Statement by the President Upon Signing Order Establishing the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy.

I AM TODAY issuing an Executive Order establishing the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy. The Committee is composed of the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce and 19 other members from the public, labor and management. The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Commerce will alternate as chairman of the Committee for periods of one year, the Secretary of Labor serving during the first year.

The purpose of this Committee is to help our free institutions work better and to encourage sound economic growth and healthy industrial relations. The Committee will study, advise me, and make recommendations with respect to policies that may be followed by labor, management, government, or the public which will promote free and responsible collective bargaining, industrial peace, sound wage and price policies, higher standards of living and increased productivity. The Committee has been directed to include among the matters to be considered by it: (1) policies designed to ensure that American products are competitive in world markets, and (2) the benefits and problems created by automation and other technological advances.

I deem this a most important Committee. It will bring to the great problems in the fields of collective bargaining, industrial relations, wage and price policies, and productivity the experience and wisdom of labor, management and public experts in these fields.

It is my hope that the Committee may help restore that sense of common purpose which has strengthened our Nation in times of emergency and generate a climate conducive to cooperation and resolution of differences.

It is my hope that the advice of this Committee will assist the Government, labor, management, and the general public to achieve greater understanding of the problems which beset us in these troubled times and to find solutions consistent with our democratic traditions, our free enterprise economy, and our determination that this country shall move forward to a better life for all its people.

The membership list of the Committee is attached. It is gratifying that I have been able to obtain the participation of such outstanding persons in the Committee's work. I greatly appreciate the willingness of these public-spirited citizens to serve their country in this way. The fact that such highly qualified persons have agreed to be members of this important Committee augurs well for its success.