Evening star., 1943-08-06
uses and States
To Control Flow
odWorkers
Region Plan Designed
To Assure Professors
For Critical Areas
BY JAMES BIRCHFIELD.

A plan to permit inter State re-
cruitment and transfer Of food pro-
cessing workers, while at the same
time protecting labor supplies In
local areas, was announced today by
Leo r. Werts, director of region
of the War Manpower. Commission,
which includes Maryland. Virginia.
West Virginia. North Carolina and
the District.
Under terms Of the plan, approved
by the Governors Of the four States,
recruiting of food workers will be in
the hands Of the United States En-
ployment Service, ard all orders for
these workers, both local and inter-
State, will be channeled through
USES offices In the various States.
. At the same time, 1t was said, en-
ployers in New Jersey, Delaware and
New York, who usually recruit labor
from Southern States, have been re-
quested to transmit their needs to
USES officials. They have been as
sured, it was said, that their needs
will be given consideration after
labor requirements in the region
have been supplied.
Provides Clearance Screen.
The program, which will attempt
to regulate the interstate flow of
essential workers and provide nec-
essary labor for food processing op-
erations as they develop, will be
governed by the following princt-
Piles:
No worker will be transferred from
an area where he is engaged or Is
about to be engaged in essential
work.
. Appropriate agencies within each
State will designate areas from
which labor may be recruited for
out-of-State placement.
The obligation of State authori-
ties to conserve their labor supply
is recognized and their right to lay
down conditions of recruitment and
placement will be accorded.
All interstate recruitment will
be done by the USES, for processing
labor, or the Extension Service, for
farm labor, after proper clearance
through the Governors Office or his
representative.
To Check Unauthorized Recruiting.
Authorities of one State who ask
| agencies of another State to re-
cruit labor will accept the obligation
of using all reasonable effort to pre-
vent employers within their State
from engaging in unauthorized re-
cruiting activities.
| Local needs within States will be
safeguarded, 1t was said, by request
ing employers who usually utilize
labor from the designated areas to
file with the USES orders for work.
ers within a designated period. In
addition, recruiting campaigns will
be conducted to supply labor first
for jobs within the State, and Sec
ond for jobs without the State bor-
der.
Measures will be taken to assure
the return of workers to their
States as soon as jobs for which
they we're recruited are completed,
it was said, and in order to assure
the return Of workers, statements
of availability will be issued only
for such periods as will elapse be-
tween the time of recruitment and
the beginning Of the first employ
ment in the home State for which
the worker Is thought to be neces-
sary.
In addition, 1t was explained,
workers will be supplied only to
those out-of-State employers who
recruit through established chan
nels and who will agree to take
workers from their payrolls at the
expiration of the period agreed
upon.
Must Pay for Return Trip.
Employers, furthermore, must
agree to use every reasonable" ef-
fort to see that workers secured
under the program return to their
homes and must provide trans
portation costs for the return trip.
VINO officials pointed out that
by controlling the Interstate flow
Of labor vast supplies Of workers.
who otherwise might be kept idle
for long periods awaiting process
ing and harvesting activities in their
localities, will be available as the
demand for them arises in other
! sections.
At the same time, it was said. the
ruthless methods OF labor recruit
ing by often irresponsible" repre-
sentatives of Northern firms can
be abolished by controlling the flow
of labor into essential industries in
these States.
AS an example, VINO officials
said, hundreds of laborers used in
harvesting cotton in the South re-
main idle until the cotton is ready
for picking. Where assurance is
given that these workers will be
returned in time for the cotton
harvest, they could be utilized for
rroceSSipC foO5 in other areas