Special Message to the Congress on Labor.

To the Congress of the United States:

The last thirty years have seen unprecedented economic development in this country and unparalleled improvement in the general standard of living of the working men and women of America.

Most of this has been accomplished privately. These are the fruits of free enterprise.

This process of economic and human growth has been helped by wise legislative enactment, much of it beginning in the decade of the 1930's.

But progress is never complete. Experience under various existing laws suggests changes which will make them serve even better their purpose, the Nation's workers, and the economy.

I am accordingly urging early action to:

1. Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to

--extend its protection to an additional 4 1/2 million workers, and

--restrict excessive overtime work through the payment of double time.

2. Strengthen the unemployment insurance program by

--providing a permanent program of Federal extended benefits for long-term unemployed with substantial work histories.

3. Ensure uniform application of our national labor relations policy by the repeal of Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act.

I am transmitting herewith draft bills on the first two proposals. Bills embodying the third have already been introduced in Congress.

Fair Labor Standards Act

More than a generation of Americans have entered the labor force since we committed ourselves as a nation to the policy of improving the substandard living conditions of millions of our workers.

That policy proposed to eliminate conditions which are "detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers" in industries engaged in interstate commerce.

Many American workers whose employment is clearly within the reach of this law have never enjoyed its benefits. Unfortunately, these workers are generally in the lowest wage groups and most in need of wage and hour protection. We must extend minimum wage and overtime protection to them.

It is also essential to amend the overtime provisions of the Act to help achieve a fairer and more effective distribution of employment.

A significant increase in employment can be obtained by distributing to new employees work which is presently performed through excessive overtime. This can be done without impairment of operating efficiency.

The proposed bill will encourage hiring of additional workers by requiring double-time pay for certain overtime work.

It has been urged that the minimum wage level be increased. The present $1.25 hourly rate results in annual earnings, assuming full-time work throughout the year, of only $2,500. As average wages rise, the minimum wage level should be increased periodically.

The question is not whether the minimum wage should be increased but when and by how much. The Congress should consider carefully the effects of higher minimum wage rates on the incomes of those employed, and also on costs and prices, and on job opportunities--particularly for the flood of teen-agers now entering our labor force.

It has also been urged that consideration be given to a reduction in the statutory workweek the weekly period after which overtime premiums or penalties must be paid.

The developing pattern of collective bargaining reflects changes which are taking place in the practices regarding the length of work periods--daily, weekly, annually, and in terms of the individual's work life.

I do not think the time for change in the law has come, except with respect to excessive overtime. Careful attention to these developments is nevertheless appropriate and desirable. I am accordingly requesting the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress to include on its agenda full consideration of the matter of "work periods."

Unemployment Insurance System

Improvements in our unemployment compensation system are essential if the program is to exert a stronger stabilizing effect on the economy and provide people with adequate income when out of work. The system has not kept pace with the times. No major improvements have been made since its original enactment thirty years ago.

There are still many workers who are not protected by unemployment compensation. Other workers, through no fault of their own, experience excessively long periods of uncompensated unemployment.

The plight of the long-term unemployed results primarily from economic factors such as automation, other technological changes, and relocation of industry. Their unemployment is a phenomenon of normal as well as recession periods. It can be dealt with effectively only through a nationally coordinated program.

Even in nonrecession periods of recent years, the number of long-term unemployed has remained high. Among unemployment insurance beneficiaries, those unemployed 26 or more weeks represented 15 percent of the total in 1956, 29 percent in 1961, and about 20 percent in 1962 and 1964.

The wider coverage, extended benefit periods, and increased benefit amounts provided in the bill will lessen the hardship and suffering that accompany unemployment and, at the same time, provide stimulus to the economy when it is most needed.

Now, when unemployment is lower than it has been for years, is the appropriate time to modernize the system so that it will better meet the needs of workers, the community and the nation.

Today, weekly benefits are often too low in amount and too short in duration in relation to lost wages to enable the workers to meet basic and nondeferrable expenses. Ceilings on compensation all too often fail to yield the original goal of fifty percent of past wages. This is particularly true for workers who have the highest income levels, and these workers are generally heads of family. The bill therefore assures adequate payments for a fixed duration for most regular workers.

The burden of excessively high unemployment costs that exist in several States must be relieved and the financial soundness of the system strengthened. This will be achieved by increasing the amount of wages subject to taxation--the first increase in the history of the program--as well as by increasing the amount of tax and recognizing the Federal responsibility through provision for contributions from general revenues, with matching grants for high cost States.

It is essential that this system be administered with both justice and firmness. We know some workers have been denied benefits when justice required payment. We also know some workers have been granted benefits when firmness required their denial. For this reason the proposed legislation calls for steps which will help assure that benefits are paid only to those who are entitled to them and that unreasonable disqualifications are eliminated.

Section 14 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act

Finally, with the hope of reducing conflicts in our national labor policy that for several years have divided Americans in various States, I recommend the repeal of section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act with such other technical changes as are made necessary by this action.

I urge that early and favorable consideration be given to the enactment of these three legislative proposals.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

May 18, 1965