purposes of this Act] employees, concerned in the dispute. In such an investigation, the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall be authorized to take a secret ballot of all the employees involved, or to utilize any other appropriate method of ascertaining the names of their duly designated and authorized representatives in such manner as shall insure the choice of representatives by the employees concerned without interference, influence, or coercion exercised by their employer or group of employers: In the conduct of any election for the purposes herein indicated the Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall designate who may participate in the election and establish rules to govern the election, or may appoint a committee of three neutral persons, who, after a hearing of the disputing employees, shall, within ten days after their appointment, designate the employees who may participate in the election. The [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall have access to and have power to make copies of the books and records of the employer or group of employers of such employees to obtain and utilize such information as may be necessary to carry out the purposes and provisions of this section.

TITLE II. NATIONAL SHIP LABOR ADJUSTMENT BOARD

LABOR ADJUSTMENT AGENCY CREATED

SEC. 201. An agency is hereby created, to be known as the "National Ship Labor Adjustment Board", in this Act referred to as "Ship Labor Board", to be composed of forty persons, referred to in this title as "members", who shall be nominated and appointed within sixty days after the effective date of this Act, or as soon thereafter as may be possible, in the manner hereinafter provided.

SELECTION OF LABOR BOARD MEMBERS

SEC. 202. The membership of the Ship Labor Board shall be made up as follows: (1) [Sixteen] Twenty members shall be selected and nominated by such labor organizations, national or regional in scope, as have been or may be organized as contemplated by this Act; (2) [sixteen] and (2) twenty members shall be selected and nominated by the employers who are subject to the provisions of this Act, acting through such group organizations, national or regional in scope, as have been or may be formed [; (3) four members shall be selected and nominated by shippers of commodities moving in the interstate and foreign water-borne commerce of the United States, acting through such group organizations, national or regional in scope, as have been or may be formed; and (4) four members shall be selected and nominated by the Secretary of Labor as representative of the general public and such four members shall not have been financially interested, within three years prior to their nomination, in any business directly affected by the provisions of this Act] but only five labor members and five employer members shall be nominated from residents of any one regional division as prescribed in Section 209 of this Act. Upon receipt of such nominations, the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall investigate the qualifications of each nominee and determine whether such nominee is eligible for appointment as a member. If the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall determine that any nominee is not eligible the nominator shall be immediately advised and requested to file the nomination of another person.

APPOINTMENT AND TERM OF MEMBERS

SEC. 203. The [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall appoint each member of the Ship Labor Board to serve for a term of one year and until a successor is selected, nominated, and appointed in the same manner, and each successive member shall receive a similar appointment. A vacancy on the Ship Labor Board, either temporary or permanent, due to death, resignation, refusal, or inability to attend meetings or other cause, shall be filled by selection, nomination, and appointment, in the same manner as the original nominee was selected, nominated, and appointed. All appointments shall designate the regional division where the member is to serve. Subject to the general provisions of this [title, the Mediation Board] Act, the Maritime Commission shall adopt and promulgate suitable rules and regulations prescribing in detail the manner in which members of the Ship Labor Board shall be selected, nominated, and appointed and prescribing the method for determination of the organizations entitled to make such nominations.

32437-37-pt. 3-2

[MEDIATION BOARD] SELECTION OF MEMBERS

SEC. 204. If, sixty days after the effective date of this Act, all the nominations of qualified persons to complete the full membership of the Ship Labor Board have not been received by the [Mediation Board, that Board] Maritime Commission, that Commission shall complete the authorized membership of the Ship Labor Board by making temporary appointment of a person or persons eligible for membership thereon and possessing the qualifications elsewhere provided in this title. Thereafter, the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall replace such temporary appointees by appointment of persons duly selected and nominated as provided in section 202 of this title, when such nominations are received.

PROTESTS AGAINST NOMINATION

SEC. 205. If, within sixty days after the effective date of this Act, any organiza tion of [employees, employers, or shippers] employees or employers, national or regional in scope, shall have filed with the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission a protest against the appointment of any nomineee based upon the ground that such protesting organization is entitled to participate, but has not participated through no fault of its own, in the selection and nomination of such nominee; or, if, within thirty days after a vacancy occurs after the original Ship Labor Board has been appointed, a like protest is filed with the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission against the appointment of any person nominated to fill such vacancy; the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission may, if it is deemed desirable and necessary, make a temporary appointment, to fill such member vacancy, of a person eligible to be a member as provided elsewhere in this title, and such temporary appointee shall hold office until his successor is selected, nominated, and appointed as provided in this title.

COMMITTEE TO DECIDE PROTESTS

SEC. 206. Upon receipt of any protest of an organization against the appointment of a nominee for membership, as described in section 205 of this title, the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall immediately investigate the claim of such organization to participate in the selection and nomination of a person to fill the vacancy, and, if the claim is found to possess merit, the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall within ten days after such finding request the organization that has submitted the protested nomination and the protesting organization each to designate a representative, and the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall designate a neutral third person, and the three persons so designated shall constitute a committee to determine the controversy. Such committee shall investigate the claim of the protesting organization, and, if so requested in writing, shall accord a hearing, at which hearing the parties to the controversy may be heard in person, by counsel, or by other representatives, as they may respectively elect, and such procedure shall be followed as may be prescribed by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission. Within thirty days after the designation of the neutral member the committee shall decide and certify to the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission whether or not the protesting organization is entitled, within the meaning and intent of this Act, to participate in the selection and nomination of a person to fill the membership position in controversy. The decision of such committee shall be final and binding upon the parties and upon the [Board] Maritime Commission.

OATH OF OFFICE

SEC. 207. Prior to taking office, each member shall take an oath or affirm that he is a citizen of the United States, that he will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and that he will faithfully and impartially perform the duties of a member of the Ship Labor Board.

COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS

SEC. 208. The members of the Ship Labor Board and the persons designated to serve as a committee as provided in section 206 of this title, shall be compensated for their services on a per-diem basis and the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall prescribe the rate of such per-diem compensation. The [compensation and compensation, necessary traveling expenses, and actual expenses incurred for subsistence of the members nominated by [employee, employer, and shipper] employee and employer organizations and of persons designated by such organizations to serve on a committee, shall be paid by the organization that

nominated or designated such persons, and the [compensation and] compensation, necessary traveling expenses [of the other members, and], and actual expenses incurred for subsistence of the neutral person serving on a committee. shall be paid by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission.

REGIONAL DIVISIONS OF BOARD

SEC. 209. The Ship Labor Board shall be divided into four regional divisions, each composed of ten members of whom [four] five shall be nominees of labor organizations, four] and five shall be nominees of employer [organizations, one shall be the nominee of shipper organizations, and one shall be the nominee of the Secretary of Labor, but all] organizations. All of the members of the several divisions shall be residents of the area over which that division exercises jurisdiction. The respective names and headquarters of said regional divisions shall be Atlantic Coast Division, with headquarters in New York City; Gulf Coast Division, with headquarters in New Orleans; Pacific Coast Division, with headquarters in San Francisco; and Great Lakes Division, with headquarters at Chicago. The four divisions shall possess jurisdiction, independent of one another, over all disputes between employees and employers subject to this Act, arising [at ports or shipyards] in the areas herein indicated by the designation of the four respective divisions.

MEETINGS OF BOARD

SEC. 210. The Ship Labor Board shall meet at a place of meeting to be designated by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission within ninety days after the effective date of this Act and adopt such rules as it deems necessary to control proceedings before its respective divisions and not in conflict with the provisions of this Act. Further meetings of the full membership of the Ship Labor Board shall be held at any time and place designated by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, whenever it shall appear that such a meeting is necessary or desirable. Immeidately following the first meeting of the entire Board and the adoption of such rules, the respective divisions shall meet at their headquarters and organize by the selection of a chairman, a vice chairman, and a secretary. Thereafter, each division shall annually designate one of its members to act as chairman and one of its members to act as vice chairman: Provided, however, That the chairmanship and vice chairmanship of any division shall alternate so that both the chairmanship and the vice chairmanship shall be held alternately by a member nominated by the employer organizations and a member nominated by the employee organizations. Vacancies in the office of chairman and vice chairman shall be filled for the unexpired term by the selection of a successor similarly selected.

HANDLING OF DISPUTES

SEC. 211. A dispute between an employee or group of employees and an employer or group of employers, growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning methods of employing workers, rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, including any and all such disputes pending and unsettled on the effective date of this Act, shall be handled in the customary manner up to and including the chief operating official of the employer, or the representative of a group of employers; but, failing to reach an agreement, adjustment, or settlement in this manner, the dispute shall be referred by petition of the parties or by either party to the appropriate division of the Ship Labor Board, given jurisdiction of the dispute by this Act, with a full statement of the facts and all supporting data bearing upon the dispute. Parties to a dispute, to be designated and hereinafter referred to as "petitioner" and "respondent", respectively, may be heard by the respective divisions of the Ship Labor Board either in person, by counsel, or by other representatives, as they may respectively elect, and the division acquiring jurisdiction of a dispute shall give reasonable notice to the parties thereto of all hearings on the dispute held by the Division.

TWO MEMBERS MAY CONDUCT HEARINGS

SEC. 212. Each division of the Ship Labor Board shall have authority to designate two or more of its members to conduct hearings and to take testimony upon disputes at any place designated by the division, and to make findings upon such hearings and testimony: Provided, however, That final awards as to any dispute must be made by the entire division in the manner hereinafter provided.

AWARDS

SEC. 213. A majority vote of all members of the division of the Ship Labor Board shall be required to make an award with respect to any dispute submitted to it. Such an award shall be stated in writing. A copy of the award shall be furnished to the respective parties to the controversy and the award shall be final and binding upon all parties to the dispute except insofar as it shall contain a money award. If an award is made in favor of the petitioner, the division making the award shall enter an order directed to the respondent to make the award effective. If a dispute arises involving an interpretation of an award, the division making such award upon request of either party shall interpret the award in the light of the dispute.

SELECTION OF REFEREE

SEC. 214. Upon failure of any division to agree upon an award because of a deadlock or inability to secure a majority vote of the division members, such division shall forthwith agree upon and select a neutral person to be known as a "referee", to sit with the division as a member thereof and vote upon an award. Should the division fail to agree upon and select a referee within ten days after the date of the deadlock or inability to secure a moajrity vote, then the division or any member thereof, or the parties or either party to the dispute may certify that fact to the [Mediation Board, which Board] Maritime Commission, which Commission shall, within ten days from the date of receiving such certificate, select and name the referee to sit with the division as a member thereof and to vote upon an award in such dispute. The [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall be bound by the same provisions in the appointment of such neutral referee as are provided in title IV of this Act for the appointment of arbitrators and shall fix and pay the compensation, necessary traveling expenses, and actual expenses incurred for subsistence of such referee.

JURISDICTION OF COURTS ON AWARDS

SEC. 215. If a respondent does not comply with the award or order of a division of the Ship Labor Board within the time limit in such award or order, the petitioner, or any person for whose benefit such award or order was made, may file in the district court of the United States for the district [in which he resides or] in which the respondent resides or may be found, a petition setting forth briefly the causes for which he claims relief, and the award or order of the division of the Ship Labor Board in the premises. Such suit in the district court of the United States shall proceed in all respects as other civil suits, except that it shall have precedence over all other civil suits in said court, and except that on the trial of such suit the findings and award or order of the division of the Ship Labor Board shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts therein stated. The petitioner shall not be liable for costs in the district court nor for costs at any subsequent stage of the proceedings, unless they accrue upon an unsuccessful appeal. Costs in the district court not assessed against the respondent shall be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of the United States. If the petitioner shall finally prevail he shall be allowed a reasonable attorneys' fee to be taxed and collected from the respondent as a part of the costs of the suit. District courts are hereby empowered to make such order by writ of mandamus, by injunction or otherwise, and to enter such judgment or decree, as may be appropriate to enforce or set aside the award or order of the division of the Ship Labor Board. The actions at law or in equity, based upon the provisions of this section, shall be commenced within [two years] one year from the time the cause of action accrues under the award of the division of the Ship Labor Board and not thereafter.

QUARTERS AND EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION

SEC. 216. Whenever practicable, the Ship Labor Board and the several divisions thereof shall be supplied with suitable quarters in any Federal building located at its place of meeting. The Ship Labor Board may, subject to the approval of the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, employ and fix the compensation of such assistants as it deems necessary in carrying on its proceedings. The compensation of such employees shall be paid by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission.

ANNUAL REPORTS

SEC. 217. Each division of the Ship Labor Board shall annually prepare and submit a report of its activities to the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, and the substance of such report shall be included in the annual report of the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission to the Congress of the United States. The reports of each division of the Ship Labor Board and the annual report of the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall state in detail all [costs] recoveries awarded, all actions taken, the names, salaries, and duties of all agencies, employees, and officers receiving compensation from the United States under the authority of this Act, and an account of all moneys appropriated by Congress pursuant to the authority conferred by this Act and dispersed by such agencies, employees, and officers.

SEC. 218. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the functioning of port committees or other media for the adjustment of differences between employers and employees which have been, or may be set up by agreements between employers and employees. In the event, however, that either party to such an agreement becomes dissatisfied therewith, the dissatisfied party may elect to go under the jurisdiction of the Ship Labor Board upon sixty days notice in writing to the other parties to such agreement. TITLE III. [NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD

JURISDICTION] MEDIATION And Labor AgrEEMENTS

[SEC. 301. The parties, or either party, to a dispute between an employee or group of employees and an employer or a group of employers, may invoke the services of the Mediation Board in any of the following cases: (1) A dispute concerning methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, not adjusted by the parties in conference; or (2) any other dispute not within the jurisdiction of the Ship Labor Board and not adjusted in conference between the parties or where conferences are refused. The Mediation Board may proffer its services at any time it shall determine that a labor emergency has arisen.]

MEDIATION BOARD

SEC. 301. (a) The parties, or either party, to a dispute between an employee or group of employees and an employer or group of employers, may request the Maritime Commission to set up a Mediation Board in any of the following cases:

1. A dispute concerning methods of employment, rates of pay and rules, or working conditions not adjusted by the parties in conference; or

2. Any other dispute not within the jurisdiction of the Ship Labor Board and not adjusted in conference between the parties or where conferences are refused. The Maritime Commission may offer to create such a Mediation Board without request from either of the disputing parties at any time it shall determine that a labor emergency, has arisen.

(b) The Mediation Board to be set up by the Maritime Commission as provided in subsection (a) of this section shall be constituted as follows:

One member to be selected from employees of the maritime industry who are not directly concerned in the dispute, one member to be selected from employers in the maritime industry who are not directly concerned in the dispute, and one member to be one of the Commissioners of the Maritime Commission, which Commissioner shall act as chairman of such Mediation Board.

(c) The employee and employer members of the Mediation Board shall be compensated for their services on a per diem basis to be prescribed and paid by the Maritime Commission. The necessary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred for subsistence of the members of the Mediation Board and of such personnel as shall be temporarily assigned to the Mediation Board by the Maritime Commission shall be paid by that Commission.

MEDIATION

SEC. 302. Whenever the services of [the] a Mediation Board shall be [invoked or that Board] requested or the Maritime Commission shall determine a labor emergency exists, the Mediation Board created under authority of section 301 shall promptly communicate with the parties to the labor dispute or controversy and shall use its best efforts, by mediation, to bring them to agreement and settlement of the dispute or controversy. If such efforts to bring about an amicable settle