concentration of strike activity in the country's history. There were 18 major strikes during this period, each of which involved 10,000 or more workers. In the first half of 1947 the major concern of striking workers was to secure wage increases to keep pace with rapidly rising prices. Eleven stoppages involved 10,000 or more workers each. The largest was the Nation-wide telephone workers' strike involving nearly 375,000 workers during most of April and May. The next largest stoppage, in terms of number of workers involved, was the short protest stoppage in late June, of about 235,000 bituminous-coal miners, allegedly against the passage of the TaftHartley Law (Labor Management Relations Act, 1947). In early July, after the 10-day scheduled vacation in the mining industry, bituminous-coal miners were idle for 3 or 4 days until new con TABLE 1.-Work stoppages, January to June 1947, by industry group [Preliminary; subject to revision] Industry group All industries...... Manufacturing.. New Hampshire.. 4, 280 26, 500 idle dur New Jersey. 81, 400 1,860, 000 New Mexico. 7 1,300 18, 300 New York. 253 North Carolina. North Dakota. 123,000 13, 800 12, 107 1, 560, 000 22, 800, 000 Ohio. Oklahoma. 2,160,000 409,000 20, 600 1,690,000 203,000 16, 300 146,000 1,350 28, 100 27,400 44, 700 397,000 957,000 234,000 22,400 15, 700 146, 000 371,000 4,290 1,620 56, 600 60, 800 15,900 138,000 23,700 402,000 455,000 5, 160 17,600 36, 400 9,410 6, 470 167,000 322,000 194,000 137,000 4,030 113,000 30, 400 69,800 108,000 10,000 6, 830 422, 000 1,670,000 547, 000 205,000 76, 400 258, 000 932 1,040,000 15, 700, 000 1 The sum of this column is more than the total (2,107) for the first half of 1947, because 5 stoppages which extended into 2 or more industry groups have been counted as separate stoppages in each industry group affected with the proper allocation of workers involved and man-days idle. 1 These stoppages extended into several industry groups but sufficient data have not yet been obtained to allocate the workers involved and man-days idle to the respective groups. Texas. Vermont. West Virginia. Wisconsin. 22,800 1 The sum of this column is more than the total (2,107) for the first half of 1947 because the stoppages extending across State lines have been counted as separate stoppages in each State affected, with the proper allocation of workers involved and man-days idle. tracts were signed by the operators. (At the end of June 1947 the Federal Government relinquished control of the mines.) The Bureau of Labor Statistics has analyzed information on 2,107 stoppages which began in the first 6 months of 1947. These involved 1,560,000 workers and resulted in 22,800,000 mandays of idleness. Details for some stoppages (less than 300) were not available when the data were assembled. The construction industry, which during the war and the immediate postwar period had relatively few strikes, experienced more stoppages (272) than any other industry group during this period. The 2,460,000 man-days idle in construction was greater also than in any other industry group except transportation, communication, and other public utilities where, principally as a result of the telephone strike, idleness reached 10,800,000 man-days. New York and Pennsylvania each experienced about 250 stoppages. Illinois had 238 and California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio each had over 100. Seven States each had more than 1,000,000 man-days of idleness; New York had the highest, 2,160,000. Wages were important issues in 63 percent of the stoppages. About 88 percent of the total idleness was connected with disputes in which wages were the primary issues or were important issues along with union-organization matters. Jurisdictional and union rivalry disputes caused about 3 percent of the total stoppages. Largely as a result of the prolonged telephone strike, idleness was greatest among the "unaffiliated" unions which include the telephone workers' union. For the unaffiliated union group as a whole, lost time amounted to about 48 percent of the nearly 23,000,000 man-days recorded during the first 6 months of 1947. Lost time arising out of disputes involving affiliates of the AFL or CIO each amounted to about a quarter of the total. Labor-Management Disputes in December 1947 WORK STOPPAGES due to labor-management disputes declined to a new postwar low in December 1947. Tentative estimates indicate a total of about 120 new stoppages involving approximately 30,000 workers. Total idleness in plants directly affected was estimated at not more than 500,000 man-days. No large stoppages began in December. Disputes causing the most idleness were those carrying over from preceding months, e. g., agricultural strikes in California and Arizona which began October 2 and November 19, respectively, and the strike of printers (compositors) against six Chicago newspapers which began November 25. All three of these stoppages continued throughout the month of December. A threatened strike of 50,000 Western Union employees throught the Nation, scheduled by three AFL unions for December 22, was averted through efforts of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Demands for a wage increase of 15 cents an hour were filed September 16; and on December 21, one day before the strike was scheduled to go into effect, the parties agreed to submit two questions to a fact-finding board. These issues revolved about the company's wage-profit relationship and whether the existing agreement was formally re-opened by the unions on October 1 or November 1, 1947, under terms of the reopening notices filed. The board is to report on these questions on or before February 9, 1948, following which collective bargaining on the wage question is to be resumed. Review of Year, 1947 Preliminary estimates of the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that about 3,600 work stoppages occurred in 1947 as against 4,985 in 1946. Approximately 2,200,000 workers were involved in the 1947 stoppages-about half the number (4,600,000 workers) affected in 1946. Idleness in plants or establishments directly affected declined even more sharply to an estimated 35,000,000 man-days-less than one-third of the 116,000,000 man-days recorded for the year 1946. Three large disputes in 1947-the Nation-wide telephone strike in April and May, the smaller but more prolonged East Coast shipyard strike, and a relatively brief bituminous-coal stoppageaccounted for about 15,000,000 man-days of idleness. Twelve other stoppages each involved 10,000 or more workers. Nearly 3,000,000 workers were involved in 31 large stoppages in 1946, with a resultant time loss of almost twice that recorded for all strikes in 1947. As in the preceding year, wages were the chief cause of most work stoppages. Many of these controversies centered about the sharp increases in living costs encountered by wage earners. Issues arising out of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 were important toward the close of the year in some controversies. Changes in Disability Compensation Laws1 A SYSTEM OF CASH COMPENSATION for illness is now in operation in two States-Rhode Island and California. The Rhode Island law became effective on May 10, 1942, and the payment of benefits began in April 1943. It was found necessary to amend this law in 1946 in order to preserve the solvency of the disability fund and to eliminate inequities in benefit payments.3 After considerable study of the Rhode Island plan, the California Legislature passed a similar type of act in 1946.4 1 Prepared in the Division of Labor Standards, U. S. Department of Labor. See Monthly Labor Review, February 1945 (p. 225). 3 See Monthly Labor Review, July 1946 (p. 21). 4 See Monthly Labor Review, August 1946 (p. 236). Each of these laws is operated in the State unemployment compensation system, the theory being that a worker unemployed because of sickness should receive compensation during his illness. The disability program is financed in both States by the diversion of employee contributions from the unemployment compensation funds to special disability funds. Under the original Rhode Island law, the worker contributed 1 percent of his wages to the disability fund and 0.5 percent to the unemployment compensation fund. This was changed in 1946 to provide that the entire 1.5 percent of the employee contributions should be paid to the disability fund. The assets of the cash sickness fund were increased in July 1947, when the Rhode Island Legislature authorized the transfer of 28 million dollars of employee contributions from its account in the Federal unemployment trust fund, in accordance with 1946 amendments to the Social Security Act. Beginning July 1, 1947, the State Legislature reduced the employee rate of contribution to 1 percent. This is the same as the California rate. There are a number of differences in the two laws. The California law is less costly to administer. This situation is partly due to the fact that several of the high-cost items which had been included in the Rhode Island plan were excluded in California, in order to reduce the total cost of disability compensation. Thus, California requires a worker to have earned at least $300 during the base year in order to qualify for sickness benefits, whereas the Rhode Island law requires total earnings of only $100. Another reason for lower costs in California is that no benefits are paid in pregnancy cases. The Rhode Island law originally allowed unlimited benefits in the case of uncomplicated pregnancies. As the result of a 1946 amendment, benefits in such cases are limited to 15 weeks, although payments may be extended if unusual complications result from childbirth. Heavier costs in Rhode Island are also caused by the provisions as to the waiting period. Both State laws provide for a waiting period of 1 week. However, in Rhode Island only one waiting period is required in a benefit year, whereas California specifies a waiting period for each period of disability. This difference is somewhat lessened by the fact that Rhode Island requires a calendar week of waiting period. Thus, if a claimant be comes ill on Tuesday, the required waiting period in his first spell of disability is almost 2 weeks. Changes were made in 1947 in the California law which will give greater benefits to workers. The maximum weekly benefits in this State were increased from $20 to $25 per week, which will be payable for a maximum period of 26 weeks instead of 23 weeks, as under the original law. A waiting period of 7 days was required under the original California act, and thereafter payments were made only for a full week of disability. As a result, no payments were made for a disability of less than 14 days. A 1947 amendment effective January 1, 1948, changed this provision, so that daily benefits are provided after 7 days of disability. One-seventh of the weekly benefit is paid for each day of disability after the waiting period. Voluntary Plans A significant difference between the two State laws is that in California employers are permitted to operate their own private system of disability benefits within the State program. In order to qualify, voluntary disability plans must be more beneficial in at least one respect than the State plan; and, in addition, the rights of the claimants must be at least equal in every other respect to those provided under the State law. Public acceptance of the voluntary plans is demonstrated by the fact that there were more than 8,500 plans in effect at the end of October 1947, covering about 660,000 persons subject to the unemployment insurance act. The original California law provided that a voluntary plan must remain in effect for at least 2 years. At the end of that time it could be terminated by either an employer or a majority of his employees. This provision was amended in 1947 to reduce the minimum period during which the voluntary plan must be effective from 2 years to 1 year. At the same time a provision was added to the law in order to bridge the gap between private plans and the State plan, so far as the benefit rights of individual workers are concerned. The law now provides that an employee who has ceased to be covered by a private voluntary plan, if otherwise eligible, immediately becomes entitled to benefits from the State disability fund. Other recent amendments to the law, of course, will also have an effect on the voluntary plans, inasmuch as such plans must equal the rights under the State law in every respect and exceed it in at least one respect. It will be necessary, therefore, for the vast majority of existing voluntary plans to be revised or modified. In most cases, further changes in the voluntary plans must be made because of increased benefits under the law and the more liberal provisions with regard to the waiting period. 771086-48 Recent Decisions of Interest to Labor' Wages and Hours 2 Motor Carrier Act Exemption-Employees in Intrastate Transportation. Section 13 (b) (1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act exempts from the maximum-hours requirements "any employee with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act, 1935." In a recent case the United States Supreme Court considered the applicability of this exemption to a motor carrier's employees whose activities in interstate transportation, as a group, amounted to less than 4 percent of their total employment activities during the year. 3 The employees in question were truck drivers. and mechanics, 96 percent of whose work activities dealt solely with intrastate transportation of commodities most of which were, however, destined to move in interstate commerce. They worked over 40 hours a week and received only the regular rate of pay for all hours worked. The Administrator of the Fair Labor Standards Act sought to enjoin their employer from violating the act, contending that these employees did not fall within the exemption in section 13 (b) (1). The facts, as they appeared to the Court, indicated that the drivers' and mechanics' services 1 Prepared in the Office of the Solicitor, U. S. Department of Labor. The cases covered in this article represent a selection of the significant decisions believed to be of special interest. No attempt has been made to reflect all recent judicial and administrative developments in the field of labor law or to indicate the effect of particular decisions in jurisdictions in which contrary results may be reached, based upon local statutory provisions, the existence of local precedents, or a different approach by the courts to the issue presented. This section is intended merely as a digest of some recent decisions involving the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Portal-to-Portal Act. It is not to be construed and may not be relied upon as an interpretation of these acts by the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division or any agency of the Department of Labor. Morris v. McComb (U. S. Sup. Ct., Nov. 17, 1947). in interstate transportation amounted to less than 4 percent of the employer's total trucking services, and that the employees' performance of such services was shared indiscriminately and mingled haphazardly with the performance of simila services not interstate in character. For example one driver made 97 interstate trips; two made none and for the group as a whole the number of such trips averaged 16. On the basis of these facts, the Court ruled that such employees were subject to the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service for the entire group of the carrier's drivers and me chanics pursuant to section 204 of the Motor Carrier's Act, and that the exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act applied. The Court held that the Commission's power was based on congressional intent to assure safety in interstate transportation. Hence, the amount of time employees actually spent in interstate transportation activities and the manner in which these activities were actually divided among the employees in the group were immaterial. The fac that the Commission had not established qualifica tions and maximum hours for these employees was not the test; the statute requires only that the Com mission has such power in order to exempt employ ees in interstate transportation from the overtim provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Four justices dissented, Mr. Justice Murphy taking the position that the exemption in section 13 (b) (1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act wa intended to apply only to employees devoting substantial part of their activities to interstat transportation. The majority decision, he held would permit widespread evasion of the act by carriers primarily engaged in intrastate trans portation. Persons Making Railroad Car Doors Held Railroa Employees. A determination by a trial court that persons engaged by a railroad company t manufacture doors for the railroad's freight car on railroad property are not independent con tractors and employers but are, together with th workmen they hired and supervised, employees o the railroad, was upheld by a United States Ci Walling v. McKay, 70 F. Supp. 160. |