I AM TODAY issuing an Executive Order establishing the
President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy. The Committee
is composed of the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce and 19
other members from the public, labor and management. The Secretary of Labor
and the Secretary of Commerce will alternate as chairman of the Committee
for periods of one year, the Secretary of Labor serving during the first
year.
The purpose of this Committee
is to help our free institutions work better and to encourage sound economic
growth and healthy industrial relations. The Committee will study, advise
me, and make recommendations with respect to policies that may be followed
by labor, management, government, or the public which will promote free
and responsible collective bargaining, industrial peace, sound wage and
price policies, higher standards of living and increased productivity.
The Committee has been directed to include among the matters to be considered
by it: (1) policies designed to ensure that American products are competitive
in world markets, and (2) the benefits and problems created by automation
and other technological advances.
I deem this a most important
Committee. It will bring to the great problems in the fields of collective
bargaining, industrial relations, wage and price policies, and productivity
the experience and wisdom of labor, management and public experts in these
fields.
It is my hope that the Committee
may help restore that sense of common purpose which has strengthened our
Nation in times of emergency and generate a climate conducive to cooperation
and resolution of differences.
It is my hope that the advice
of this Committee will assist the Government, labor, management, and the
general public to achieve greater understanding of the problems which beset
us in these troubled times and to find solutions consistent with our democratic
traditions, our free enterprise economy, and our determination that this
country shall move forward to a better life for all its people.
The membership list of the Committee
is attached. It is gratifying that I have been able to obtain the participation
of such outstanding persons in the Committee's work. I greatly appreciate
the willingness of these public-spirited citizens to serve their country
in this way. The fact that such highly qualified persons have agreed to
be members of this important Committee augurs well for its success.
NOTE: For citation to Executive Order 10918, see Appendix
B.
The following list of members
was released with the President's statement:
Management: Thomas J.
Watson, Jr.; President of International Business Machines (New York); Joseph
Block, President of Inland Steel Corporation (Illinois); Henry Ford, II,
Chairman of the Board, Ford Motor Company (Michigan); J. Spencer Love,
Chairman of the Board, Burlington Industries (North Carolina); John Franklin,
President of the United States Lines (New York); Richard S. Reynolds, Jr.,
President of Reynolds Aluminum (Virginia); Elliot V. Bell, Editor and Publisher
of Business Week (New York).
Labor: George Meany,
President of the AFL-CIO; Walter Reuther, President of the UAW; David Dubinsky,
President of the ILGWU; George M. Harrison, President of the Railway Labor
Clerks; Thomas Kennedy, President of the UMW; David J. McDonald, President
of United Steelworkers; Joseph D. Keenan, Secretary-Treasurer of the International
Electrical Workers.
Public: Ralph McGill,
Editor of the Atlanta Constitution (Georgia); David L. Cole, labor arbitrator
from Paterson, New Jersey; Dr. George W. Taylor, University of Pennsylvania,
Professor of Labor Relations, Wharton School of Business Administration;
Clark Kerr, Chancellor of the University of California; Dr. Arthur F. Burns,
Chairman of the National Bureau of Economic Research; Secretary of Commerce
Luther H. Hodges (ex officio); Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg (ex
officio).