Reemployment Rights of Merchant Seamen

Also present: James V. McCandless, Esq., assistant legislative counsel, Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration; Percy Peck, Esq., attorney, War Shipping Administration.

The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order. We have several matters to take up and we will proceed with the consideration of H. R. 3973, the so-called reemployment rights bill. The War Shipping Administration has reported favorably on the legislation and the report will be found in the appendix. For the information of the committee, Public Law 87, Seventy-eighth Congress, which the proposed legislation seeks to amend, will also be found in the appendix. We have present Mr. Peck and Mr. McCandless representing the War Shipping Administration.

Mr. McCandless, will you proceed? Will you give your name?

STATEMENT OF JAMES V. McCANDLESS, ASSISTANT LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL, WAR SHIPPING ADMINISTRATION

Mr. MCCANDLESS. James McCandless.

The CHAIRMAN. And what is your position?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. Assistant legislative counsel with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you suggest any amendments?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. No amendments have been suggested.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill' is Document No. 55. Mr. Herter said the other day that it is largely a stopgap legislation. I do not know how far it should go.

Mr. MCCANDLESS. I think that there are three principal points.
The CHAIRMAN. Will you proceed and tell us about this?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. The Selective Service and Training Act and the Army Reserve and retired personnel service law, covering the services the armed services-and Public Law 87, covering the merchant marine each are worded in such a way that the reemployment rights are available to those persons who leave their employment to go into the Army or the Navy or into the merchant marine. There is no provision in either law to provide for persons who leave their permanent employment to go into the armed services and then subsequently go into the merchant marine, or vice versa.

This bill is so worded that it will provide for those persons who serve successively in the armed services and the merchant marine, or the merchant marine and the armed services, and give them their reemployment rights when they leave that service that last they were in. The second objective of the bill is to cover those persons who are the civilian employees of the War Department in their Army Transport Service.

And the third purpose is to extend the time for making application for reemployment of those persons who served in the merchant marine from 40 to 90 days, which is uniform with the Selective Service Act and those acts covering the armed service personnel.

Mr. BUCK. Could I ask a question?

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Buck.

Mr. BUCK. Could I ask for more light on these men who served in the Army Transport Service? I do not understand the connection with this bill.

Mr. MCCANDLESS. The civilian- personnel of the Army Transport Service are not covered under the Selective Service Act or the Army retirement or Reserve Army service law. They are not covered with unemployment rights similar to those available to the members of the armed services. They, being civilians, would not be covered unless they were covered under some such bill as this.

The CHAIRMAN. What type are they?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. They are the civilian personnel of the Army Transport Service.

Mr. Buck. But they are under civil service?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. Yes.

Mr. BRADLEY. They are not in the merchant marine?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. They are not. They are under a separate personnel of the maritime service. They have a little different position than the members of the merchant marine because they are covered by the United States Unemployment Service and covered under civil service, which is not true of those employed through the War Shipping Administration. But they do not have war service rights.

They have about 35,000 civilian marine employees in the Army Transport Service.

Mr. BUCK. Are they temporary or permanent civil service?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. They are necessarily temporary because the Army would have no possible need for that large marine service as soon as they have returned their equipment and their personnel.

The CHAIRMAN. All right, Mr. McCandless; you may proceed. Mr. MCCANDLESS. Another factor with regard to Mr. Buck's question about the Army Transport Service is that the Army's vessels are public vessels, rather than private vessels, as a good bit of the rest of the merchant marine.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, if you will speak a little more distinctly it will be a great help. It is very difficult for me to hear you. Mr. MCCANDLESS. I will be very happy to do that, Judge. The CHAIRMAN. Are there further questions on this? Mr. HERTER. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Herter.

Mr. HERTER. As I understand it, the first part of this bill is merely to take care of a gap in the law which has not been covered when an individual who had a leave from private service, shifts from the

Army to the Maritime Service, or shifts from the Maritime Service to the Army, and is not entitled to the original unemployment rights. Mr. MCCANDLESS. That is right. Otherwise, as the separate laws are written, they must make their application within a limited time. If they go from one service to the other, they cannot make that application in a limited time.

Mr. BONNER. How has he been able to shift from the Army to the Navy, or from the Army or the Navy into the merchant marine?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. During the period when experienced seamen were very short, we made a request of the War Department for the release of experienced seamen.

The CHAIRMAN. For the release?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. For the release from the Army of experienced seamen and mariners, which request was acknowledged, and they released approximately 2,000.

Mr. BONNER. Draftees?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. Draftees or enlistees, to man the merchant marine during the time when they were extremely short.

And on the other side, we have had, perhaps, in excess of 10,000 merchant seamen who have gone into the Army, following their service in the merchant marine, without returning to civilian life again. Mr. BONNER. They are taken care of under existing law.

Mr. MCCANDLESS. No; because they would not be returning to their jobs within the present limitation of 40 days from the time that they were discharged or released from the Maritime Service.

Mr. HALE. Referring to the language at the top of page 4, to what extent is that enforced? What can they do about it?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. I am sorry, sir. I did not quite get the extent of your question.

Mr. HALE. On the top of page 4 of the bill it says:

such employer shall restore such person to such position or to a position of like seniority

and so forth. Suppose that he does not. What can you do about it? Would you have a mandatory injunction issued?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. The law provides that the United States district attorney shall represent the individual in filing such necessary motion, complaint, or petition as may be necessary to obtain restitution to his position; nad the provisions in this bill are the same as the provisions in the Selective Service and Training Act.

Mr. BUCK. That is section 3?

Mr. MCCANDLESS. Yes. There have been cases that have been decided by the courts enforcing this right to réemployment.

Mr. HERTER. Might I ask one question on the drafting?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. Herter.

Mr. HERTER. Beginning on page 2, section B:

Any person entering service in the merchant marine after May 1, 1940

and so on;

Then, in section 2, you use the wording:

In the case of any such person who, in order to perform service in the merchant marine

Then on page 4, section B, line 13, and line 20, and on page 5, line 6: shall have entered upon service in the merchant marine—

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