Cable to the Acting Attorney General Directing Him To Seek an Injunction in the General Electric Company Labor Disputes.
[Released October 18, 1966. Dated October 17, 1966]
Dear Mr. Clark:
On October 17, 1966, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 206 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 176), I issued executive order No. 11314, creating a Board of Inquiry to inquire into the issues involved in Labor disputes between the General Electric Company, and certain of their employees.
On October 17, 1966, I received a report of the Board in the matter. I understand you have a copy of that report.
The unresolved labor disputes have resulted in a strike by Local 647 of the International Union of the United Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and Locals 34 and 912 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL--CIO at the Evendale, Ohio Plant of General Electric Company which, in my opinion, affects a substantial part of the military jet engine industry of the United States, which are industries engaged in trade, commerce, transportation, transmission or communication among the several states or with foreign nations, or engaged in the production of goods for commerce, which strike if permitted to continue will imperil the national safety.
Therefore, in order to remove a peril to the national safety and to maintain and continue trade, commerce, transportation, transmission or communication among the several states or with foreign nations, and production of goods for commerce, I direct you, pursuant to the provisions of Section 208 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, to petition in the name of the United States any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties to enjoin the continuance of such strike and for such other relief as may in your judgment be necessary or appropriate.
Very sincerely yours,
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
[The Honorable The Acting Attorney General]
Note: On October 18 the Acting Attorney General obtained an injunction from Judge Carl A. Weinman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, ordering the workers at the Evendale, Ohio, plant to return to work.
Executive Order 11314 established a Board of Inquiry composed of David L. Cole, former Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Chairman; John Dunlop, professor of economics at Harvard University; and Jacob Seidenberg, lawyer and arbitrator (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 1516; 31 F.R. 13419; 3 CFR, 1966 Comp., p. 163).
The Board's report, dated October 17, 1966, is entitled "Report to the President Submitted by the President's Board of Inquiry Created by Executive Order No. 11314" (8 pp., processed).
For a statement by the President on the strike threat at the General Electric Co., see Item 496.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Cable to the Acting Attorney General Directing Him To Seek an Injunction in the General Electric Company Labor Disputes. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238035