Executive Order 10946—Establishing a Program for Resolving Labor Disputes at Missile and Space Sites

WHEREAS a successful missile program is vital to our national security and a successful space program is vital to the national interest, therefore uninterrupted and economical operations at missile and space sites are imperative; and WHEREAS manufacturers, construction concerns and labor unions involved in the missile and space programs have pledged their cooperation in avoiding uneconomical operations and work stoppages at missile and space sites, and WHEREAS the Government has the clear responsibility for encouraging such cooperation and providing a proper framework for its effective operation: NOW THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. For the purpose of developing policies, procedures, and methods of adjustment for labor problems at missile and space sites, there is hereby established a Missile Sites Labor Commission composed of: the Secretary of Labor, hereby designated as Chairman; the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, hereby designated as Vice-chairman; three representatives of the public, three representatives drawn from labor and three representatives drawn from management, as designated by the President. Alternates may be designated by each member of the Commission. In carrying out its duties the Commission shall consult fully with the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Chairman and the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, and such officers and the officers of other Government agencies concerned shall cooperate fully with the Commission. The Commission is hereby empowered to employ an Executive Secretary and to delegate such powers to its Chairman Vice-chairman and Executive Secretary as it may deem appropriate. Subject to the provisions of Section 9 of this order, the Commission may employ such staff as may be necessary and may incur other necessary expenditures. SEC. 2. The Commission shall arrange for the establishment at each missile or space site of appropriate Missile Site Labor Relations Committees. Such Committees shall be composed of representatives of manufacturers and construction concerns, labor organizations, contracting agencies and a Mediator assigned by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. These Committees will be so constituted and instructed as to take account of any necessary and appropriate distinctions in representational interests. It shall be the primary functions of such Committees to anticipate impending problems and to arrange for proper disposition of them prior to the time that such problems become acute, utilizing fully all voluntary settlement procedures already in existence, and encouraging establishment of adequate grievances and jurisdictional procedures where such procedures do not now exist, to the end of preventing any interruptions of efficient performance of work. The Commission will take such steps as are necessary to assure that labor organizations will assign appropriate international union representatives to missile sites on which their members are working for the purpose of obtaining the full cooperation of each such international union. SEC. 3. The Commission shall establish procedures whereby it will be advised of any labor relations problem at any missile or space site which it appears cannot be settled by the voluntary settlement procedures already in existence or by action instituted by the local Missile Site Labor Relations Committee. In such event the Commission shall establish such procedures as appear to it necessary and appropriate to produce a satisfactory settlement of such problem, relying in the first instance on presently established private or governmental procedures, including available legal proceedings, so far as these will be effective. SEC. 4. The Commission is authorized to establish special panels, composed of members of the Commission or others (as designated by the Chairman of the Commission), to hold hearings in disputed matters over which the Commission has jurisdiction, to make findings of fact, to make recommendations for the settlement of such disputes, to obtain agreement for final and binding arbitration of such disputes, to mediate such disputes, to issue such directives and to take such other action as the Commission may direct. These panels will be so constituted as to take account of any necessary and appropriate distinctions in representational interests, and in the event of conflict between manufacturing and construction groups of either industry or labor the panel shall be composed of public members only. SEC. 5. The Commission shall develop with the Federal contracting agencies and with the parties programs for obtaining, in collective bargaining contracts or other agreements or arrangements covering work at missile and space sites, the inclusion of effective commitments that there will be no lockouts or work stoppages at such sites, with adequate procedures being established for the expeditious resolution of grievances and labor problems at such sites. SEC. 6. The Commission shall take such other action as will promote the policies of this order, and shall make recommendations to Government agencies, labor organizations or other authorized employee representatives and employers to assure efflcient and economical completion of missile programs. SEC. 7. Contracting agencies shall make appropriate assignments of labor relations representatives to each missile or space site on which they are operating and issue instructions and directives to insure that the policies and purposes of this Order are fully understood and will be carried out by the persons responsible for the Progress of work on a day-to-day basis. SEC. 8. The National Labor Relations Board and the General Counsel of the Board are requested to establish accelerated procedures for dealing with matters at missile and space sites within the Board's jurisdiction, in accordance with law, and to make such assignment of personnel as is necessary to this end; provided that voluntary procedures for the adjustment of such matters shall continue to be used wherever available appropriate and effective but the provisions of this Order shall not affect the authority of the Board under the National Labor Relations Act, as amended. SEC. 9. The matter referred to in this Order is hereby found to constitute an emergency affecting the national interest within the meaning of the provisions appearing under the heading "Emergency Fund for the President—National Defense" in Title 1 of the General Government Matters Appropriation Act, 1961 (Public Law 86-642), approved July 12, 1960. During the fiscal year 1961 the expenditures of the Commission may be paid out of an allotment made by the President from the appropriation made under the aforesaid heading "Emergency Fund for the President—National Defense", and during the fiscal year 1962, to the extent permitted by law, such expenditures may be similarly paid from any corresponding or like appropriation made available for such fiscal year. Such payments may be made without regard to the provisions of (a) section 3681 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 672), (b) section 9 of the act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1027 (31 U.S.C. 673), and (c) such other provisions of law as the President may hereafter specify. Members, and employees of the Commission and panel members appointed under this Order, shall, if not otherwise compensated, receive such compensation and allowances as the President shall hereafter fix, in a manner to be hereafter determined. JOHN F. KENNEDY THE WHITE HOUSE, May 26, 1961