more. We have closed out more cases than we have received, so there has been a cut in the backlog. That has to do with the disputes aspect of the Board's work where we have had a substantially heavier work load, and yet we disposed of 37 percent more cases than the previous year. In the voluntary wage cases, that is, requests by employers alone, of which there are over 70 percent, or jointly with unions for permission to increase wage rates, the record is as follows:

This year we received 194,783 requests for proposed wage adjustments. That might be compared to last year's load which was 163,204. Our receipts have been considerably higher than last year, increasing by 31,579 cases.

Mr. CANNON. As to those requests that you have received, what is the nature of those requests?

Dr. TAYLOR. That is when an employer comes to us and says, "I wish to make this wage increase," or "I have agreed with my union to make a wage increase. Will you certify that the proposed adjustment is within the limits of the stabilization program?"

Mr. CANNON. How many of those were there for the current year? Dr. TAYLOR. There were 194,783 received.

Mr. CANNON. How does that compare with last year?

Dr. TAYLOR. Last year there were 163,204. So our load in those cases increased by 31,579 voluntary cases.

Our record of the disposition of those voluntary cases is better than it was last year. We disposed of more than we received, that is, 197,150 cases. That happens to be about 20 percent more cases disposed of during the past year than in the previous year. Currently we have pending about 15,400 voluntary cases. That is an average

of 1,300 cases per regional board.

I would like to give you one over-all picture. We are always concerned by the delays in the handling of our cases because of the bearing that delays may have on industrial relations.

I am happy to report that, whereas the average dispute case when we were last before you took us about 20 weeks to settle, the average dispute case now is settled in 12 weeks, so there has been a material improvement in the time required to dispose of these cases.

As respects voluntary requests for wage adjustments, when we were here before, we stated that the average time required to dispose of that kind of case was 5 weeks. We have now reduced the time to 3 weeks. The Board has made strenuous efforts to achieve those results.

That gives you the general, over-all picture.

Mr. CANNON. That is a very satisfactory record both as to the number of cases handled and the number disposed of, and the time allotted to each case.

Have there been any major changes in the organization or the procedure of the Board since your last appearance before the committee? Dr. TAYLOR. No; there has not been any major organizational or procedural changes. Our efforts in the past year have been principally in the direction of taking the organization which we had set up and making it operate more efficiently.

We have made some internal adjustments in the functions of particular divisions of the Board and procedural changes to expedite the handling of cases. There have been no new divisions added and no major organizational changes during the year.

NUMBER OF STRIKES

Mr. CANNON. How does your number of man-hours lost compare with the previous year?

Dr. TAYLOR. In strikes?

Mr. CANNON. Yes.

Dr. TAYLOR. We do have some of that information available. First of all, let me say that of the strikes that have taken place, the vast majority were unauthorized by the top officials of the unions. In most instances we have had exceptionally fine support from the leaders of international unions in getting unauthorized stoppages straightened out. There were about 2,900 strikes in the year 1942, 3,750 in 1943, and about 5,000 in 1944. Those data for 1944 are subject to revision. But that compares with the annual average of 3,385 strikes or lock-outs for the 5 pre-war years, from 1937 to 1941. However the duration of those strikes was much shorter in war years than in pre-war years. The workers involved in the 1944 strikes and lock-outs were idle an average of 4 working days, as compared with 6 working days in 1943, 5 in 1942, 9.8 days in 1941, 11.6 days in 1940, and 15.2 days in 1939.

So there is a marked decrease in the amount of idle time lost during strikes. The percentage of available working time lost was ten one-hundredths of 1 percent in 1944 as compared with fifteen onehundredths in 1943.

Mr. WOODRUM. I understood you to say that you had had splendid cooperation with international unions, or with the leaders of international unions. Did you mean to say the leaders of international unions or the leaders of national unions?

Dr. TAYLOR. With the leaders of international and national unions. Mr. WOODRUM. Do you speak of them as international or national unions?

Dr. TAYLOR. Both of them. Some of them are international and some are national. Those are their official names.

Mr. SNYDER. What percentage of them are national unions?

Dr. TAYLOR. We do not know of any strike last year that was authorized by a national union.

STATUS OF BACKLOG OF CASES

(See p. 24)

cases.

Mr. CANNON. You said last year you had a backlog of 16,000 Now you tell us that you are disposing of more cases than you receive, and that you are reducing the backlog. Evidently that is true. What is the situation now as to the backlog?

Dr. TAYLOR. The number of cases currently pending, that is, dispute cases, is 2,829, and in voluntary cases the number is 15,429. That is the current backlog.

Mr. CANNON. What is the trend? Is the number awaiting your action decreasing?

Mr. KHEEL. The trend continues fairly constant. I think we can show you that very graphically on two charts we have here. Mr. CANNON. You may explain those.

Dr. TAYLOR. In general, the disputes cases run about 150 a week. Mr. KHEEL. This is a chart showing the dispute cases [indicating chart]. The top line represents the number of cases we have. About 2,800 are pending presently, and there has been a decrease, as you can

see, since last October. This chart runs back to the beginning of the fiscal year 1943.

These jagged lines [indicating on chart] represent the inflow and outflow of cases, this being the number of cases on hand. It does vary considerably from week to week, although you can see that the inflow runs generally about 150 cases a week.

Mr. SNYDER. What makes that difference in the end?

Mr. KHEEL. We put on a drive with our regional boards, and we disposed of as many disputes as we could through this intensive drive, and the results are shown here [indicating]. The continuous line represents the disposition of cases and it ran up to about 250, the most we ever disposed of in any one period of time. That reflects itself in the downward turn of this curve.

Mr. WOODRUM. How about keeping that drive going, and keeping them going at that same rate?

Mr. KHEEL. The drive ran for a period of 3 months which formally ended on April 1. We are planning for another drive to begin about May 1. We specified the figures that we expected each regional board to meet, and followed up on the progress or insufficient progress made by each region.

This chart [indicating] represents our voluntary cases. The continuous line at the top represents the number of cases we have on hand. We are at about the lowest we have been. As of April 1, 1945, we had about 12,000 such cases.

Mr. CANNON. That is, as compared with 16,000 last year?
Mr. KHEEL. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. How many have you disposed of in that time?

Mr. KHEEL. It is about 197,000.

Mr. TABER. That means you are disposing of about 4,000 a week? Mr. KHEEL. About 4,000 a week; yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. I thought you said you were only disposing of about 250 with the drive.

Mr. KHEEL. I was referring to disputes cases. These are the voluntary cases. We dispose of about 150 to 200 dispute cases each week and about 4,000 voluntary cases each week, on the average.

Mr. CANNON, In view of the fact that you have this heavy backlog on hand which you are decreasing slightly, it would seem that this drive ought to be continued indefinitely. There is no reason why you should let up in that drive, since you are getting results. Does it involve any additional expense or additional personnel?

Dr. TAYLOR. No; except for considerable overtime on part of our staff. But as a matter of fact, there will be groups of cases combed out, once they can be handled quickly, and then you catch up on the more difficult ones after you finish. So it would go in spurts. Mr. CANNON. Then, as a matter of fact, it does not decrease: it merely takes care of the cases which can be quickly disposed of? Dr. TAYLOR. Yes; to some extent.

Mr. CANNON. Always you have a backlog of difficult cases?
Dr. TAYLOR. Yes.

Mr. CANNON. You made a very satisfactory record there. Suppose you put that chart in tabulated form and give it to us by months, beginning with January, 1944, showing the number you have received, the number disposed of, and the number carried over.

Dr. TAYLOR. Yes; we would be very glad to do that. (The statement requested is as follows:)