Wage Stabilization Board

Last updated
National Wage Stabilization Board
NWSB
Agency overview
FormedJanuary 1, 1946
Preceding agency
DissolvedFebruary 24, 1947
Superseding agencies
Jurisdiction Federal government of the United States
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Parent agency Executive Office of the President
Wage Stabilization Board
WSB
Agency overview
FormedSeptember 9, 1950
Preceding agencies
DissolvedFebruary 6, 1953
Superseding agencies
Jurisdiction Federal government of the United States
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Parent agency Economic Stabilization Agency

The Wage Stabilization Board (WSB) was an independent agency of the United States government whose function was to make wage control policy recommendations and to implement such wage controls as were approved. [1] There were two agencies with the same name. The first, the National Wage Stabilization Board, was the successor to the National War Labor Board, and existed from January 1, 1946, to February 24, 1947. The second, the Wage Stabilization Board, was a part of the Office of Defense Mobilization and existed from September 9, 1950, to February 6, 1953.

Contents

National Wage Stabilization Board

The first agency, known as the National Wage Stabilization Board, was established by President Harry S. Truman within the United States Department of Labor in on January 1, 1946. [2] [3] The purpose of the new agency was to continue the work of the National War Labor Board. [4] Executive Order 9809, issued on December 12, 1946, abolished the National Wage Stabilization Board effective February 24, 1947. [5]

Wage Stabilization Board

The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950. After an initial (and significant) surge of inflation, President Harry S. Truman's war mobilization effort began to achieve some success in stabilizing the American economy. [6]

On September 8, 1950, the U.S. Congress enacted the Defense Production Act. The Act gave the President statutory authority to order companies to do business with the United States in order to furnish equipment and services needed for national defense; to establish federal agencies as needed to implement the Act; and to allocate resources, personnel and funds to ensure national defense needs were met. [7] However, the Act tied wage controls to prices. If any price ceiling was imposed, the government was required to issue regulations and orders stabilizing wages in the affected industry. [8]

The next day, President Truman issued Executive Order (EO) 10161, which established the Economic Stabilization Agency (ESA) to coordinate and supervise wage and price controls. Utilizing the wage and price control model developed in World War II, the Truman administration created two sub-agencies within ESA. The Office of Price Stabilization (OPS) was given the power to regulate prices, while the Wage Stabilization Board (WSB) oversaw the creation of wage stabilization rules. The division of labor was specifically designed to unlink wages from prices. If prices rose automatically with wages, the inflationary spiral would continue unabated. Placing the onus solely on workers to keep wages low risked the wrath of labor, a lesson the administration had learned from the WWII experience. Delinking wages and prices leveled the playing field. Both workers and employers would now be forced to justify, independently, the wages and prices they demanded. [9] The Wage Stabilization Board was authorized to control wages only for hourly employees. [10] However, the WSB's authority in this regard was extremely limited. [11]

Structure

The Economic Stabilization Agency had overall authority to coordinate and implement wage and price policies. Within ESA were three sub-agencies: [12]

The WSB had nine members. Three members represented the public, three represented labor, and three represented business and industry. [13] Initially, the WSB's three "public" members were Cyrus S. Ching, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; Clark Kerr, professor of industrial relations at the University of California, Berkeley; and John Thomas Dunlop, a professor of economics at Harvard University. The three labor representatives were Harry C. Bates, president of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers; Emil Rieve, president of the Textile Workers Union of America; and Elmer Walker, president of the International Association of Machinists. The three business representatives were Henry B. Arthur, manager of the research department at meat processor Swift & Co.; J. Ward Keener, vice president of the B.F. Goodrich tire company; and Reuben B. Robinson president of the Champion Paper Co. [14]

The WSB was politically divided, however. On April 21, 1951, President Truman issued Executive Order 10233, which reconstituted the Wage Stabilization Board. Its members increased from nine to 18, and it was now given the power to issue recommendations and reports directly to the President in wage disputes. [15]

History

The reconstituted board did not retain all its powers for long, however. Executive Order 10276, issued on July 31, 1951, established the Office of Rent Stabilization. The new office was given the WSB's rent control powers, as well as given new powers to encourage the construction of rental units in areas near defense industries. By the end of 1951, the Office of Rent Stabilization had controlled the rent for 6.8 million rental units. [16]

On October 19, 1951, the WSB issued its first wage dispute resolution case. [17]

On August 30, 1952, Truman signed Executive Order 10390, which provided for alternate members for the WSB.

Abolition

On February 6, 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10434, which effectively abolished the Wage Stabilization Board. [18]

Related Research Articles

Office of Price Administration Former US federal government agency

The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money and rents after the outbreak of World War II.

Mutual Security Act

The Mutual Security Act of 1951 launched a major American foreign aid program, 1951–61, of grants to numerous countries. It largely replaced the Marshall Plan. The main goal was to help poor countries develop and to contain the spread of communism. It was signed on October 10, 1951, by President Harry S. Truman. Annual authorizations were about $7.5 billion, out of a GDP of $340bn in 1951, for military, economic, and technical foreign aid to American allies. The aid was aimed primarily at shoring up Western Europe, as the Cold War developed. In 1961 it was replaced by new foreign aid program. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, created the Agency for International Development (AID), which focused more on Latin America.

The Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 was a United States law that authorized the President to stabilize prices, rents, wages, salaries, interest rates, dividends and similar transfers as part of a general program of price controls within the American domestic goods and labor markets. It established standards to serve as a guide for determining levels of wages, prices, etc., which would allow for adjustments, exceptions and variations to prevent inequities, taking into account changes in productivity, cost of living and other pertinent factors.

Mutual Defense Assistance Act United States law, part of the Marshall Plan

The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Europe. The Act followed Truman's signing of the Economic Cooperation Act, on April 3, 1948, which provided non-military, economic reconstruction and development aid to Europe.

Michael DiSalle 60th Governor of Ohio

Michael Vincent DiSalle was an American attorney and politician from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of Toledo from 1948 to 1950, and as the 60th governor of Ohio from 1959 to 1963.

Charles Edward Wilson (businessman)

Charles Edward Wilson was a CEO of General Electric.

Philip Murray Scottish-born American labor leader

Philip Murray was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and the longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

The Office of War Mobilization (OWM) was an independent agency of the United States government formed during World War II to coordinate all government agencies involved in the war effort. It was formed on May 27, 1943 by Executive Order 9347.

The Defense Production Administration (DPA) was an independent agency of the United States government for oversight and control of the defense production programs of the United States during wartime mobilization in the Korean War era.

The Office of Defense Mobilization (ODM) was an independent agency of the United States government whose function was to plan, coordinate, direct and control all wartime mobilization activities of the federal government, including manpower, economic stabilization, and transport operations. It was established in 1950, and for three years was one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government. It merged with other agencies in 1958 to become the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization (1958–1961).

Nathan Paul Feinsinger was a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He mediated and arbitrated a number of strikes, and served as general counsel to the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board and associate general counsel to the National War Labor Board (WLB).

Roger Putnam American politician and businessman

Roger Lowell Putnam was an American politician and businessman. A member of the prominent Lowell family of Boston, he served as Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1937 until 1943, and as director of the Economic Stabilization Administration from 1951 until 1952. During his short tenure in federal office, the nation's steelworkers struck—leading United States President Harry S. Truman to seize the nation's steel mills.

1952 steel strike 1952 strike by the United Steelworkers of America for higher wages

The 1952 steel strike was a strike by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) against U.S. Steel (USS) and nine other steelmakers. The strike was scheduled to begin on April 9, 1952, but US President Harry Truman nationalized the American steel industry hours before the workers walked out. The steel companies sued to regain control of their facilities. On June 2, 1952, in a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court ruled in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952), that the President lacked the authority to seize the steel mills.

Cyrus S. Ching was a Canadian-American who became an American industrialist, federal civil servant, and noted labor union mediator. He was the first director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and the Wage Stabilization Board.

The Office of Economic Stabilization was established within the United States Office for Emergency Management on October 3, 1942, pursuant to the Stabilization Act of 1942, as a means to control inflation during World War II through regulations on price, wage, and salary increases.

The Economic Stabilization Agency (ESA) was an agency of the United States Government that existed from 1950 to 1953.

Stabilization Act of 1942 US law implemented to control prices during World War II

The Stabilization Act of 1942, formally entitled "An Act to Amend the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, to Aid in Preventing Inflation, and for Other Purposes," and sometimes referred to as the "Inflation Control Act", was an act of Congress that amended the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942.


Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA) was a federation of rail transport labor unions in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1926 with the purpose of acting as a legislative lobbying and policy advisory body. At times, it played a prominent role in setting rail transport policy in the U.S., and was party to six U.S. Supreme Court cases. It disbanded in January 1997, with representation, collective bargaining, and legislative lobbying assumed by the newly formed Rail Division of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department.

The National War Labor Board, commonly the War Labor Board was an agency of the United States government established January 12, 1942 by executive order to mediate labor disputes during World War II.

The presidency of Harry S. Truman began on April 12, 1945, when Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and ended on January 20, 1953.

References

  1. ↑ "Executive Order 10161, September 9, 1950," John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project, no date.
  2. ↑ Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. "Harry S. Truman: "Executive Order 9672 - Establishing the National Wage Stabilization Board and Terminating the National War Labor Board," December 31, 1945". The American Presidency Project. University of California - Santa Barbara.
  3. ↑ Wood, Lewis. "Stable Pay Board to Succeed NWLB." New York Times. January 1, 1946.
  4. ↑ The National Wage Stabilization Board, January 1, 1946-February 24, 1947..., p. 1.
  5. ↑ Loftus, Joseph A. "Voluntary Action for Labor Peace Stated As Policy." New York Times. December 16, 1946; Belair, Jr., Felix. "War Agencies Put in Unit By Truman for Liquidation." New York Times. December 13, 1946; "Truman's Statement and Order Consolidating War Agencies." Associated Press. December 13, 1946.
  6. ↑ Hogan, p. 353-355.
  7. ↑ Hogan, p. 344.
  8. ↑ "Everybody's Fight," Time, September 18, 1950.
  9. ↑ Marcus, p. 9-10.
  10. ↑ Pierpaoli, p. 145.
  11. ↑ Loftus, Joseph A. "Truman Establishes Agency To Bar Inflation as U.S. Arms." New York Times. September 10, 1950.
  12. ↑ "Bureaucracy in Blossom," Time, February 26, 1951.
  13. ↑ Loftus, Joseph A. "Truman Setting Up Price Unit with Ching Slated As Head." New York Times. September 30, 1950.
  14. ↑ Loftus, Joseph A. "Board of 9 Sworn As Pay Stabilizers." New York Times. November 29, 1950.
  15. ↑ Marcus, p. 24.
  16. ↑ "'Annual Budget Message to the Congress: Fiscal Year 1953.' January 21, 1952." John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project. Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). No date. Accessed June 2, 2007.
  17. ↑ "Wage Board Rules in First Dispute." New York Times. October 20, 1951.
  18. ↑ Loftus, joseph A. "White House Ends All Wage Control, Many Price Curbs." New York Times. February 7, 1953.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.