Special Message to the Congress Reporting on the Labor Disputes in the Nonferrous Metals Industry.

To the Congress of the United States:

Pursuant to the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, I am reporting to the Congress concerning the labor disputes which recently existed in the non-ferrous metals industry.

The significant facts concerning the disputes may be summarized as follows:

Approximately 100,000 workers were involved in the disputes, the largest proportion of whom were represented by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Ind.). Other employees were represented by the unions affiliated with the Metal Trades Department and Building Trades Department of the American federation of Labor and several Railway Brotherhoods. The companies involved in the disputes were: Anaconda Copper Mining Company, American Smelting and Refining Company, Kennecott Copper Corporation, Phelps Dodge Corporation, and over twenty other companies variously gaged in mining, smelting or refining copper or other non-ferrous metals.

Under the typical pattern of bargaining in this industry, separate contracts are negotiated between each individual local union and plant management. "Company-wide" negotiations usually have had to be supplemented by local negotiations, before individual agreements with the local union could be put into effect. In companies dealing with a large number of local unions, however, the agreements on economic matters tend to follow the same basic pattern. Moreover, in recent years the first agreements reached at one or another of the larger companies have sometimes been followed in major respects at other companies.

The principal contracts in the industry, involving the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, expired June 30, 1951. Appropriate notices were given, and bargaining was undertaken but no agreement was reached before the expiration of the contracts and the unions scheduled strikes. At the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers postponed its strike deadline to August 27, 1951. The strike notices of the American federation of Labor and Railway Brotherhood Locals were withdrawn indefinitely.

During the period prior to the August 27 deadline, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service made renewed and intensive efforts to assist the various parties to reach agreement. The Service called representatives of the workers and the management of the Kennecott Copper Corporation into Washington for conferences. Negotiations progressed to a point where the parties were discussing an overall cost package in terms of cents per hour as the basis for settlement of all economic issues other than pensions. The union had indicated its willingness to accept an overall cost package of nineteen cents to be applied to the various economic issues, excepting pensions. The company had proposed fourteen and 85/100 cents of which seven cents would be applied as a general wage increase, the balance to be applied to other economic issues. In a final effort to break the deadlock the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service recommended to these parties that their dispute be settled on the basis of an increase averaging sixteen cents per hour to be applied in part to the adjustment of such other economic matters as the parties might agree upon, this in addition to the pension proposals on which the parties had already agreed. The union expressed a willingness to accept this proposal but the company declined to do so.

On August 27, the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, except for a few locals which had reached agreements with their respective companies, went on strike. The American federation of Labor and Railroad Brotherhood Unions, according to their testimony, did not strike but observed existing picket lines. As a result most of the copper and non-ferrous metal producing facilities of the country were shut down.

A significant barrier to settlement was the different interpretation each party to the disputes placed upon the policies of the Wage Stabilization Board. On August 27, 1951, in an attempt to achieve a settlement, I referred the disputes to the Wage Stabilization Board and asked that the Board inquire into the issues and report to me with its recommendations to the parties as to fair and equitable terms of settlement. The Wage Stabilization Board promptly held a public hearing, at which time the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers stated that their men would not return to work until an agreement was reached. The other unions involved stated that none of their members were on strike but were absent from work because they were respecting existing picket lines. The Wage Stabilization Board informed the parties that while the strike continued it would not go into the merits of the disputes.

On August 30, 1951, I issued Executive Order 10283 creating a Board of Inquiry pursuant to the Labor Management Relations Act. It was that Board's duty, under the law, to find the facts and report them to me. The Board was forbidden, under the law, to make any recommendations. I requested the Board to report to me on or before September 4, 1951.

The Board of Inquiry met with the parties on August 31, held a public hearing on September 1, 1951, and filed its first report with me on September 4, 1951. That report advised me of the facts of the disputes and indicated that "Every day that this strike is prolonged constitutes a threat not only to the welfare of our domestic economy but also to our national defense."

Thereupon, at my request and in accordance with the provisions of Section 208 of the Labor Management Relations Act, the Attorney General instituted an action and on September 5, 1951, obtained an order in the United States District Court at Denver, Colorado, temporarily restraining the parties to the disputes from continuing the work stoppages. Production was resumed rapidly at all the operations involved in the disputes soon after the issuance of the court order on September 5. The injunction was terminated November 25, 1951.

The first break in the dispute, according to the Report of the Board of Inquiry on September 4, came soon after the Board first met; on August 31, 1951, the Kennecott Copper Corporation and the Union's Joint Kennecott Negotiating Committee reported to the Board that substantial agreement had been reached on the major issues in their dispute and that, if this agreement was ratified, work would be resumed within a few days. With the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in some instances and independently of it in others, the various parties to the disputes renewed negotiations. Settlements were achieved in many cases prior to the expiration of the injunction.

The final Report of the Board of Inquiry dated November 5, 1951, indicated that most of the disputes had been settled by then, including all the disputes affecting copper. The only unsettled cases were in the lead and zinc fields of Idaho and Washington, and the companies and the Union were still negotiating there. The Board had great difficulty in meeting the procedural requirements of the Labor Management Relations Act specifying that the Board report the positions of the parties and the employers' final offers. In those instances where negotiations were still continuing, the Board found it impossible to include any statements of position or final offers because the collective bargaining situation was so fluid that the positions and offers could not be described as final. At the time the final Report was being prepared, employers were sending by air mail amendments to those offers. The Board stated that "Since it will be a physical impossibility to include the amended offers in this report, and since the unamended offers would be meaningless for the preparation of ballots under Section 209(b) of the Act, we will not be able to include any statement of position or last offer in this report." The Board of Inquiry provided the National Labor Relations Board with all the information it had in order for that agency to conduct final offer elections where possible.

In a supplement to its final Report, the Board reported that as of November 15 settlements had been reached in large parts of the industry, but that disputes persisted in six operations. The supplemental report of the Board states the position of the parties and the employers final offers. The National Labor Relations Board conducted elections on the final offers of eight companies and on November 23, 1951, certified the results to the Department of Justice.

All the disputes in the non-ferrous metals industry were ultimately settled by direct negotiation between the parties, assisted in some instances by the mediation efforts of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The key settlement was that in the Kennecott case, which took place after the Board of Inquiry was appointed but before the injunction was issued. Thereafter the cases were settled one by one, most while the injunction was in effect and a few after it was terminated.

Copies of the various reports of the Board of Inquiry and of the National Labor Relations Board certification of the results of the final offer elections are attached for the information of the Congress.

HARRY S. TRUMAN