Executive Order 9672—Establishing the National Wage Stabilization Board and Terminating the National War Labor Board

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes, including Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, and the Stabilization Act of 1942, as amended, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. (a) There is hereby established within the Department of Labor a Board to be known as the National Wage Stabilization Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board. The Board shall be composed of six members to be appointed by the President (two of whom, including the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, shall be representative of the public, two representative of employees, and two representative of employers), and such additional members as may, in view of the necessities of the business of the Board, be appointed from time to time by unanimous action of a quorum of the Board to serve as alternates representing, respectively, the public, employees, and employers.

(b) Six members, equally representative of the three groups comprising the Board, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and the Board may act with not more than twelve members likewise equally representative of such three groups.

(c) Members of the Board (including alternates) shall receive actual transportation expenses and other necessary expenses, and not to exceed $25 per diem in lieu of subsistence, whether or not in travel status, on such days as they are actually engaged in the performance of duties pursuant to this order without other compensation from the United States.

(d) The Board shall be administered as an organizational entity within the Department of Labor and shall be independent with respect to its policies, decisions, and control of personnel.

2. The Board shall have all the present powers, functions, and responsibilities of the National War Labor Board (established by Executive Order No. 9017 of January 12, 1942, and transferred to the Department of Labor by Executive Order No. 9617 of September 19, 1945 relating to the stabilization of wages and salaries for the purpose of carrying out the objectives authorized and directed by the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended, and the Stabilization Act of 1942, as amended, in accordance with the policies and procedures provided by Executive orders and regulations issued pursuant to these Acts. The Wage Adjustment Board for the building and construction industry shall continue to perform its present functions with respect to the stabilization of wages and salaries in the building and construction industry.

3. Any dispute cases on which final action may not have been taken by the national War Labor Board prior to its termination shall be returned by said board to the parties. The Board shall have all the powers, functions and responsibilities of the National War Labor Board relating to the disposition of dispute cases for the following purposes only:

(a) The continued operation of the tripartite commissions, heretofore established by the national War Labor Board to carry out its directive orders relating to the steel, textile, and meat-packing industries, with the duties, powers and responsibilities heretofore conferred on said agencies, subject to any modification thereof which may be made by the Board;

(b) The appointment of arbitrators as may be necessary under National War Labor Board orders or collective bargaining agreements;

(c) The disposition of applications under Section 5 of the War Labor Disputes Act and the receipt of notices under Section 8 of that Act.

The Board shall have the powers of subpoena conferred upon the National War Labor Board by Section 7 of the War Labor Disputes Act.

4. The personnel, records, property, funds, and outstanding obligations of the National War Labor Board are hereby transferred to the National Wage Stabilization Board in the Department of Labor and the National War Labor Board is hereby terminated.

5. This order shall be deemed an amendment of and substitution for paragraph 2(b) of Executive Order No. 9617 of September 19, 1945. All other provisions of that order, to the extent consistent herewith, are hereby ratified and confirmed. All provisions of prior Executive orders in conflict with this order are amended accordingly. The present effective rules, regulations, procedures, and orders of the National War Labor Board relating to any function vested in the national Wage Stabilization Board by this order shall continue to be effective in accordance with their terms except as they may be inconsistent with this order or be modified or revoked from time to time by the Board. Any matter relating to the functions transferred by this order and now pending before the National War Labor Board may be acted upon by the National Wage stabilization Board with the same validity and effect as through such action had been taken by the National War Labor Board.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE,

December 31, 1945