TABLE 3.—Situations Disposed of by United States Conciliation Service, July 1943, by States-Continued

THE United States Conciliation Service, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1943, disposed of 17,559 situations, involving 10,974,611 workers (table 1). The services of this agency were requested by the employers, employees, and other interested parties.

Of these situations 1,701 were strikes and lockouts involving 799,465 workers; 9,457 were threatened strikes and controversies involving 4,905,237 workers. During the fiscal year 2,539 disputes were certified to the National War Labor Board; jurisdiction was assumed by other agencies in 647 others. The remaining 3,215 situations included investigations, technical services, arbitrations, requests for information, consultations, etc.

The facilities of the Service were used in 29 major industrial fields, such as building trades, and the manufacture of food, iron and steel, textiles, transportation equipment, etc. (table 2), and were utilized by employees and employers in 48 States, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands (table 3).

TABLE 1.-Situations Disposed of by United States Conciliation Service, July 1, 1942– June 30, 1943, by Type of Situation

1 During the fiscal year 1,532 cases involving 800,197 workers were adjusted, subject to approval of the wage provisions by the National War Labor Board, to hearings officer, or to arbitration procedure, with the hearings officer or arbiter to be selected also by the National War Labor Board.

TABLE 2.-Situations Disposed of by United States Conciliation Service, July 1, 1942– June 30, 1943, by Industries

TABLE 3.-Situations Disposed of by United States Conciliation Service, July 1, 1942– June 30, 1943, by States

State Workmen's Compensation Legislation in 1943!

ADVANCES made in workmen's compensation legislation by the 1943 State legislatures far surpass those of any other recent year. Of the 44 legislatures which met in regular session, 39 materially strengthened their laws.2

Legislatures concentrated on remedying workmen's compensation inadequacies emphasized by accelerated war production. Occupational-disease legislation in 5 States affords protection to thousands of additional workers in war plants, where industrial expansion, use of new processes and chemicals, and lengthened hours have increased exposure to industrial diseases. Nineteen States raised the level of benefit payments under their acts. The creation of second-injury funds in 6 more States should stimulate the employment of physically handicapped workers. Other improvements include numerous amendments which extend coverage of workmen's compensation laws, provide for rehabilitation of the injured, insure prompter payment of compensation, and improve procedure of administrative agencies.

Occupational Diseases

Occupational diseases are now covered, for the first time, in Arizona and Oregon. A contributing factor in the passage of the Oregon law was a report made by a committee investigating fume hazards in a large shipbuilding company in that State, stressing the immediate need for providing care for those who have become ill as a direct result of exposure to industrial hazards.

The new Oregon act establishes general coverage of occupational diseases, i. e., all diseases arising out of employment are compensable. The benefits equal those prescribed in the workmen's compensation law. If a worker is permanently and totally disabled by an occupational disease, he will receive $50 a month, with small additional allowances for dependent children. In the event of an injury causing temporary total disability, his compensation will equal two-thirds of his wages but not more than $97 a month. The small benefits are partially offset, however, by the provision for payment during the whole period of disability or, in case of death, during life of the widow. A medical board is created by the act, consisting of one doctor appointed by the Industrial Accident Commission, another by the claimant, and a third by these two; to this board a worker, dissatisfied by an award, may appeal. The law makes no provision for review of the medical board's findings.

I Prepared in Division of Labor Standards of the United States Department of Labor.

? The legislatures of Missouri, New Jersey, and Wisconsin were still in session at the date of writing (midAugust) but legislation which these States had already enacted in this field is included in this article.

The Arizona law, although it does not cover all diseases arising out of employment, includes a very comprehensive schedule of diseases. The act establishes a special fund for occupational diseases. Coverage is compulsory for employers of 3 or more, but employees are given the right to reject the act. This latter provision, like the one in the State workmen's compensation act, came into existence because of a clause in the State constitution to the effect that an injured worker's right to elect the course he would pursue should never be abridged or denied.

Three other States (Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota) which previously had some degree of occupational-disease protection revised their laws to provide all-inclusive coverage. Nebraska very materially extended the scope of protective coverage. Formerly, compensation was payable only for diseases incurred in smelting, metal refining, and battery manufacturing. The old laws of both Minnesota and Michigan, on the other hand, included fairly detailed schedules of occupational diseases which had become outmoded.

In the transition to general coverage, Michigan and Minnesota enacted special provisions pertaining to silicosis. Benefits, instead of being based on two-thirds of the average weekly wage as for other injuries, are limited to a graduated scale beginning at $500 for disability resulting during the first month after the act became effective and increasing at the rate of $50 per month.3 Neither State allows payment of compensation for partial disability from silicosis. Furthermore, under the Minnesota act, silicosis may not be presumed to be due to the nature of the employment unless the worker has been exposed to the inhalation of silica dust over a period of at least 5 years, the last 3 of which must have been within the State.

The new Nebraska law retains the same benefits and procedure for silicosis cases as for all other accidents or diseases. However, the general provision specifying that, to be compensable, the disability must commence within the 2 years subsequent to termination of employment, may preclude the payment of compensation in many cases of silicosis which develop slowly.

A few States also amended specific provisions of laws relating to occupational disease. In Illinois, compensation for occupational diseases contracted after July 1, 1943, is increased 171⁄2 percent, instead of 10 percent as had been voted by the legislature in 1941. The level of benefit payments was raised in Indiana also. Ohio eliminated the requirement that in order to be eligible for occupational-disease compensation, an employee must have been a resident of the State for 90 days preceding contraction of the disease. This step affords protection to workers entering Ohio for war jobs.

Further legislation to compensate for industrial diseases may result from investigations authorized by legislatures in Kansas, Nevada, and New Jersey. The Virginia Legislature, meeting in 1942 and 1944, has also authorized such an investigation.

Second Injuries

The action of 6 State legislatures (Maine, Michigan, Washington, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island) in establishing second-injury

In Michigan the aggregate payable for silicosis is $4,000; in Minnesota the aggregate is the same as under the workmen's compensation act-i. e., $12,000 for permanent total disability and $7,500 for death. ⚫ Similar increases were made in compensation for industrial accidents.