Statement by the President Making Public the Report of the Commission on Labor Relations in Atomic Energy Installations.
ON September 3, 1948, I appointed a special commission of three experts in labor-management relations to make a study of the problem of peaceful and orderly settlement of labor disputes in Government-owned, privately-operated atomic energy installations.
The members of the special commission, William H. Davis, chairman, Aaron Horritz, and Edwin E. Witte, consulted with labor, management, and the Atomic Energy Commission. Their report, submitted to me today, emphasizes the special responsibility of management and labor in all Government-owned, privately-operated atomic energy installations to seek in every way by voluntary procedures and mutual agreement the settlement of disputes affecting vital operations.
It is the opinion of the Commission that mutual acceptance by both labor and management of this special responsibility will permit settlement of differences through free collective bargaining without interruption of production.
To fortify the principle of free collective bargaining, and to help adapt it to the special conditions of the atomic energy industry, the Commission recommends the establishment of a Labor Relations Panel appointed by the President for the atomic energy programs.
The method suggested would not be a substitute for collective bargaining. The Commission emphasizes that the panel would be effective only if its help is invoked infrequently and in the most difficult cases. It is up to labor and management to settle their own disputes through conscientious bargaining and use of existing conciliation services.
No special legislation is necessary to carry out the recommendations of the report. I shall give careful consideration to the recommendations.
Because of the importance of the report, I am making it public at this time. I commend each member of the Commission for the time and effort given in the public interest to this important task.
Note: The President's Commission on Labor Relations in Atomic Energy Installations was appointed as a result of the labor dispute at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (see 1948 volume, this series, Item 140). The Commission's report is dated April 1949 (Government Printing Office, 13 pp.).
The report proposed as a mediation agency an Atomic Energy Labor Relations Panel. The Panel was to take jurisdiction only after collective bargaining and the normal processes of conciliation, including the Federal Conciliation Service, had failed to bring about a settlement; it could make recommendations but they were not to be regarded as compulsory.
In recommending that a Panel of three impartial members be established the report suggested that this procedure be given a trial period of 2 or possibly 3 years, subject to termination by the Atomic Energy Commission at any time. The Panel members were to be appointed by the President from nominations submitted to him by the Atomic Energy Commission.
For the statement by the President upon appointing William H. Davis as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Labor Relations Panel, see Item 87.
Harry S Truman, Statement by the President Making Public the Report of the Commission on Labor Relations in Atomic Energy Installations. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230172