employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collec tive bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; (2) that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing; and (3) that employers shall comply with the maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment, approved or prescribed by the President. (b) The President shall, so far as practicable, afford every opportunity to employers and employees in any trade or industry or subdivision thereof with respect to which the conditions referred to in clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (a) prevail, to establish by mutual agreement, the standards as to the maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and such other conditions of employment as may be necessary in such trade or industry or subdivision thereof to effectuate the policy of this title; and the standards established in such agreements, when approved by the President, shall have the same effect as a code of fair competition, approved by the President under subsection (a) of section 3. (c) Where no such mutual agreement has been approved by the President, he may investigate the labor practices, policies, wages, hours of labor, and conditions of employment in such trade or industry or subdivision thereof; and upon the basis of such investigations, and after such hearings as the President finds advisable, he is authorized to prescribe a limited code of fair competition fixing such maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment in the trade or industry or subdivision thereof investigated as he finds to be necessary to effectuate the policy of this title, which shall have the same effect as a code of fair competition approved by the President under subsection (a) of section 3. The President may differentiate according to experience and skill of the employees affected and according to the locality of employment; but no attempt shall be made to introduce any classification according to the nature of the work involved which might tend to set a maximum as well as a minimum wage. (d) As used in this title, the term "person" includes any individual, partnership, association, trust, or corporation; and the terms "interstate and foreign commerce" and "interstate or foreign commerce" include, except where otherwise indicated, trade or commerce among the several States and with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United States and any State, Territory, or foreign nation, or between any insular possessions or other places under the jurisdiction of the United States, or between any such possession or place and any State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia or any foreign nation, or within the District of Columbia or any Territory or any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States. PRESIDENT'S REEMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT (Authorized by sec. 4 (a) National Industrial Recovery Act) During the period of the President's emergency reemployment drive, that is to say, from August 1 to December 31, 1933, or to any earlier date of approval of a code of fair competition to which he is subject, the undersigned hereby agrees with the President as follows: (1) After August 31, 1933, not to employ any person under 16 years of age, except that persons between 14 and 16 may be employed (but not in manufacturing or mechanical industries) for not to exceed 3 hours per day and those hours between 7 a. m. and 7 p. m. in such work as will not interfere with hours of day school. (2) Not to work any accounting, clerical, banking, office, service, or sales employees (except outside salesmen) in any store, office, department, establishment, or public utility, or on any automotive or horse-drawn passenger, express, delivery, or freight service, or in any other place or manner, for more than 40 hours in any 1 week and not to reduce the hours of any store or service operation to below 52 hours in any 1 week, unless such hours were less than 52 hours per week before July 1, 1933, and in the latter case not to reduce such hours at all. (3) Not to employ any factory or mechanical worker or artisan more than a maximum week of 35 hours until December 31, 1933, but with the right to work a Source: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936 edition, p. 492ff. maximum week of 40 hours for any 6 weeks within this period; and not to employ any worker more than 8 hours in any 1 day. (4) The maximum hours fixed in the foregoing paragraphs (2) and (3) shall not apply to employees in establishments employing not more than two persons in towns of less than 2,500 population, which towns are not part of a larger trade area; nor to registered pharmacists or other professional persons employed in their profession; nor to employees in a managerial or executive capacity, who now receive more than $35 per week; nor to employees on emergency maintenance and repair work; nor to very special cases where restrictions of hours of highly skilled workers on continuous processes would unavoidably reduce production but, in any such special case, at least time and one-third shall be paid for hours worked in excess of the maximum. Population for the purposes of this agreement shall be determined by reference to the 1930 Federal census. (5) Not to pay any of the classes of employees mentioned in paragraph (2) less than $15 per week in any city of over 500,000 population, or in the immediate trade area of such city; nor less than $14.50 per week in any city of between 250,000 and 500,000 population, or in the immediate trade area of such city; nor less than $14 per week in any city of between 2,500 and 250,000 population, or in the immediate trade area of such city; and in towns of less than 2,500 population to increase all wages by not less than 20 percent, provided that this shall not require wages in excess of $12 per week. (6) Not to pay any employee of the classes mentioned in paragraph (3) less than 40 cents per hour unless the hourly rate for the same class of work on July 15, 1929, was less than 40 cents per hour, in which latter case not to pay less than the hourly rate on July 15, 1929, and in no event less than 30 cents per hour. It is agreed that this paragraph establishes a guaranteed minimum rate of pay regardless of whether the employee is compensated on the basis of a time rate or on a piecework performance. (7) Not to reduce the compensation for employment now in excess of the minimum wages hereby agreed to (notwithstanding that the hours worked in such employment may be hereby reduced) and to increase the pay for such employment by an equitable readjustment of all pay schedules. (8) Not to use any subterfuge to frustrate the spirit and intent of this agree ment which is, among other things, to increase employment by a universal cove nant, to remove obstructions to commerce, and to shorten hours and to raise wages for the shorter week to a living basis. (9) Not to increase the price of any merchandise sold after the date hereof over the price on July 1, 1933, by more than is made necessary by actual increases in production, replacement, or invoice costs of merchandise, or by taxes or other costs resulting from action taken pursuant to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, since July 1, 1933, and, in setting such price increases, to give full weight to probable increases in sales volume and to refrain from taking profiteering advantage of the consuming public. (10) To support and patronize establishments which also have signed this agreement and are listed as members of NRA (National Recovery Adminis tration). (11) To cooperate to the fullest extent in having a code of fair competition submitted by his industry at the earliest possible date, and in any event before September 1, 1933. (12) Where, before June 16, 1933, the undersigned had contracted to purchase goods at a fixed price for delivery during the period of this agreement, the undersigned will make an appropriate adjustment of said fixed price to meet any increase in cost caused by the seller having signed this President's reemploy ment agreement or having become bound by any code of fair competition approved by the President. (13) This agreement shall cease upon approval by the President of a code to which the undersigned is subject; or, if the NRA so elects, upon submission of a code to which the undersigned is subject and substitution of any of its provisions for any of the terms of this agreement. (14) It is agreed that any person who wishes to do his part in the President's reemployment drive by signing this agreement, but who asserts that some particular provision hereof, because of peculiar circumstances, will create great and unavoidable hardship, may obtain the benefits hereof by signing this agree ment and putting it into effect and then, in a petition approved by a representative trade association of his industry, or other representative organization designated by NRA, may apply for a stay of such provision pending a summary investigation by NRA, if he agrees in such application to abide by the decision of such investiga. tion. This agreement is entered into pursuant to section 4 (a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act and subject to all the terms and conditions required by sections 7 (a) and 10 (b) of that act. Classification of industry codes according to maximum weekly working hours allowed for factory or “general” employees Distribution of NRA provisions governing wages of employees receiving more Type of provision: than minima Definite wage schedule or basing point system___ Maintenance of differentials among occupations (with increase of minima). Number of codes 55 79 Full or partial maintenance of weekly earnings (with reduction in hours). 162 Indefinite, but equitable adjustment of wages in view of shortening of Source: The National Recovery Administration, Report of the President's Committee of Industrial Analysis, 1937. Percentage increases in average hourly earnings resulting from NRA provisions (by type of provision governing rates above minima) Type of provision: Average percentage increase in average hourly earnings 44. 4 25.8 Industries with definite wage schedule or basing point system. -- 25.2 Source: The National Recovery Administration, Report of the President's Committee of Industrial Analysis. Achievement of the 40-hour week in selected industries-Continued 1 As of last previous study as follows: Iron and steel. March 1933; foundries and machine shops, April, May, June 1933; automobiles, May, June, July 1932; sawmills, April, May, June 1933; furniture, July, August, September, October 1931; portland cement, hosiery, and boots and shoes, 1932; cotton goods, January, February 1932; silk and rayon goods, April, May 1933; woolen and worsted goods, January, February 1932; dyeing and finishing of textiles, July 1933; leather tanning and finishing, April, May, June 1932; slaughtering and meat packing, October, November, December 1931. NRA Code provision. BLS industry classifications, Foundry and machine shop products: NICB, Foundries and machine shops. NICB industry classification includes Knit goods. Not available. Source of basic data: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, March (p. 595), July (p. 140), September (p. 651), and December 1933 (p. 1459), and June 1935 (pp. 1448 and 1432), and Bull. Nos. 571, 576, 578, 579, 586, 588, 589, and 697; National Industrial Conference Board, Wages, Hours, and Employment in the United States, 1914-36. Changes in average hourly earnings, manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries, July 1933 to July 1934, 1936, November 1940 |