows a summary of preventive activity and related assignments for the past 2 fiscal years. The data are on the basis of assignments closed during the fiscal year.

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Public relations (speeches, meetings, participation in forums, seminars, etc.). Internal assignments (workshop and seminar program planning, participation in orientation and training sessions, etc.)..

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Total..

1,055

1,038

The statistical data can give only a rough idea of the scope of preventive accomplishment. There is no feasible method for evaluating the program statistically in terms of mediator time. Preventive assignments to be productive require considerable time and effort not only to get them underway in the first instance but thereafter to maintain the necessary liaison and followup with the parties. A large portion of the work, furthermore, must be done after the normal working hours when the parties are free from their regular work routine. C. Missile sites and space-flight activity

There continues to be a large volume of new construction and/or modernization work at the missile sites and space-flight centers. In the past fiscal year the total number of man-days worked was 9,041,200 compared with 10,428,600 mandays in the previous fiscal year. The heaviest concentration of new construction activity is at Cape Kennedy, Vandenberg, Malmstrom, the Mississippi Test Facility, the Houston Space Control Center, and the space flight center at Huntsville, Ala.

Mediation priority is given to labor difficulties at any missile or space location. At the Cape Kennedy complex, for instance, the Service has two mediators stationed there for immediate handling of labor relations problems and disputes. An experienced mediator spends several days each week working with the parties at the Mississippi Test Facility, at Vandenberg, and at the Houston Space Control Center. At all other locations specific mediators maintain steady liaison and are available on short notice to assist in any labor difficulties that may arise. As against the 9,041,200 man-days worked in fiscal 1965, there were 54,241 mandays, involving 24,914 workers, lost due to stoppages. The average time lost was 2.2 days per worker involved, down from 2.6 in the previous fiscal year. The ratio of man-days lost to total man-days worked was a little more than one-half of 1 percent. In the face of many new and complex grievance and jurisdictional problems, inevitable in a construction program of this diversi

1 Second report by the National Labor Management Panel, Dec. 30, 1964 (pp. 9-10).

fication and magnitude, the record points to alert and capable work performed jointly by the mediators assigned and by the labor relations committees at the sites, composed of labor and management representatives. The mediator acts as chairman of these joint committees.

In fiscal years 1966 and 1967, the Service will continue to give priority attention to disputes affecting missile sites or space flight centers.

D. Boards of inquiry and other ad hoc panels and experts

Only one board of inquiry in an emergency dispute situation was needed in the past fiscal year. This was the dispute affecting the longshoremen (ILA) and the Atlantic and gulf ports maritime industry.

Outside experts, working with FMCS mediators, were used in a few critical situations.

Intensive mediation efforts in the major dispute situations by FMCS staff was a prime reason for lack of need for more special boards. More than $53,000 of the funds earmarked in 1965 for the expenses of boards and panels was returned as surplus to the Treasury.

In the current year and the budget year, the Service will provide mediatory and administrative assistance to any such boards or panels as may be appointed by the President in emergency dispute situations under section 206 of the Labor Management Relations Act. Intensive mediation efforts will always precede such Presidential action. Ad hoc boards or panels or individual experts in these or other major dispute situations are appointed only after all FMCS mediation efforts have not produced agreement and the Director has determined the necessity for supplemental efforts.

Because of inability to predict the extent of future need for boards of inquiry, special boards, panels and outside experts, it is essential that the full amount of $125.000 be made available. If not used in full, the balance will be returned to the Treasury, as in previous fiscal years.

E. Arbitration services

The steady increase in the arbitration caseload handled by the Service continued undiminished during the past fiscal year. The 6-year tabulation of arbitration workload shown on page 22 shows vividly the substantial increase that has taken place in the utilization of the Service's arbitration facilities. Over a 10-year period the arbitration workload has just about quadrupled.

The reason is easily understood. Today, well over 90 percent of collective bargaining agreements contain clauses providing for arbitration of disputes arising out of or in connection with the terms and application of the agreements. The Service encourages this policy of voluntary arbitration, and the steadily increasing workload is primarily a reflection of the rapidly growing acceptance of arbitration as the terminal point of contract grievance procedures.

The Service in processing more than 5,000 requests for ad hoc panels of arbitrators in the past fiscal year is undoubtedly the leading agency in the administration of labor arbitration cases.

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It is expected that the rate of arbitration service volume will continue to expand. The number of requests received for panels for the first 6 months of the current fiscal year total 2,642, an increase of 13 percent over the same months in the past fiscal year.

59-316-66-pt. 1——4

F. National Labor Management Panel

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The National Labor Management Panel, reactivated in May 1963, met five times during fiscal year 1965. The Panel consists of 12 working professionals from labor and management, each of whom is skilled in the daily problems of collective bargaining. Their advice and counsel is of inestimable value.

A previous reference (pp. 15 and 16) has already been made about the Panel's unanimous recommendations concerning the Service's efforts in the field of preventive mediation. Recognition of the utility and value of the basic preventive mediation concept by such a group of skilled professionals is reassuring evidence that the Service's long-range preventive mediation objectives are not impractical or illusory.

G. Training

The primary objectives of the Service's training program are: (1) The initial orientation and basic training of newly appointed mediators, (2) a continuing educational program for seasoned mediators designed to review in depth current problems and complex issues at the bargaining table.

1. The orientation conferences are geared to aline the diverse collective bargaining experience of recently appointed mediators with the policies, procedures, and techniques of mediation as quickly as possible. A variety of methods and training aids are utilized.

Field training for the fledgling mediator commences immediately upon completion of his orientation period. Under the direct supervision of his regional director and assistant regional director, he is placed in actual mediation cases with experienced mediators initially as an observer, later as a limited participant. Eventually he conducts mediation meetings of less important cases as the regional director determines rate of progress. Interspersed with the early assignments are additional training sessions with senior mediators, as assigned by the regional director.

2. The entire mediator staff took part in the two national seminars which were held in the past fiscal year. The subject matter of the seminars was "Job Security Problems at the Bargaining Table." Approximately 30 outstanding figures from management, labor, and the academic sphere joined the mediators each seminar in discussing such issues as retirement plans, severance pay provisions, SUB, seniority variations, early negotiations in trouble areas, and court and board decisions affecting job security issues.

Panel presentations and prepared addresses were balanced with small-group workshops and question and answer periods. Sufficient time was provided for a free flow of dialog between guests and conferees.

In addition to the two national seminars, four specialized workshops, each dealing in depth on a particularly urgent problem or development in collective bargaining, were held in fiscal year 1965. The subject matter of the first one was the problems of work force displacement and how best to cope with them. The second workshop was concerned with the industrial relations structure and problems of the building and construction industry. The third dealt with the subject of the remaining work force subsequent to events altering a work environment, such as mergers, consolidations, changing production methods, subcontracting, etc. The fourth workshop centered on the impact that operational and occupational changes are having on the work force.

A similar series of seminars and workshops are planned for both 1966 and 1967. These programs are of established value in helping the mediator staff to improve its professional skill and abilities in all areas of labor-management relations and collective bargaining.

IV. MANPOWER AND FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS

1. Mediator manpower increases.-The estimate for 1967 proposes an increase of seven new mediator positions at grade GS-12. This will bring the total nonsupervisory mediator staff to 269. This proposal is in keeping with the longrange objective of strengthening the total mediation function and minimizing costly industrial strife. The two-pronged approach of intensified mediation in all threatening work stoppage situations, and more promotion and development of continuing noncrisis discussion free from contract deadlines, contributes effectively to the Nation's productivity and rate of economic growth. Reduction of man-day losses due to work stoppages is a constant objective.

The great need is for sufficient manpower with which to attain the program goals. Collective bargaining today is a far more complicated process than it was a few years ago. More mediation time and effort are called for in practi

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cally all assignments because of the number and complexity of current bargaining issues. Until the mediator is thoroughly informed on the complex differences between the parties he is not likely to be in a position to offer substantial suggestions for their resolution. This process is time consuming. Similarly, the development and promotion of preventive mediation projects are equally time consuming. The very nature of preventive mediation, in fact, calls for the major part of these assignments to be performed after normal working hours. The addition of seven mediator posiitons will, in summary, help supply the manpower requirements needed to keep pace with expanding crisis mediation and preventive mediation workload and to assure an even more effective total mediation function.

2. Research economist (labor relations).-A research economist position at grade GS-14 is included in the estimate. Essentially the position would involve analysis and review of data and information available from the mediation case files and reports and having pertinence to the mediation function. Such work would not conflict with or parallel analysis of general data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To the contrary, it would strengthen our liaison with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and permit fuller utilization of all information and data which might have possible application to dispute and preventive mediation situations.

3. Clerical and stenographic positions.-Included in the estimate are five supporting typist and stenographic positions, one in the national office and four for location in the field offices not presently serviced by a stenographer. The clerk-typist position is urgently needed in the arbitration unit in the national office. The workload data in this functional area, as seen on page 22. show an increase of about 80 percent over the past 5 years in the number of arbitration panels requested. The saturation point has been reached, and additional assistance is needed principally to keep abreast of the everincreasing volume of correspondence and other paperwork originating from the continuing workload increase. An internal management analysis and survey has recently been completed in this area to insure that only essential work is performed in the handling of the caseload.

The four stenographic positions for the field organization would be placed in locations where none now is employed, to relieve professional persons from performing routine clerical and typing chores and to provide at least in a few more locations satisfactory telephone contacts for labor and industry. Currently there are about 25 field locations without stenographic assistance. This proposal is merely another step toward full stenographic coverage in all field locations. It is important in our judgment to have each field office open and manned when the resident mediators are engaged on assignments. Labor and management representatives in the industrial areas serviced are continually trying to reach the mediators stationed there, either seeking advice or relaying information which may have a bearing on a particular dispute situation. A labor or management representative finding a closed office, or receiving a recorded telephone message, especially if this occurs frequently, is not likely to have respect for the service or the mediator.

4. Ad hoc boards, panels, and experts.-An increase of $30,000 shows in the 1967 estimate for this type of ad hoc mediation and board activity. It represents restoration of the amount absorbed ($22,000 from personal services and $8,000 from communications) from this activity in the current year to help meet the cost of the Federal employee pay increase which became effective in October 1965.

In the past fiscal year only one Board of Inquiry was needed. This was the dispute affecting the Longshoremen (ILA) and the Atlantic and Gulf Ports Maritime Industry.

Outside experts, working with FMCS mediators, were used in a few critical situations.

Intensive mediation efforts in the major dispute situations by FMCS staff was a prime reason for lack of need for more special boards. More than $53,000 of the funds earmarked in 1965 for the expenses of boards and panels was returned as surplus to the Treasury.

5. Other nonmanpower increases.-Other nonmanpower increases totaling $53,000 are related to personnel benefits ($15,000), travel ($3,000), communications ($25.000), and other miscellaneous items ($10,000).

The personnel benefits increase is related to and computed on the basis of additional personnel and compensation cost for 1967.

The travel increase of $3,000 is related to the seven new mediator positions. The communications increase consists of $8,000 restoration of pay increase absorption from this object in 1966, and for increased Federal telecommunications system toll and instrument rental charges.

Other increases totaling $10,000 are included for transportation of things ($1,000), other contractual services ($3,000), and equipment ($6,000).

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1966.

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

WITNESSES

HOWARD W. HABERMEYER, CHAIRMAN

THOMAS M. HEALY, MANAGEMENT MEMBER

A. E. LYON, LABOR MEMBER

FRANK J. MCKENNA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

MICHAEL RUDISIN, DIRECTOR OF BUDGET AND FISCAL OPERATIONS

LIMITATION ON SALARIES AND EXPENSES

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