The Bureau of Labor Statistics was a well-established organization created in to collect social and economic statistics and report on matters affecting working people. The Bureau of Immigration, employing persons, administered laws relating to aliens and, of special importance to the new Department, included a division of information that helped immigrants find jobs. The Bureau of Naturalization administered laws for the naturalization of aliens through the courts. The Children's Bureau, established in , investigated and reported on matters related to the health and welfare of children.
Wilson no relation , Secretary-Treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America and later a Congressman who led the legislative drive that created the Department of Labor. In his first annual report Secretary Wilson enunciated a philosophy echoed in various forms by many Secretaries since, namely that: the Department was created "in the interest of the wage earners", but it must be administered in fairness to labor, business and the public at large.
After initially being somewhat less than impartial toward organized labor, and paying a heavy political price for it, Wilson made this philosophy the working policy of the Department. Under Wilson's leadership the Bureaus functioned autonomously and effectively and the Department focused most of its remaining resources on the conciliation function. The Secretary organized a small conciliation service within his own office.
Hindered by lack of funds, the service got off to a slow start. However, it built for itself a reputation for competence and impartiality. Requests to intervene in labor disputes around the country began to come in, increasingly so as labor disputes accelerated around By the Congress began providing funding specifically for conciliation.
Another early focus of the Department was unemployment. In the Secretary held a national conference of public employment officials. This resulted in the establishment of a national advisory committee. Siphoning staff and resources off of the Bureau of Immigration's information division and using the 80 or so immigration offices throughout the country as employment offices, the Secretary set up a national employment service.
Gradually this gerry-built service, which placed only a few thousand workers in , evolved into a productive national network, finding work for , in By that time President Wilson had become convinced of its value and, in the absence of strong congressional support, provided special funds from the Office of the President. With the entry of the U. Adding to the crisis atmosphere, labor-management conflicts became widespread as labor shortages and swelling production needs placed organized labor in a strong bargaining position.
The insurance of labor peace and adequate production became major national wartime goals. After four years "on the job" the Department of Labor was prepared to contribute its share to the war effort. In fact, the Bureau of Immigration, in cooperation with several other agencies, took the first step for the U. When it was obvious that war was imminent, Secretary Wilson directed the Bureau to make plans to take custody of the crews of German ships lying in U.
While they were not to be considered prisoners of war, special provisions had to be made for these men. Everything was left in readiness to proceed at a moment's notice.
As soon as the Secretary received word early in the morning of April 5 that the Congress had passed a declaration of war, he sent to the appropriate ports the prearranged message "Proceed instantly". Immediately the German crews were rounded up without incident and dispatched to internment camps.
From that small beginning the Department's role quickly evolved to assuming the major responsibility for implementing the nation's war labor policies and programs. Despite limitations in appropriations, the conciliation and employment services expanded their activities. Secretary Wilson persuaded the President to appoint a mediation commission to investigate labor problems and make recommendations.
Wilson was chairman, aided by Felix Frankfurter, who later served on the Supreme Court. After a brief survey of conditions, the mediation commission recommended adoption of the following key elements of a national war labor policy: elimination of war profiteering; recognition of the right of workers to bargain collectively; establishment of machinery to adjust grievances, and; sanctioning of the 8-hour day with overtime pay for any time worked beyond 8 hours.
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The U. Congress also ordered severe budget cuts in the Department, which many saw as a hot-bed of unionism. The hardest-hit agency was the BLS, which suffered a draconian 40 percent reduction in its staff. A reshuffling of agencies in and out of the Department added to the disruptions. When Schwellenbach died in office in June he was succeeded by Maurice J. Tobin , popular governor of the state of Massachusetts. With Tobin's help Truman won reelection, and the Department saw a rebirth in which the cuts of and were largely restored.
Tobin transferred several dispersed labor functions into the Department, including the USES, which had been removed in , and the UI system. Congress also gave the Secretary direct authority over the traditionally independent bureau heads. During the Korean War the strengthened Department played a major role in mobilizing for defense production. In the process it began to deal with the need to raise the educational levels of workers and make better use of the capacities of women, older workers and minorities.
In President Eisenhower appointed Martin P. Durkin, a Democrat and president of the plumbers and steamfitters union. The unions took Durkin's appointment as a sign that the new Administration was open to change in the hated Taft-Hartley Act.
Durkin drew up amendments to the Act but when Eisenhower refused to support them Durkin resigned in protest in September The main legacy of his brief tenure was in the improvement of the Department's administrative efficiency. He clarified and strengthened the role of the Secretary, assigned each bureau to one Assistant Secretary to promote better cooperation, and established the principle that the Secretary normally takes the lead in government labor policymaking.
Eisenhower replaced Durkin with James P. Mitchell , vice-president in charge of labor relations and operations at a New York department store. Mitchell served during a period of high prosperity and low unemployment. He continued Durkin's quest for organizational improvement, establishing himself as the Administration's representative for all federal agencies concerned with labor and reducing the overlapping of functions.
Internally, he concentrated on coordinating the work of the bureaus and, to promote greater continuity of policy, he appointed civil servants as deputies to top political staff. In Congress authorized the Department to enforce safety and health standards to protect workers in longshoring and harbor work.
The problem of assuring an adequate supply of trained workers became a major concern. A Departmental policy group developed projections on skills which would be needed 20 years later. The Department also examined the employment problems of women, minorities and the handicapped. Mitchell headed a Commission that investigated and publicized the problems of migrant farm workers. The Department also provided better protections from unscrupulous employers under its Bracero program, which imported seasonal Mexican farm workers.
New laws on misconduct by unions and employers led to new responsibilities for the Department. Under the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act it collected and made available information on companies' pension and benefits plans. The Landrum-Griffin Act of required filing of reports on union funds with the Department of Labor, banned Communists from holding union office, and toughened restrictions on secondary boycotts by unions.
In President Kennedy brought into government an able throng anxious to implement his "New Frontier. Known as the "Davey Crockett of the New Frontier," Goldberg became involved in a wide range of social and cultural issues. He regularly acted to settle or prevent strikes, particularly in the aerospace and transportation industries. He even settled a strike against the New York Metropolitan Opera. Strongly conscious of the rights of blacks and other minorities, he abolished segregation in the Department.
The Department developed a major role in dealing with the emerging problems of automation and unemployment. Under the Area Redevelopment Act of it provided training and assistance in regions of serious unemployment. In the broader Manpower Development and Training Act gave the Department responsibility for identifying labor shortages, training the unemployed and sponsoring manpower research. Willard Wirtz , a former labor lawyer and law professor active in Democratic politics.
Wirtz generally left labor disputes to the FMCS and focused on training and equal opportunity programs. The Department soon developed a wide range of programs to meet the social and economic goals of the President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" and "War on Poverty" and it established the Manpower Administration to coordinate these programs. One of the most important was the Neighborhood Youth Corps, which helped 1.
It was administered by local sponsors and provided public service jobs. Other programs included: Special Impact for people in very poor neighborhoods; New Careers, providing training in health, education and public safety; and the Work Incentive Program, to move able-bodied persons off welfare and into jobs. Through the passage of the Civil Rights Act of the independent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established to enforce non-discrimination in the nation's workplaces.
In the hope of opening more jobs for American farmworkers, the Bracero program was terminated. Efforts by the Department to secure passage of a job safety and health law were unsuccessful but they laid the foundations for future legislative action. During the Nixon and Ford Administrations a succession of five Secretaries carried out policies of restructuring parts of the Great Society and decentralizing federal labor programs. George P. Shultz , an academic economist with special expertise in labor issues, was President Nixon's first appointee.
Shultz set the general course which the Department followed until January and also helped formulate the Administration's economic policies. Hodgson , former vice president for industrial relations with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Hodgson departed involuntarily after Nixon's reelection and was succeeded by Peter J.
Brennan was replaced by President Ford with John T. Dunlop , an academic labor economist and longtime government advisor. He served less than a year, resigning when President Ford vetoed a labor bill whose passage Dunlop had supported. Ford's second appointee was Willie J.
The Department's main goal now became to strengthen and rationalize the massive employment and training effort. In the Manpower Administration was restructured and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act CETA of established a targeted form of revenue-sharing to transfer funds and decision-making for training activities closer to local officials.
The Emergency Employment Act of provided , temporary public service jobs. In the Job Corps, which provided training for needy youths, was shifted from the Office of Economic Opportunity to the Department. In the movement for a job safety and health law was successful, and the next year the Department established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA to enforce rules, or oversee state-run programs, to protect against hazards in most of the nation's workplaces.
Controversy soon dogged OSHA as inspectors were criticized for being "nitpickers. Promotion of equal job opportunity became an ever more important activity of the Department.
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