Statement on the Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Commission.

IN MY September 4, 1969, statement on the construction industry I directed the Secretary of Labor to devise a way for union and employer groups to cooperate with each other and the Government in the solution of collective bargaining and related problems in the industry.

Secretary Shultz has recommended the establishment of a tripartite Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Commission. I am issuing an Executive order [11482] immediately to implement this recommendation.

Cooperative effort on the part of labor and management to work with government in times of stress is nothing new in the construction industry. Indeed, on numerous occasions in the past the Federal Government has requested the leaders of the industry to join together with the Government to solve its pressing problems.

Notable among these instances were the Board of Review and the Wage Adjustment Board of the World War II period, the Construction Industry Stabilization Commission of the Korean era, the Atomic Energy Labor Relations Panel established in 1948, and the President's Missile Sites Labor Commission, 1961-67.

The critical problems facing the industry today call again for special efforts both to meet the present challenge and to prepare the industry to cope with the unprecedented demands which will be placed on it in the decade of the seventies.

The Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Commission will be composed of four public representatives and an equal number from labor and from management. The Secretary of Labor, George P. Shultz, will serve as the Chairman and John T. Dunlop, Harvard University, as the Secretary of the Commission. George Romney, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and J. Curtis Counts, Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, will serve as the other public representatives on the Commission.

The Commission will have two major roles. The first--vitally important in terms of the long-range growth and development of the construction industry-will be to bring together top management and labor representatives from all sectors and trades of the industry to discuss and seek solutions to a wide range of labor-management and manpower problems which directly affect the industry's ability to grow and adapt to changing needs. Among the problems to be considered are the training and development of construction manpower, instability and seasonality of employment opportunities, productivity and mobility of the construction labor force.

The second major role of the Commission is to develop voluntary tripartite procedures in settling disputes. The presence of a third party representing the public in matters so directly affecting the public interest is clearly desirable. The intent of these tripartite procedures is neither to provide for compulsory arbitration nor to abrogate rights to strike or lockout; the intent is to facilitate, through the collective bargaining process, industrial peace and stability in the construction industry.

The Commission is directed to work and coordinate its study activities with the recently established Cabinet Committee on Construction. In addition, I have asked all Federal agencies to cooperate with the Commission in discharging its activities. In this connection, I have directed the Bureau of the Budget to compile annually and furnish to both the Commission and the Cabinet Committee on Construction information regarding Federal or federally assisted construction in such forms as the Commission and Committee deem necessary in the discharge of their responsibilities.

This administration is deeply committed to the institution of free collective bargaining. As a fundamental premise, in order for the institution to survive and prosper, the parties must assume the full share of their responsibilities to the industry and to the Nation. Through the years the strains of our dynamic economy bring greater pressures upon one industry than on others. Today a combination of circumstances has produced serious stress within the construction industry. I call upon the leaders of this important industry, working through the Collective Bargaining Commission, to attack problems and to seek solutions which will meet the current and future challenges of the industry.

The Commission members are:

Public

George P. Shultz, Secretary of Labor, Washington, D.C., Chairman of the Commission; George W. Romney, Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C.; J. Curtis Counts, Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Washington, D.C.; Dr. John T. Dunlop, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Unions

C. J. Haggerty, president, Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, 815 16th Street, NW., Washington, D.C.; M. A. Hutcheson, president, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 101 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C.; Peter T. Schoemann, president, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, 901 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C.; Hunter P. Wharton, president, International Union of Operating Engineers, 1125 17th Street, NW., Washington, D.C.

Employers

ES. S. Torrence, executive director, Painting and Decorating Contractors Association, 1629 K Street, NW., Washington, D.C.; Robert Higgins, executive vice president, National Electrical Contractors Association, 1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C.; Carl M. Halvorson, president, The Associated General Contractors of America, 1957 E Street, NW., Washington, D.C.; John A. Stastny, national vice president and treasurer, National Association of Home Builders, Chicago, Ill.

Alternate Commission members will be selected and announced shortly after consultation with the national labor organizations and contractor associations in the industry.