NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

pending action by NRA upon the Code submitted, or any other action by NRA taken to insure proper interpretation or applica¬ tions of agreements. This will afford NRA an opportunity to survey the general results of the Reemployment Program and to iron out difficulties and misunderstandings over agreements that are of a substantial character. Supplementing Interpretation No. 1 Paragraph 7 prevents the reduction of compensation in excess of the minimum, whether it is paid by the hour, day, week, or month. Therefore, an employee previously paid by the day, week, or month will receive as much for the shorter day, week, or month. An employee previously paid by the hour will receive as much per hour, but as shortening his hours will reduce his actual earn¬ ings per day or week his compensation per hour is to be increased by an equitable readjustment. There is no fixed rule which can be applied to determine what is an equitable readjustment. In general, it will be equitable to figure what the employee would have earned at his previous rate per hour in a normal week in the industry, and then to increase the hourly rate so as to give him substantially the same compensa¬ tion as he would have gotten that normal week. But consideration must be given to other factors, including: Is the existing rate high or low compared with the average rate paid in the industry ? Will the resulting adjustment result in an unfair competitive advantage to other employers or other trades or industries? Will a long¬ standing wage differential be lost if there is no increase in the existing rate? (4) Where an employer is bound by the terms of a contract with a labor organization entered into as the result of bona fide collective bargaining and he is unable to effect a change in such contract by agreement in order to comply with the terms of the President’s Reemployment Agreement, he may certify his compliance with the President’s Agreement with the following exception: “except as re¬ quired to comply with the terms of agreement in effect between the undersigned and . (name of organization). It should be understood that this exception can be made only in the case of a contract not subject to change at the discretion of the employer and then only after a certified copy of the contract has been filed with the National Recovery Administration and its ap¬ proval has been given to the exception stated. Interpretation No. 2 (concerning paragraph 14) A person who believes that some particular provision in the Agreement, because of peculiar circumstances, will create great and unavoidable hardship, should prepare a petition to NRA asking for a stay of this provision as to him. He should then submit this peti¬ tion to the trade association of his industry, or if there is none, to the local Chamber of Commerce or similar representative organiza¬ tion designated by NRA, for its approval. The written approval of the trade association, or such other organization, will be accepted by NRA as the basis for a temporary stay, without further investi¬ gation, pending decision by NRA. The petition must contain a promise to abide by NRA’s decision, so that if NRA decides against the petitioner, he must give effect to the provision which was stayed, from the date of the decision of NRA. The petition and approval of the trade association or other organ¬ ization, as prescribed above, should be forwarded to NRA in Wash¬ ington; and the employer’s signed copy of the President’s Re¬ employment Agreement should be sent to the District Office of the Department of Commerce. After complying with these require¬ ments the employer will be entitled to receive and display the Blue Eagle by delivering his certificate of compliance to his post office. Paragraph 14 is not intended to provide for group exceptions, but only to meet cases of individual hardship. Interpretation No. 4 (concerning paragraph 13) All employers are expected to sign the Agreement, whether Codes have been submitted to the NRA or not (unless such Codes have already been approved) ; but after the President has approved a Code, or after NRA has approved of the substitution of the provi¬ sions of a Code for Agreements in the trade or industry covered, conformity with the Code provisions by an employer will be re¬ garded as compliance with his individual Agreement. Interpretation No. 5 (concerning paragraph 9) Where the July 1, 1933, price was a distress price, the employer signing the Agreement may take his cost price on that date as the base for such increase in selling price as is permitted by paragraph 9. Interpretation No. 6 (concerning employments covered by the Agreement) The following groups of employment are not intended to be covered by the President’s Reemployment Agreement: 1. Professional occupations. 2. Employees of Federal, State and local governments and other public institutions and agencies. 3. Agricultural labor. 4. Domestic servants. 5. Persons buying goods and selling them independently or per¬ sons selling solely on commission, provided, however, that persons regularly employed to sell on commission, with a base salary or guaranteed compensation, come within the requirements of the agreement. Interpretation No. 7 (concerning paragraph 4) Time and a Third for Hours Worked in Excess of the Maxi¬ mum by Employees on Emergency Maintenance and Repair Work Hours worked in excess of the maximum by employees on emer¬ gency maintenance or repair work shall be paid at the rate of time and one-third. Interpretation No. 8 (concerning paragraph 2) Seasonal Reduction of Hours of Operation The hours of any store or service operation may be reduced below the minimum specified in paragraph 2 if the reduction is in accord¬ ance with a practice of seasonal reduction of hours and does not result in reduction of the weekly pay of employees. Interpretation No. 9 (concerning the minimum wage for apprentices) The minimum wage provisions of the Agreement do not apply to apprentices if under contract with the employer on August 1, 1933, but no one shall be considered an apprentice within the meaning of this Interpretation who has previously completed an apprenticeship in the industry. Interpretation No. 10 (concerning the minimum wage for part-time workers) The minimum wage for a part-time worker in an employment described in Paragraph 2 of the Agreement is a wage such that if the employee worked at that wage for a full week of 40 hours he would receive the minimum weekly wage prescribed for him by the Agreement. The minimum wage for a part-time worker in an employment described in Paragraph 3 of the Agreement is the minimum wage per hour prescribed in Paragraph 6 of the Agree¬ ment. Interpretation No. 3 (concerning date of compliance) It is expected that all employers desiring to cooperate with the President’s recovery program will sign the Agreements promptly and mail them in. It is recognized, however, that it will be physi¬ cally impossible in many instances to adjust employment conditions and to hire the necessary additional personnel in order to comply with the Agreement on August 1. For that reason provision has been made for issuing the Blue Eagle only upon the filing of a certificate of compliance. It should be possible in most cases to make the necessary adjustments and file a certificate of compliance within the first week of August, and such action, taken as promptly as possible, will be regarded as carrying out the Agreement in good faith. Interpretation No. 11 (concerning maximum hours of store operation) The Agreement imposes no limitation on the maximum hours of operation of a store or service. Interpretation No. 12 (concerning employments included in paragraph 2) The following are among graph 2: Beauty parlor operators Elevator operators Restaurant workers Barbers the employments Drivers Janitors Dish washers Delivery men included in Para Watchmen Porters Filling station operators. Page 110