dependability of the telemetering system for covering a wide range of measurable phenomena. Also, its use will enable the partial replacement of large participating groups and equipment normally required for test activities, reducing logistic support and manpower requirements. Further research to modify and improve the system is underway. Its adaption is envisioned for use at contractor or AEC installations where there are similar problems of detecting and measuring radioactive phenomena at remote and widespread locations. Organization and Personnel Review and Assistance Program A series of studies of the organization and personnel functions in the Commission's operations offices was completed. The studies involved examination and analyses of the functions, organization structure, operations, and staffing established by each office to carry out its responsibility, with respect to contractor personnel operations, Federal personnel administration, and organization and methods work. Principal task of the review staff was an evaluation of program results rather than a mere enforcement of regulatory or procedural compliance. Special assistance, when requested or indicated by the review, was given to managers of operations offices and their organization and personnel staff in order to maintain a more effective program. addition to studying and reporting on the qualitative aspects of organization and personnel functions at the various AEC offices, an analysis of total survey findings identified problem areas for possible policy and procedural development and standardization. Management Improvement Program In This year AEC's management improvement program was guided by a steering committee of division directors or their assistants. A departure from usual practice, the committee type of operation provides a broad perspective for coordinated review of Commission management problems. It fixes responsibility for management improvement projects and facilitates coordination of the studies and action carried out under the General Manager's directives. The committee studies AEC problems of administrative and program management rather than substantive program policy, reports on management accomplishments, and determines future problem areas for investigation and analysis. Atomic Energy Labor-Management Relations Panel The Atomic Energy Labor-Management Relations Panel was established by the President on March 24, 1953. Its members are Cyrus S. Ching, industrial consultant, and former director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, chairman; members, Thomas W. Holland, industrial consultant, and former professor of economics, University of Miami; the Rev. Leo C. Brown, director, Institute of Social Sciences, St. Louis University; Arthur M. Ross, professor of industrial relations at the University of California, Berkeley, Calif.; and O. S. Colclough, dean of faculties, George Washington University, Washington, D. C. Eight cases were referred to the panel by the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service during the period January through June 1954, bringing to ten the total of referrals since its establishment. These were: 1. The Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., prime construction contractor at the Pike County, Ohio, project, in dispute with the Office Employees International Union, AFL. 2. The Hanford Contractors Negotiating Committee, on behalf of construction contractors and subcontractors at the Hanford, Wash., project, in dispute with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL. 3. The Kaighan and Hughes Co., mechanical subcontractor to the Maxon Construction Co. at Oak Ridge, Tenn., in dispute with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, AFL. 4. The Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Co., operations contractor at Oak Ridge, Tenn., in separate disputes with three craft groups within the Atomic Trades and Labor Council with which Carbide bargains. 5. The Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Co., in dispute with the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, AFL, at Oak Ridge, and the United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers, CIO, at both Oak Ridge and Paducah, Ky. 6. The American Car and Foundry Co., in dispute with the International Association of Machinists, AFL, at Albuquerque, N. Mex., growing out of negotiations on an initial bargaining agreement. 7. The Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., in dispute with United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, AFL, at Portsmouth, Ohio. 8. The Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., in dispute with the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association, AFL. In the first three of the above cases, the panel issued substantive recommendations, which were accepted by the parties as the basis for agreement. In the issues in dispute between Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Co. and the three craft groups, the panel did not recognize one, a jurisdictional issue, and dismissed the other two which were grievances. In the disputes between Carbide and the AFL Council at Oak Ridge and between Carbide and the CIO-represented employees at Oak Ridge and Paducah the union members rejected the panel's recommendations. In addition, the employees represented by the Chemical Workers Union, CIO, authorized their officials to call a strike, if acceptable agreements could not be negotiated. The dispute between American Car and Foundry Co. and the AFL Machinists had not been heard by the panel as of June 30, 1954. The dispute between Kiewit and the carpenters was settled by the parties themselves in a meeting prior to scheduled panel hearings. Kiewit and the cement finishers, represented by the operative plasterers and cement masons union, presented arguments to the panel in their dispute but the panel had not taken action in formal recommendations by the end of June. Labor Disputes Work continuity throughout the atomic energy program continued at an exceptionally high level during the 7 months ending May 1954. There were no work stoppages in operations, research and development and maintenance activities. Construction and design were free of work stoppages 97.9 percent of the scheduled time. The Savannah River project established an AEC record for major construction by working a full year (over 40 million man-hours) without a stoppage. The Paducah project lost only 900 of a scheduled 10 million working hours during the past 7 months. Sheetmetal workers at Oak Ridge, in a dispute over travel pay allowance, accounted for the major time lost during this period. Other significant stoppages involved carpenters at Hanford and laborers at Portsmouth and Oak Ridge. Hours and Earnings Gross earnings (including overtime and other premium pay) of atomic energy production and maintenance workers averaged $2.21 per hour in March 1954, the latest month for which data are available. Earnings of these workers decreased during the 6-month period ending in March, due to a decrease in average hours worked. However, they continued during the period to fall in a position between earnings of workers in the petroleum and coal products and the industrial inorganic chemicals industries-industries most nearly comparable in process and equipment. Progress in construction of facilities at the Savannah River project made possible a reduction in the workweek from 45 to 40 hours in March 1954. Similar progress at the Paducah, Ky. project permitted construction contractors to reduce the workweek from 45 to 40 hours in May 1954. With the elimination of extended workweeks at these locations, the Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tenn., projects are the only major AEC construction activities working in excess of 40 hours weekly. At Portsmouth, a 45-hour week is in effect, while at Oak Ridge, part of the construction force works a 48-hour week and part an alternate 40-48 hour week. Labor Turnover The chart on page 76 compares monthly turnover rates per 100 employees in atomic energy contractor operations (excluding construction contractors) with those of related industries during the 6-month period ending in March 1954. Turnover rates of AEC operations contractors are comparable to or fall between those of the industrial inorganic chemicals and petroleum and coal products industries. Compared with the previous 6-month period more recent experience reveals a trend toward a more stable work force. |