Evening star., 1942-12-24
.WLB Forms Regional
Groups for Settlement
Of Labor Disputes
Decentralization Plan
Designed to Speed Up
Action on Controversies
BY OLIVER MCKEE.

bN OLlt En- MChEE.
Under a two-fold decentrali-
zatiOn program announced by
the War Labor Board last night,
designed to speed action on
labor disputes and to simplify
wage and salary adjustment pro-
cedure, decisions in all dispute
cases and in wage and salary ad-
juStment cases involving en-
ployers with 100 employees or less
will be made hereafter In the
boards 10 regional offices.
The new program to handle labor
dispute cases, it was explained, will
make the War Labor Board in
Washington almost exclusively a
supreme court which would hear
only appeals from the regions and
from its industry commissions" The
board would retain, however. the
right to review any decision on its
own motion.
All controversies which cannot be
settled by the United States Concili-
alton Service will be referred, under
the program announced last night,
to panels consisting of management.
labor and public representatives to
be set up in the larger cities of the
country.
Decisions to Be Final.
The only cases which will not be
referred to these panels will be
those of national significance or
those which involve consideration Of
major policy over which the board
will reserve the right to assume orig
inal jurisdiction.
The new panels will make their
recommendations to the Regional
Advisory Boards, whose decisions
will be final, subject to certain rights
Of review and appeal to be an
nounced later.
The second part of the decentrali-
Zatlon program grants WLB regional
directors authority to make final
decisions on all voluntary wage and
salary adjustment cases involving
establishments with not more than
100 employees. This classification. it
was estimated. will cover approx
mately two-thirds of all requests for
wage and salary increases coming
to the board under the stabilization
program.
Rule on Bonus Adjustments.
WLB regional directors already
have been given authority to make
final rulings in 29 major war in
dustries on requests for wage in
creases based on the application of
the maladjuStment section Of the
boards wage policy. They also have
been given similar authority to rule
on requests for adjustment of
bonuses.
In further effort to speed pro-
cedure by making it easier for small
business firms to apply for rulings
on proposed wage and salary adjust
mentS, the board is drafting sim
plified form OF application for wage
and salary increases.
All delegation OF authority to re-
gional directors in voluntary ad-
justment cases is subject to the
boards general procedure, which
provides for appeal to a tripartite
regional panel from an adverse rul-
ing by regional director. The de-
cisions of these panels are final,
subject to the right of any panel
member to request board review,
and the boards right of review on
its own motion.
Seeks to Reduce Red Tape.
plans for decentralization of dis
pute cases have been considered by
the board for some time" George w.
Taylor, acting WLB chairman, said
last night.
They were temporarily shoul-
dered out of the way by the wage
and salary stabiliZa ton program,
the responsibility for which was
given the board on October 3. Now
that the boards field organization
has been set up and is able to take
on this new duty, the board is in
position to put these plans regard
ing dispute cases into operation
The goal toward which the board
Is aiming in its decentralization
program is a simplifisd procedure
under which Mary oJnes, who
works behind the counter in a de-
partment store, and Henry Miller,
who handles a machine in war
factory, can get quick action on the
requests of their employers or
unions for wage and salary adjust
mentS.
The board wants to cut red tape
to minimum without relaxing in
any way the heavy responsibility
which has been placed upon it
under the stabilization program"
Regional advisory boards are To-
Gated in each of the WLB's 10 re-
gions, with headquarters in Boston,
New York. Philadelphia. Atlanta.
Dallas. Kansas City. Cleveland, Chi
cago, Denver and San Francisco.