The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-02-04

Senator Edward R. Burke, above, of Nebraska demands senatorial investigation of the NLRB.
 of furore. In sense, furore is its business.
 With a personnel of fewer than 600 employees, making it one of the smallest of the independent agen- cies of the government, the board in its first 26 months has directly af- fected the condition of almost B. 100000 workers.
 It handled up to December l, more than 10,500 cases. More than 1000 of these have been clos ed, leaving 3,492 cases pending on December 1, last. Of the cases closed, 4,127 were by agreements or consent elections, thus settling the status of more than million men without formal procedure.
 It has conducted 867 industrial elections, in which 321,059 votes were cast.
 It has obtained reinstatement of TITS workers discharged through discrimination, usually key men.
 It has handled 1211 strike cases, obtaining settlement of 919, and it's actions have averted 483 threatened strikes.
 Flooded With Lawsuits
 The board started operating late in 1885. The greatest influx of it's cases came after the Supreme Court validated the Wagner Act in April, 1887. The recent deci- sion that courts may not enjoin its proceedings. though courts must be depended on to enforce its decisions, will probably further increase the boards burden of work. At one time it had to de- fend 94 injunction suits with which employers were trying to deny it jurisdiction.
 Hidden away on two floors of downtown office building, without impressive quarters of it's own, the NLRB is less we'll known than many a government bureau which directly affects fewer people. Here the three board members draw their $10,000 a year - Chairman J. Warren Madden, Donald Wake field Smith and Edwin s. Smith,
 With 30 or 40 hearings every working day, you can see that the board itself can't hear them all. It doesn't try. In only IT cases has the board itself actually taken direct jurisdiction.
 It has, instead, set up regional offices ill 21 cities. It is to these offices that employees go with their complaints.
 Don't Like Youngsters
 Such complaints are investigated first by field examiners, who may draw as low as $3O00 a year. Some of the bitterest complaints against the board have come from "big-shot" industrialists forced to submit to interview by young and inexperienced field examiners.
 A good quarter of the con- plaints filed never get any farther than this, but are dismissed as trivial or irrelevant About one in every two and half is settled out of hand to the satisfaction of both parties. Of the 1000 cases dis posed of, nearly 90 per cent never came to formal hearings. Not 400 cases have gone through to final decisions.
 But if facts warrant, complaint is issued by the regional board, and hearings held, with witnesses called before trial examiners, nearly all of whom are lawyers drawing an average of $4800 a year.
 The examiner may even then dismiss the case, or he may make a decision ordering certain prac- -tices stopped, certifying union as the proper bargaining agent for the complaining workers, or order ing reinstatement of those unlaw- fully discharged.
 The complete record is then sent to the NLRB in Washington for review. The board itself may have further oral hearings and consider additional briefs on both sides. Then it makes Its final ruling.
 Court Decisions Favorable
 If this is contested by the em-