Special Message to the Congress on Labor-Management Relations.

To the Congress of the United States:

All who think seriously about the problem of reconversion--of changing our economy from war to peace--realize that the transition is a difficult and dangerous task. There are some who would have the Government, during the reconversion period, continue telling our citizens what to do, as was so often necessary when the very life of our nation was at stake during the period of world conflict.

That however is not the policy of the Government. The policy is to remove wartime controls as rapidly as possible, and to return the free management of business to those concerned with it.

It was for the express purpose of getting away as soon as possible from some of the wartime powers and controls that the recent National Labor-Management Conference was called in Washington. Instead of retaining in the Federal Government the power over wages and labor agreements and industrial relations which a global war had made necessary, the top leaders of management and labor were invited to recommend a program under which labor relations would be turned back into the hands of those involved.

It was decided that full responsibility for reaching agreement on such a program would be left with the representatives of labor and management. Accordingly the conference was made up of leaders of labor and management only. Government representatives participated only as observers, without vote. The agenda and the entire program were worked out by the leaders themselves.

In opening the conference I said:

"I want to make it clear that this is your conference--a management labor conference--and not a Government conference. You have not been chosen by me or by any Government official. You have been selected by the leading labor and industrial organizations in the United States. There has been no interference by Government in that selection ....

"The time has come for labor and management to handle their own affairs in the traditional American, democratic way. I hope that I can give up the President's wartime powers as soon as possible, so that management and labor can again have the full and undivided responsibility for providing the production that we must have to safeguard our domestic economy and our leadership in international affairs."

I am sure that it was the hope of the American people that out of this conference would come some recommendation for insuring industrial peace where collective bargaining and conciliation have broken down.

The conference is now closed. The very fact that the top leaders of labor and management have met and worked together for more than three weeks is itself some progress.

Some agreements on a few general principles were also reached. For example, agreement on the principles of collective bargaining, and recommendations on the detailed procedure to be used; agreement on strengthening and enlarging governmental conciliation services; recognition of the necessity of eliminating discrimination in employment; agreement on settling by voluntary arbitration grievances under labor contracts and disputes concerning their interpretation--these are all valuable.

But on the all-important question of how to avoid work stoppages when these expedients have failed, the conference arrived at no accord. Failing in that, the conference was unable to attain the objective most necessary to successful reconversion.

If industrial strife continues, the quick reconversion which has been planned, and which is now proceeding on schedule or even ahead of schedule on many fronts, will fail. In that event, we shall face a period of low production, low consumption, and widespread unemployment-instead of the high production, high employment, good markets and good wages that are within our grasp.

The history of labor relations has proven that nearly all labor disputes can and should be settled by sincere and honest collective bargaining. The vast majority of those disputes which are not adjusted by collective bargaining are settled through Government conciliation. For example during the month of October last, 354 strikes were settled by the Conciliation Service, and 1282 labor controversies were adjusted before any work stoppages occurred.

The American people commend the many instances where management and labor have settled their problems peacefully. Many of these were in critical industries where work stoppages would have gained great prominence in the newspapers and over our radios. But when industrial disputes were settled, little notice was taken of them by press or radio.

We know, however, that there are always some disputes that cannot be settled this way.

Industrial strife in some key industries means not only loss of a great amount of wages and purchasing power; but it may have ramifications throughout the country affecting the whole reconversion process. In such industries, when labor and management cannot compose their differences, the public through the Federal Government has a duty to speak and to act. In the last analysis, labor, management and the public have the same interest.

The reconversion effort is now going well. The people have a right to expect it to succeed. Specific obstacles that stand in its way must not be allowed to defeat that expectation.

Good labor relations are just as important now as they were during the war. They should be based on justice, and not on tests of strength. Any industrial dispute which depends for settlement upon the respective strength of the parties results in loss to everyone; it causes loss of wages to the worker and his family, loss of dividends to the stockholders and owners of the industry, loss of goods to the public.

I regret that labor and management have not been able to agree on machinery that would provide a solution for existing strikes in some of the major industries and for the strikes which are threatened. Strikes already in effect may possibly cripple our reconversion program. Negotiations have broken down in other industries, and stoppages are threatened.

The American people have been patient. They have waited long in the hope that those leaders in labor and management whose business it was to handle this problem would be able to do so in agreement. The Federal Government declined time and again to make any suggestion to the conference as to proper machinery. All that the Government did was to point out the objective which the American people expected it to attain.

Now that the conference has adjourned without any recommendation on the subject, it becomes the duty of the Government to act on its own initiative. Therefore, I now suggest to the Congress that well reasoned and workable legislation be passed at the earliest possible moment to provide adequate means for settling industrial disputes and avoiding industrial strife.

I recommend that for the settlement of industrial disputes in important nation-wide industries there be adopted the principles underlying the Railway Labor Act. The general pattern of that Act is not applicable to small industries or to small local disputes in large industries. But it would be effective, as well as fair, in such wide-spread industries, for example, as steel, automobile, aviation, mining, oil, utilities and communications. I do not intend to make this list exclusive. Nor do I think that local inconsequential strikes even within these industries should be included. The objective should be to cover by legislation only such stoppages of work as the Secretary of Labor would certify to the President as vitally affecting the national public interest.

In industrial disputes in such industries, where collective bargaining has broken down, and where the Conciliation Service of the Federal Government has been unable to bring the parties to agreement, and where the Secretary of Labor has been unable to induce the parties voluntarily to submit the controversy to arbitration, I recommend the following procedure:

Upon certification by the Secretary of Labor to the effect that a dispute continues despite his efforts, and that a stoppage of work in the affected industry would vitally affect the public interest, the President, or his duly authorized agent, should be empowered to appoint, within five days thereafter, a Fact-finding Board similar to the Emergency Board provided for under the Railway Labor Act.

I recommend that during these five days after the Secretary of Labor has made the above certificate, it be unlawful to call a strike or lockout, or to make any change in rates of pay, hours, or working conditions, or in the established practices in effect prior to the time the dispute arose.

The Board should be composed of three or more outstanding citizens, and should be directed to make a thorough investigation of all the facts which it deems relevant in the controversy. In its investigation it should have full power to subpoena individuals and records, and should be authorized to call upon any Government agency for information or assistance. It should make its report within twenty days, unless the date is extended by agreement of the parties with the approval of the President. The report should include a finding of the facts and such recommendations as the Board deems appropriate.

While the Fact-finding Board is deliberating and for five days thereafter it should be made unlawful to call a strike or lock-out, or to make any change in rates of pay, hours, working conditions or established practices, except by agreement.

The parties would not be legally bound to accept the findings or follow the recommendations of the Fact-finding Board, but the general public would know all the facts. The result, I am sure, would be that in most cases, both sides would accept the recommendations, as they have in most of the railway labor disputes.

I believe that the procedure should be used sparingly, and only when the national public interest requires it.

The legislation should pay particular attention to the needs of seasonal industries, so that the so-called "cooling-off period" can be arranged in those industries in a manner which will not subject labor to an undue disadvantage.

There are other subjects which were on the agenda of the Labor-Management Conference, on which no agreement was reached. The most immediate, the most pressing, however, is this one of machinery. I hope that the Congress will act upon this matter as quickly as possible-and certainly before its Christmas recess.

In order to avoid any delay in the settlement of the most important existing strikes, I am appointing such a Fact-finding Board for the present stoppage in the dispute between General Motors Corporation and the United Automobile Workers. While this Board will not have the statutory powers which I hope the Congress will soon authorize, I am. sure that the American people will expect the employer and the employees to cooperate with the board as fully as if appropriate legislation had already been passed.

In the meantime, I am asking both parties to the dispute to display the same kind of patriotism as they displayed during the war. I am asking all the workers to return to work immediately, and I am asking the employers to proceed energetically with full production. I make this appeal on behalf of the American people to their fellow citizens who are now responsible for this major obstacle holding up our reconversion program.

In connection with the threatened strike involving the United States Steel Corporation and the United Steel Workers, I am appointing a similar board. The public will expect full co-operation with the board by both sides. I am making the same appeal to the United Steel Workers to remain at work pending the report of the board's findings and recommendations.

I hope that the Congress will approve the steps which I am now taking. They are being taken in the interest of accelerating our production, promoting our reconversion program, and pushing forward to a higher standard of living.

This is an immediate program which is fair to both sides. I hope that the Congress, naturally disappointed at the failure of labor and management to agree upon a solution for the prevention of industrial disputes, will not adopt repressive or coercive measures against either side. A free American Labor and a free American private enterprise are essential to our free democratic system. Legislation which would stifle full freedom of collective bargaining on either side would be a backward step which the American people would not tolerate.

I am sure that the Congress will give its calm and careful consideration to this matter so essential to the progress of American life.

HARRY S. TRUMAN