TO ALLOW EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUNDS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS AND DAY-CARE CENTERS UNDER SECTION 302 OF TAFT-HARTLEY ACT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE NINETIETH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON. S. 2704 TO AMEND SECTION 302 (c) OF THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT TO ALLOW EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUNDS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS AND DAY-CARE CENTERS UNDER SECTION 302 OF TAFT-HARTLEY ACT FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1968 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:15 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 4232, New Senate Office Building, Senator Ralph W. Yarborough (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Yarborough (presiding), Kennedy of New York, and Javits. Committee staff members present: Stewart E. McClure, chief clerk, Robert O. Harris, counsel to the subcommittee; and Eugene Mittelman, minority counsel to the subcommittee. Senator YARBOROUGH. The Subcommittee on Labor will come to order. We are holding hearings today on my proposal, S. 2704, a bill to amend the Labor Management-Relations Act to permit employer contributions to trust funds to provide employees, their families and dependents with scholarships for study at educational institutions or the establishment of child care centers for pre-school and school-age dependents of employees. This has a number of cosponsors on both sides of the aisle whose names appear on the bill. I think Senator Javits has already been here for the hearings and will shortly return. He was called away to another meeting. The bill provides for an additional exception to the list of enumerated exceptions contained in section 302 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act. It would allow employers to contribute to trust funds which may be established to provide scholarships to employees, their families and dependents for study at educational institutions and for contributions to trust funds which may be established to provide childcare centers for pre-school and school-age dependents of employees. Over the years, many significant steps have been taken to improve the educational opportunities of our citizens. Scholarship programs of many kinds, loan programs, work-study arrangements-all have opened the door of educational opportunity inch by inch, until now we have over 6 million students in colleges in America. It has become increasingly possible for able and ambitious students of all economic backgrounds to further their educational goals. And, yet, we all know that educational costs today are rising. At the very time when higher education is becoming urgent for personal and national needs, the cost of getting it is moving out of the reach of low and moderate-income families. As these costs climb, how many students will be financially squeezed off the education ladder. Faced with high tuitions, how many will be unable to pursue an education. beyond high school. Just as many colleges, new ones, were established when we open up the rooms, we closed them with a price tag. Because the answers to these questions may preview a national crises, I introduced legislation earlier in this session which would declare as the intent of Congress that universal educational opportunity at the postsecondary level be made available through appropriate governmental assistance; in other words, college education be available through appropriate governmental assistance without the student having to put up a tuition bond. That is the aim of education in America. This bill will be a significant step forward in the march toward universal educational opportunity. The passage of this bill will allow labor and management to bargain collectively concerning programs which would make possible scholarship grants to children of eligible employees who enroll and maintain themselves in accredited institutions of higher education. These jointly administered grants would be made as a matter of right, thereby helping all those qualified to receive additional education, not only the bright or exceptional student. Such a program would open up for the first time advanced educational opportunities to the children of the workingman on a nongovernmental basis. Such a program would also provide an opportunity for labor-management cooperation and investment for the improvement of the human resources of our Nation. (The text of the bill S. 2704 follows:) |