Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Conventions and Recommendations Adopted at Geneva by the International Labor Conference.

To the Congress of the United States:

In accordance with the obligations of the United States of America as a member of the International Labor Organization I transmit herewith authentic texts of four Conventions and eight Recommendations adopted at Geneva by the International Labor Conference, as follows:

Convention (No. 99) concerning minimum wage fixing machinery in agriculture, adopted June 28, 1951;

Recommendation (No. 89) concerning minimum wage fixing machinery in agriculture, adopted June 28, 1951;

Convention (No. 100) concerning equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, adopted June 1951;

Recommendation (No. 90) concerning equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, adopted June 29, 1951;

Convention (No. 101 ) concerning holidays with pay in agriculture, adopted June 26, 1952;

Recommendation (No. 93) concerning holidays with pay in agriculture, adopted June 26, 1952;

Recommendation (No. 94) concerning consultation and cooperation between employers and workers at the level of the undertaking, adopted June 26, 1952;

Convention (No. 103) concerning maternity protection (revised 1952), adopted June 28, 1952;

Recommendation (No. 95) concerning maternity protection, adopted June 28, 1952;

Recommendation (No. 96) concerning the minimum age of admission to work underground in coal mines, adopted June 19, 1953;

Recommendation (No. 97) concerning the protection of the health of workers in places of employment, adopted June 1953;

Recommendation (No. 98) concerning holidays with pay, adopted June 23, 1954.

I transmit also the report of the Secretary of State with regard to the several Conventions and Recommendations, together with copies of letters from the Secretary of Labor to the Secretary of State setting forth the coordinated view of the interested departments and agencies of the executive branch of the Government with respect to the various instruments.

It is the opinion of those departments and agencies that the Conventions and Recommendations cited above fall within the purview of Article 19, paragraph 7(b), of the constitution of the International Labor Organization, which provides in the case of a federal state that Conventions and Recommendations which the federal government regards as appropriate under its constitutional system, in whole or in part, for action by the constituent states, provinces, or cantons rather than for federal action shall be referred to the appropriate federal and state authorities for their consideration. It is in accordance with the foregoing provisions that ratification of the Conventions by the United States is not deemed appropriate and that I submit the Conventions and Recommendations to the Congress for such consideration as it may wish to give.

I do not favor the enactment of Federal legislation with respect to the subject matter of the Convention (No. 101) and corresponding Recommendation (No. 93) concerning holidays with pay in agriculture, the Recommendation (No. 94) concerning consultation and cooperation between employers and workers at the level of the undertaking, and the Recommendation (No. 98) concerning holidays with pay, so far as it relates to private employment.

Existing Federal legislation adequately covers the substance of the Recommendation (No. 96) concerning the minimum age of admission to work underground in coal mines and the Recommendation (No. 98) concerning holidays with pay, as it relates to employees of the Federal Government. Accordingly, I do not advise the enactment of additional legislation by the Congress with respect to those subjects.

I am sending texts of the Conventions and Recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior in order that they may be transmitted to the Governments of Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands for such action as may be deemed suitable. I am also transmitting the texts of the Conventions and Recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior for appropriate action and advice with regard to American Samoa, and, with the exception of the Recommendation (No. 96) concerning the minimum age of admission to work underground in coal mines, to the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Navy for appropriate action and advice with regard to those areas of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under their respective jurisdictions.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER