AMENDING THE MERCHANT MARINE ACT OF 1936 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1937 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, and COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The committees met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10:30 o'clock a. m., in the caucus room, Senate Office Building, Senator Royal S. Copeland, chairman of the Commerce Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Copeland, Thomas of Utah, Guffey, Ellender, Vandenberg, White, Pepper, and Gibson. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. Is Mr. Thomas Ray here? Mr. PHILLIP VAN GELDER. He is sick, Mr. Chairman. Mr. JAMES MULLEN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. At this point I shall ask to have inserted in the record committee print of S. 1710, as amended. (Committee print of S. 1710, as amended, is as follows:) [Committee Print] [S. 1710, 75th Cong., 1st Sess.] [Omit the part in brackets and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To provide means for the amicable settlement of all disputes between employers and employees that affect the service of carriers engaged in transportation of passengers and property in the water-borne interstate and foreign commerce of the United States, to promote industrial peace in maritime industry, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, TITLE I. EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS DECLARATION OF POLICY SECTION 101. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to [avoid all interference with, and interruption of, promote and maintain the free and safe movement of passengers and property in the interstate and foreign commerce of the United States and it is the purpose of this Act [(1) to regulate employment conditions in the maritime industry as a whole by setting up machinery for the settlement of disputes between employers and employees therein whereby disagreements resulting in strikes and industrial disturbances may be prevented by voluntary agreement and arbitration; (2)] (1) to safeguard the right of employees in the maritime industry to bargin collectively through representatives of their own choosing without interference, influence, or coercion on the part of their employers; [(3)] (2) to impose a binding duty upon employers to recognize and treat with the representatives of their employees; and [(4)] (3) to impose a corresponding duty upon employees to scrupulously observe their voluntary agreements with their employer; and (4) to set up machinery for the settlement of disputes between employers and employees in the maritime industry whereby disagreements resulting in strikes and industrial disturbances may be prevented by voluntary agreement and arbitration. No provision of this Act shall be construed to interfere with the freedom of contract [, to require of the employer the making of an agreement with his employees, or to interfere with the normal exercise of the right of the employer to select his employees and to discharge them. DEFINITIONS SEC. 102. When used in this Act and for the purposes of this Act (a) The term "employer" includes (1) any person engaged in the transportation by water of passengers or property between the United States or any of its districts, Territories, or possessions and a foreign country, or engaged in the transportation by water of passengers or property on the high seas or the Great Lakes from port to port between one State, Territory, district, or possession of the United States and any other State, Territory, district, or possession of the United States, including an operator of a cargo vessel commonly called an ocean tramp; (2) any person engaged in pilot boat, towboat, barge, or lighterage service in connection with the transportation by water of passengers or property as set forth in clause (1) hereof; and (3) any person who operates any equipment or facilities or performs any service in connection with the transportation by water of passengers or property as set forth in clauses (1) and (2) hereof, including the sale of transportation to passengers and including receiving, delivering, storing, elevating, checking, trucking, stevedoring, warehousing, refrigerating, or in any wise serving or handling any such property [; and (4) any person engaged in constructing, reconstructing, repairing, or outfitting any vessel, boat, barge, or lighter employed or to be employed as set forth in clauses (1) and (2) hereof, or engaged in constructing, reconstructing, repairing, outfitting, or supplying any equipment or facility employed or to be employed as set forth in clause (3) hereof. (b) The term "employee" includes any person employed by the hour, day, week, month, year, or any other period, by any person defined in this Act as an "employer", provided the duties assigned to or services rendered by such employee, directly or indirectly, in any manner affect, relate to, or are concerned with, the transportation by water of passengers or property as set forth in clause (1) of subsection (a) of this section, or the furnishing of equipment and facilities therefor or services thereto, as respectively set forth in clauses [(2), (3), and (4)] (2) and (3) of subsection (a) of this section, it being the intent that this Act shall apply not only to those persons whose work may be exclusively in connection with the movement of passengers and property in the interstate and foreign commerce and traffic of the United States but also to those persons whose work may have such a close relation to the movement of such interstate and foreign commerce and traffic that the provisions of this Act are essential and appropriate to secure the freedom of that commerce and traffic from interference or interruption. (c) The term "person" includes corporations, partnerships, and associations existing under or authorized by the laws of the United States, or any State, Territory, district, or possession thereof, or of any foreign country: Provided, That the term "person" shall not include the master or the members of the crew of any vessel which is not documented, registered, licensed, or enrolled under the laws of the United States. (d) The term "representative" means any person or persons, labor union, organization, or corporation, as defined in section 2 Shipping Act, 1916, as amended designated either by an employer or group of employers or by its or their employees to act for it or them. (e) The personal pronouns "he", "his", and "him" include the feminine and neuter genders. The singular number includes the plural and the plural number includes the singular. (f) The term "Ship Labor Board" means the National Ship Labor Adjustment Board created by this Act. [(g) The term "Mediation Board" means the National Mediation Board created by the Railway Labor Act.] (g) The term "Maritime Commission" means the United States Maritime Commission created by the Merchant Marine Act, 1936. (h) The term "Mediation Board" means a Mediation Board that may be created under authority of section 301 of this Act. DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES SEC. 103. It shall be the duty [of all employers, their officers, agents, and their employees] (1) of all employers, their officers, and agents; (2) of all agents or representatives of employers or groups of employers as a class; and (3) of all employees and their representatives acting in the interests of employees as a class to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain agreements concerning methods of employment, rates of pay, rules and working conditions, and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise, without any interruption to or interference with the free and safe movement of passengers and property in the water-borne interstate and foreign commerce and traffic of the United States [, and to avoid interference with, or interruption of, the operations of any employer because of any dispute between any employer and the employees of such employer]. DISPUTES TO BE SETTLED BY CONFERENCES 3 SEC. 104. All disputes between an employer and the employees of such employer shall be considered, and, if possible, settled, with all expedition, in conference between representatives designated and authorized so to confer, respectively, by the employer and the employees of such employer interested in the dispute. FREE CHOICE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEC. 105. Representatives, for the purposes of this Act, shall be [native born or fully naturalized] citizens of the United States; they shall be designated by the respective parties without interference, influence, or coercion by either party over the designation of representatives by the other; and it shall be unlawful for either party, in any way, to interfere with, attempt to influence, or coerce the other party in the choice of representatives. Representatives of employees need not be persons in the employ of the employer concerned in the conference or dispute and it shall be unlawful for any employer, by interference, influence, or coercion, to seek in any manner to prevent the employees interested in any such conference or dispute from making a free and untrammeled choice of the representatives of such employees. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SEC. 106. Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. The majority of any [craft or] class of employees of any employer shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of such [craft or] class for the purposes of this Act. No employer or group of employers, his or their officers or agents, shall deny or in any way question the right of his or their employees to join, organize, or assist in organizing the labor organization of their choice, and it shall be unlawful for any employer or group of employers to interfere in any way with the organization of his or their employees, or for any employer or group of employers to pay any money or contribute anything of value to any labor organization, labor representative, or other agency of collective bargaining, or do any act calculated to induce his or their employees to join or remain or not to join or remain members of any labor organization or to deduct from the wages of any employees, or to pay for any employee, any dues, fee, assessment, or other contribution, payable to labor organizations, or to assist in the collection of any such dues, fee, assessment, or other contribution: Provided, [That a member of the crew of any vessel operated by an employer may make an allotment of his wages for the payment of any such dues, fee, assessment, or other contribution and his employer may bay the sum or sums so allotted to the organization designated by such employee to receive such payment: And provided further,] That nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit an employer from permitting an employee, individually, or a local representative of employees, from conferring with the employer, or the officers or agents of the employer, during working hours without loss of time or deduction in pay, or to prohibit an employer from furnishing free transportation to an employee while he is engaged on the business of a labor organization. PROHIBITION AGAINST EMPLOYER DICTATION SEC. 107. It shall be unlawful for any employer, or group of employers, or the officers or agents of any employer or group of employers, to require any person seeking employment to sign any contract or agreement wherein such person promises to join or not to join a labor organization and if such contract or agreement has been secured by any employer prior to the effective date of this Act, it shall be the duty of the employer to notify the employee or employees who signed such contract or agreement that it is void and is no longer binding on him or them in any way. CONFERENCES WHEN DISPUTES ARISE SEC. 108. When a dispute arises between any employer or group of employers, and the employees of such employer or group of employers, growing out of grievances, or out of the interpretation of application of agreements, concerning methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, and working conditions, it shall be the duty of the designated representative of such employer, or group of employers, and of such employees, within ten days after the receipt of written notice of a desire by either party to confer in respect to such dispute, to agree upon a time when and a place where such conference shall be held: Provided, That (1) the place so specified, if the employer is a person described in clause (1) of subsection (a) of section 102 of this Act, shall be at a port in the continental United States served by the vessel or vessels operated by such person, and if the employer is a person described in clauses [2, 3, or 4] (2) or (3) of subsection (a) of section 102 of this Act, the place shall be within or near the port or city where the employer operates or is engaged in business, or the place otherwise mutually agreed upon; and that (2) the time so specified shall allow the designated conferees reasonable opportunity to reach such place of conference, but shall not exceed twenty days from the delivery of such written notice: And provided further, That nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede the provisions of any agreement as to conferences [then] in effect between the parties. DEPARTURE FROM AGREEMENTS SEC. 109. No employer, or group of employers, his or their officers, or agents, shall change his or their methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, or working conditions of his or their employees as a class, as embodied in the labor agreements contemplated by this Act, except in the manner prescribed in such agreements or in section [306, title III,1 305 of this Act. NOTICE OF COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ACT SEC. 110. Each and every employer shall notify his employees, by printed notices in such form and posted at such times and places as shall be specified by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, that all disputes between the employer and his employees will be handled in accordance with the requirements of this Act and every such notice shall also set forth verbatim the provisions of sections 105, 106 and 107 of this Act. Every written contract of employment between any employer and his employees shall expressly refer to this Act and provide that all the requirements of this Act shall be binding upon the parties to such contract of employment regardless of any other express or implied agree ments between them. DISPUTES OVER REPRESENTATIVES; ACCESS TO EMPLOYERS' RECORDS SEC. 111. If any dispute shall arise among the employees or a group or groups of employees of any employer or group of employers as to who are the representatives of such employees or group of employees designated and authorized in accordance with the requirements of this Act, it shall be the duty of the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, upon the request of either party to the dispute, to investigate such dispute and to certify to both parties, in writing, within thirty days after the receipt of the invocation of its services, the name or names of the individuals or organizations that have been designated and authorized to represent the employees involved in the dispute, and also make such certification to the employer or group of employers of such employees. Upon receipt of such certification the employer or group of employers shall recognize and treat with the representatives so certified as the representative of the [craft or class for the |