Statement About the Absence of Emergency Strike Legislation for Labor Disputes in the Transportation Industry

NEARLY 2 years have passed since I proposed to Congress a realistic solution to emergency disputes in transportation.

In that period several rail crises and port shutdowns have retarded economic recovery and injured thousands of individuals who have no direct voice in the disputes process that can so adversely affect them. Workers in many industries have been thrown out of work. Losses in perishables have been tremendous. The overall impact on the American people, and especially on our farmers, has been devastating.

The Congress itself, under pressure from rail crises, has been forced to take crash actions and write improvised solutions.

Today, as Congress prepares to go into recess, emergency strike legislation still languishes deep in committee files.

In view of all these circumstances, I find it imperative to call to the attention of the Congress the fact that longshoremen in nearly all of our ports are working only because of Taft-Hartley injunctions, and that these have limited duration. A renewed work stoppage on our west coast is possible--and legal under present law-as early as Christmas Day.

If a renewed stoppage does occur, an emergency could develop while the Congress is in recess. I remind the Congress, therefore, to consider fully the implications of the absence of any statutory means to deal with any further emergencies.