too bright, with the employment level declining at an accelerated pace during the winter months. Closing of the American Viscose Corp. might have a damaging influence on several other businesses. The employment outlook for railroad workers is uncertain. Construction, which has already shown some drop, will increase further as cold weather halts outside work. A few odd contracts remain to be completed.

"Seasonal hiring in trade establishments could be below normal when many families will be forced to curb any unnecessary spending. By mid-November hires in trades will be small compared with the large releases in the chemical industries, resulting in a net loss possibly of as many as 1,100 workers. By mid-January, including losses in chemicals, trade, and construction, this could result in a drop of around 1,900 workers from the mid-September level, which would place unemployment in November at an estimated 6,200 or 9.2 percent of the labor force, and in January, 7,100 which would be 10.6 percent of the labor force."

Turnover data

Obviously, as unemployment increased it became more and more difficult to find a job. In 1956, more hiring was done in Roanoke than laying off, and the accession and separation rates shown in table IV reflects that. The table shows that the reverse of that situation was true in 1957 and 1958.

In the best month of 1956, June, there was a net margin of 4.2 more accessions per hundred workers employed in Roanoke manufacturing than there were separations. But in October 1958 the situation had almost reversed itself, and there were 4 more separations than accessions, per hundred workers employed.

The overall manufacturing turnover data reflects the general prospects of a jobless Viscose worker in Roanoke. They are not good, but the turnover data for the chemicals industry specifically shows the swift worsening of the Viscose workers' situation in just a few months (table IV, pt. 2).

The data shows that in June 1958 chemicals payrolls increased by 1.1 per hundred workers, net, as 2 were added and 0.9 dropped off.

In August 1958, the month of the announcement that Viscose was closing down and of the big wave of furloughing (shown in table IX, pt. 3), the chemicals industry payroll dropped by a net of 20 per hundred workers as 21.2 separations and 1.2 accessions per hundred workers occurred.

In October, there were 53.8 more separations than accessions, net, per hundred as layoffs from Viscose's shrunken payroll continued. There were 54.6 separations, and 0.8 accessions per hundred.

The August accessions rate of 1.2, incidentally, reflects in part the calling back to work at Viscose, in the Filatex and core departments, of workers previously furloughed.

Notice also, please, how the quit rate in chemicals, lowest of all manufacturing industries in June, rose to second highest in October. June was before the announcement that Viscose would shut down. October was after that announcement. A few workers at both Viscose and a chemical company plant which supplied Viscose and which was dependent for its existence on this relationship had begun to make connections elsewhere.

The worsening situation is shown also by the activities of the unemployment offices of the Virginia State Employment Service at Roanoke and elsewhere in the State.

Table V, indicates that in the 11 months of 1958, January through November, almost as many jobless workers in Roanoke filed unemployment compensation claims for the first time during that benefit year as in 1956 and 1957 combined. More workers filed continued claims in the January-November 1958 period than in 1956 and 1957 combined, in Roanoke.

In the first 11 months of 1958, jobless Roanoke workers collected more weeks of benefit checks and more money in benefits than in 1956 and 1957 combined. Unfortunately, the data for 1958 are not strictly comparable to those for the years 1956 and 1957.

Jobless benefits to more, but more exhaust unemployment compensation

However, the data does show the way Roanoke unemployment office activities increased as a percentage of Virginia's. In 1956 and 1957, for example, unemployment benefits paid out in Roanoke amounted to 4.9 percent of the State figure, while in the first 11 months of 1958 Roanoke jobless received 6.2 percent of the State total.

A grimmer set of figures, in column 6 of table V (and this set does have comparable figures for the entire period shown), deals with the numbers of workers who exhausted their unemployment compensation benefit rights. In 1956 and 1957 the Roanoke figures for such workers were, respectively, 795 and 777; but in only 11 months of 1955, January-November, it had soared to 2,591, or more than 3 times either of the 2 entire earlier years. For the whole State, the exhaustions in 1956, 1957, and the first 11 months of 1958 were, respectively, 19,803, 21,283, and 41,337.

While our data for exhaustions among Viscose workers is based on a fraction of the total situation in early November 1958-and at that time many of the workers had not been receiving benefits long enough to have exhausted but by the time this is in print that situation will have changed-we did find that at least 75 Viscose workers, 31 males and 44 females and probably more, had been told they had all the unemployment compensation benefits they will receive this benefit year.

Senators understand that today in Virginia, a jobless worker's benefit year begins when he makes his initial claim in any 52-week period. If he files initially September 1, for example, his benefit year ends August 31 the next calendar year. During that benefit year the jobless worker may draw up to a maximum of 18 weeks of benefits, depending on his former earnings in covered industry during a continually changing base period. (Prior to 1956 amendments to State law, everyone had the same benefit year.) After the 52 weeks of 1 benefit year are over, the worker may, under certain circumstances, receive a second round of benefits based on the earnings before unemployment even if there has been no employment between rounds of benefits. This is more likely to help higher-paid than lower-paid workers. Duration of the second round is determined by the new base period, but it is possible that it too, may be for 18 weeks. The maximum amount of benefits, also determined by the former earnings in the base periods, is $28 per week.

To qualify for $28 a week benefits, for example, a worker must have earned at least $675.01 during his highest quarter of earnings during the first four of the last completed five calendar quarters preceding the first day he files a valid claim for benefits in any 52-week period. And he must also have earned at least $840 during the base period (the first four quarters). To qualify for 18 weeks at the $28-a-week level, the worker must have earned at least $1,960.01 in the base period. Most Vicose workers who were steadily employed throughout a 12-month period would have qualified for these maximum benefits of $28 times 18.

However, this maximum benefit level obviously is inadequate both in terms of cost of living and of the income insured. While Virginia has one of the lowest maximum weekly unemployment compensation benefit levels among the 49 States, it is not the lowest nor is it the State whose maximum benefit level is the lowest percentage of average weekly earnings insured-our data indicates that no State insures as high as 60 percent of the average weekly wages in the State, and only four States insure 50 percent or more of their average weekly wages. This is a great change from 1939, when Virginia insured 74 percent of its average weekly wage via unemployment compensation benefits, and when no State insured less than 50 percent.

American Viscose in the industry

The American Viscose Corp. manufactures five products in very large quantities:

High tenacity viscose yarn for automobile tires,

Regular and intermediate tenacity viscose yarn for the textile industry (the bulk of Roanoke production was of this type),

Acetate textile yarn,

Viscose staple fiber for textiles and carpets, and

Cellophane for the packaging industry.

In the fields of tire yarn, staple fiber, and viscose textile yarns the company is the largest producer in the United States, and the second largest producer in the field of cellophane.

The company's difficulty at the Roanoke plant stems in the first place from the rapid shrinkage in the market for the textile type viscose yarn. Plants running viscose textile yarn constituted the bulk of the entire rayon industry for most of its history since the beginning in 1910 at Marcus Hook, Pa. Annual production passed the 200 million pounds per year in 1935 and rose gradually to its peak of 325 million pounds in 1951. The decline was rapid. In 6 short

years the annual production stood at 165 million, approximately half of the 1951 rate, and the 1958 production is estimated to be even lower, at 148 million pounds.

Roanoke is the third of the company's plants producing viscose textile yarns to be taken out of production. Marcus Hook was abandoned as a rayon plant in 1954. However, the company's research facilities at the same location were expanded and in addition the mothballing of equipment lasted long enough so that about 150 of our members were still on the payroll to be transferred to the new cellophane plant which has now occupied the site of the former rayon plant. The Parkersburg, W. Va., plant of the company ceased all spinning operations in 1956 in the large B and C spinning units leaving only the small A unit spinning a special type of textile yarn. After much hesitation and careful cost figuring the company tore out the textile spinning frames in the B and C units and put in their place staple fiber spinning machines to produce staple for the carpet industry. In the case of Parkersburg the changeover followed so closely on the shutting down of the former operation that most of the employees who had been on the payroll during the preceding 2 years were recalled to work.

Although the virtual closing of two plants producing viscose textile yarn reduced the company's productive capacity in this field by approximately 50 percent, the other facilities of the company making the same type of product continued to lack enough orders to keep their operating cost figures in the black. Very soon the same question regarding closing another operating unit in the textile yarn field became urgent as all units in this end of the rayon business went heavily into the red. The company searched for a long time for a new end use for its former bread and butter product, viscose textile rayon. But none of the areas explored opened up as a substantial new market for rayon.

Expansion at the Roanoke plant site in either staple fiber or cellophane was not economically feasible since the equipment at both Marcus Hook and Parkersburg plants has been underemployed since installation; and the fact that the market for cellophane had been so soft that the startup at Marcus Hook was delayed 6 months until July 1958 and the speed of placing additional machines on line was slow.

But even if both Marcus Hook and Parkersburg plants run full and further expansion in either field-staple fiber or cellophane-seems economically desirable, such expansion into the Roanoke area would have to wait until both Parkersburg and Marcus Hook have been further expanded. This is because installations for these products should have a capacity approaching 100 million pounds annually to reach reasonable operating efficiencies, and to reach this level each plant needs approximately to be doubled.

A brief study of tables XXVI and XXVIII, showing rayon staple fiber production, quantities of imports and exports of staple fiber and the domestic price in parallel columns, and table XXVII, which lists certain domestic prices for three basic rayon products, indicates clearly a large part of the difficulty in which the American Viscose Corporation finds itself:

Prices in the rayon section of the textile industry are as chaotic and unrealistic in relation to cost of production as is true in all of the other major branches of the textile industry. The situation in staple fiber is further seriously complicated by the high level of imports at substantially less than our low domestic price.

Most of the countries and individual firms who ship staple fiber to the United States also export to neighboring countries in Europe. The difference in their pricing policy is interesting. Staple fiber which crosses an international boundary from one European country to another enters the importing country for sale at the importing country's own internal price. The same exporter ships to the United States and sells in the United States market at two or more cents per pound below our domestic producers price although his own domestic price is substantially higher. A large proportion of these imports to the United States seem clearly to classify as dumping. Although the anti-dumping law was amended at the last session of Congress it has not yet been implemented in a way that will furnish relief.

American Viscose in Roanoke

Now, let's get back to the American Viscose Corp. plant at Roanoke, and its employees, most of whom are members of the Textile Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO.

We mentioned that the first Viscose production unit was in operation in 1917 and the second one in 1919. There were 1,000 employees in 1917 and 1,700 in

1919. In 1922 the third production units was completed, and in 1923 the fourth. In 1928, with the fifth and sixth production units in, there were more than 5,000 employees. The peak employment was in 1929 about 5,500, including 200 construction workers. In 1932 the plant was closed for the first time, for about 6 weeks; another layoff came in 1937. But these shutdowns were the exception to the rule.

In 1941 came changes in processing spun yarn, eliminating wet-reeling and finishing departments in a shift to cake-washing and dry-reeling, and a drop from the employment peak down to about 3,600 employees. Some of the people were reemployed at the Front Royal, Va., American Viscose plant. From then on, the plant practically ceased to hire new people-mostly laying off and recalling employees as needed-except that in 1956 some young people (mostly men) were hired. (Notice the bump at the two-year seniority level in the male seniority table) (table VII, pt. 1).

The Roanoke Viscose workers

From 1911 to 1950 the rayon industry was a growing industry-it could sell all it produced, and Roanoke Viscose shared the fruits of the national industry situation.

Workers were hired young-boys and girls came on the payroll at ages as young as 14 to 16, and men in their early early twenties, and they stayed. Tables VII and XII show that in most age groups and for the entire payroll the women outranked the men in seniority—and both men and women had many years of service.

The average seniority in the plant was 23.7 years-23.5 years for the men and 24.2 for the women. But the average in the age 60-64 group was 33.8 years-33.7 for the men and 34.8 for the women-and in the age 55-59 group it was 33.0-33.4 for the men and 30.6 for the women (table XII, part 2). More than half of all the 1,717 men-797, or 53.8 of the 1,479 hourly-rated men-and 113, or 47 percent of the 238 salaries men-have 30 or more years seniority. The same is true of exactly half the hourly-rated women (241 of the 482), but the salaried women had less seniority as a group-only 26.5 percent of the 83 salaried women had 30 or more years seniority, and to get the top half of the salaried women you have to include those down to only 19 years (table VII).

The company did not hire above age 25, for the most part.

The average age of the Roanoke Viscose worker is above 48. The median age of the whole plant payroll was slightly over 51, and 54 percent of the people were age 50 or over. The medium age of the men was about 51.6, and 55.9 were age 50 and over. The median age of the women was not quite 50, and 48 percent were age 50 and over.

Men outnumbered women 3 to 1 overall, and-except for the 45-49 age groupoutnumbered women in every age group by ratios of from 3 to 2 up to 9 to 1 (table XI, pt. 2).

Shifting attention from the entire plant payroll to the hourly rated people, and these are our members, we see from table VII that the median age of the men is slightly over 52, and of the women, slightly over 50. The table shows that 840 men and 250 women, or 1,090 of the 1,961 hourly rated people, were 50 years old, or older, in August 1958. That is almost 55 percent of the hourly rated people.

Many of the hourly rated people have worked in this plant for 25, 30, 35 and more years. You see from table VII that 797 men and 241 women, hourly rated, had 30 or more years of service. That's 1,038 of the 1,961 people in this cate gory, or almost 53 percent. It is 53.8 percent of the men, and 50 percent of the women, as was stated before. We will return to the age and seniority data again as we study its impact.

If you take the age 40-and-over hourly rated workers, you have 1,064 men and 429 women, or a total of 1,593, or 81.2 percent of the hourly rated people. Many have little or no work experience except in procedures essential to making rayon by the viscose process but unused in other industries. They are the people in trouble today.

They are good workers, good citizens, good people. The plant managers describe them as "the cream of the crop-mature, faithful, good employees, the salt of the earth." Mr. St. Clair told the researcher retained by the union to do a study of the Roanoke situation that he, Mr. St. Clair, did not know "where you would find a more dependable, more reliable, more hard-working" group of people than these Roanoke Viscose workers.

But 1951 through 1954 were bad years for the company, and 1957 was another. New fibers competing with rayon, people wearing less clothing and less rayon in clothing, less of an export market-and plant machinery unadaptable to producing anything except rayon, led to the announcement August 4, 1958, by the company at its Philadelphia office that the Roanoke plant would be closed down.

From an average of 3,176 employees-salaried and hourly rated-in 1948 the payroll rose to 3,277 in 1950 and then went down.

Workers furloughed as payroll drops

In 1951 it was 3,221; in 1952, 2,404. In 1953 came a respite in the decline a rise to 2,957. Then in 1954 a fall to 2,450. The next year the same number of employees-or, rather, less, at 2,449. In 1956 there were 2,362; in 1957, 2,138. In 1958, according to the figures supplied us by the company for use at this hearing, the average will be 1,660. (See table IX, which shows layoffs in 1956-58; it does not show total plant payroll reduction, because it includes only hourly rated people and does not show recalls to work. Layoffs are governed by seniority in the department and plant. Table X shows plant seniority by department and sex.)

When the plant-closing announcement was made, there were 1,750 people in the plant. As of November 6 there were 462 people working; 57 were dropped by November 14, the day we gave oral testimony to this committee.

Another 136 workers were laid off between November 15 and December 31, 1958, in the hourly rated category, so that by December 31 there were only 169 people working in a plant where once 5,500 earned a living.

Of the 169 temporary survivors, 70 worked in 2 departments which we are told will be or have been sold to their former managers, and which will be transferred out of the plant-perhaps out of the city. These two departments make Filatex, a rubber-cored, fiber-wrapped product.

So after these many years of service-20, 25, 30, 35, even 40 or more yearsthese hundreds of people are not needed by Viscose in Roanoke. Most of them are too young to retire. Many of them are finding that they cannot find jobs— and in many of these cases they discover that they are thought to be too old to hire.

This is the problem. They are steady people, dependable, the salt of the earth, hard-working. But many of them have been unable to find work.

We know the problems of these, our members. We know from day-to-day operations of the union in seeking to help them meet the impact of the situation, from countless discussions, and from a survey we conducted. Replies to our questionnaire were received in November 1958. Many workers not only answered the questions but also volunteered comments and further information. From these comments we quote a few on the subject of the age barrier they find in seeking new work:

Too old to work

A 42-year-old spinning attendant with 10 years and 11 months of service at the Viscose plant writes that in the time since his layoff in mid-August, "I have contacted 47 different firms and businessmen in the Roanoke Valley. Twentyeight accepted my application with the promise I would be considered for work when a vacancy occurred. Nineteen refused by application due to the fault I am too old at 42 years and inexperienced.

"I will give my consent for my questionnaire and this letter be made public. It might open the eyes of the people to the fact that a man at 42 has many good working years ahead of him and at that age must have children still depending on him for support and need him most.

"And for being experienced for work it is impossible for a man to know everything so if I was given a chance elsewhere to learn a trade I would accept gladly. The employers in Roanoke have nothing for me. I have a wife and seven children to support. God only knows what will happen to us."

A 49-year-old shift electrician and trouble-shooter writes that "there are jobs open at the N. & W. Railway for all first class electricians but our age holds us off, mine by 4 years. Why?

Another man writes "When you bring the questionnaire before the Senate I think it would be a fine idea to also bring the age limit up too. I am 47 years old and every place I ask for work I am turned down because I am over 40 years old." And a 54-year-old man wrote bitterly that "you cannot buy a job at my age."