Statement by the President Upon Receiving Report on the Labor Dispute in the Aerospace Industry.

THE REPORT and recommendations of the Board which I appointed on July 21, 1962, to assist in the resolution of collective bargaining disputes in the aerospace industry is made public today. This Board was appointed because, as I stated at that time, "major strikes in the industry would substantially delay our vital missile and space programs and would be contrary to the national interest." ¹

¹ See Item 298.

I met with the Board upon its return from a series of mediation conferences with the companies and unions who are parties to this dispute. The Board informed me of its findings and its recommendations to the parties for a settlement of the major issues in dispute. On September 1, the Board filed with me the report which is now released. A few days later, the Board presented its recommendations, but not the text of the report, to the parties. Although there has been some bargaining on the issues, in each case the stalemate is unbroken.

The companies and the unions should settle promptly their dispute on the basis of this report. They have a duty to the country to settle those differences without a strike which so obviously would be contrary to the public interest. A strike if permitted to occur, would not only shut down the plants which manufacture a large proportion of our missiles, rockets, and spacecraft; it would also dose many of our missile sites. Such a strike would seriously set us back in space exploration and would imperil the national defense.

In response to my request on July 21, these parties agreed to extend their current agreements and to maintain the status quo for sixty days. That period is running out, but time remains for the settlement of these disputes by good faith bargaining on all of the issues involved. I call upon these parties to resume intensive negotiations within the framework now provided by the report and recommendations of the Board. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service will continue to assist the parties in such negotiations. The national interest requires the settlement of these disputes before the expiration on September 21, 1962, of the sixty-day contract extension.