OFFICE OF INFORMATION,

PUBLICATIONS, AND REPORTS

Routine operations of the Washington office involved the preparation and issuance of news releases; preparation and display of exhibits; review and clearance of all publications, reports, and news releases of the Department; preparation and issuance of publications of Department-wide significance; contact with Washington representatives of the various news media; and the output of information to 550 labor papers.

Upon request, the Department participates in various conferences and conventions of labor unions and business and professional organizations. Departmental representatives deliver addresses as requested, set up exhibits depicting the services of the Department, and explain the ways in which the Department serves the public. Representatives participated in several hundred such conventions and conferences during the year.

The Office answered some 70,000 inquiries made by telephone or in person by the public and the press or by other departments, and performed other duties and activities required to inform the public fully on the policies and programs of the Labor Department.

The Office published a descriptive booklet on the functions of the Department; a booklet of text and tables supplying background statistics on the steel dispute; and a major volume on "How American Buying Habits Change." This last has been described by several of the leading news organs as "monumental,” a “useful work to market analysts," and "the real story of America." It is in considerable demand, especially by commercial establishments.

For field use by various bureaus, 60 portable displays and 8 medium-sized exhibits were prepared. Special large-sized exhibits depicting the work of the Labor Department were placed on display for several months at the centennial celebrations held at Denver, Colo., and Portland, Oreg.

OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS

The Office of International Labor Affairs (OILA) was reorganized during the year to deal with constantly increasing responsibilities and to conform to the organizational pattern of the Department of State. Headed by the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, the OILA is divided into three subordinate offices, each headed by a Director: International Organizations Affairs, International Personnel and Management, and Country Program Affairs.

The Office of International Organizations Affairs includes the following divisions: Foreign Economic Policy, Trade Union Programs, Technical Cooperation, International Labor Organization Affairs, and International Trade Union Organizations.

The Office of International Personnel and Management assists the Department of State in recruiting, training, and assigning labor attachés and officers, coordinates the Department of Labor's participation in the Board of the Foreign Service, and supervises the administrative services of the OILA.

Area specialists in the Office of Country Program Affairs cover Latin American, European, African, Near East and South Asian, and Far Eastern regions.

During the year, the Trade Union Advisory Committee, consisting of 13 leaders of the AFL-CIO and presidents of several international unions, was revived under the chairmanship of the Secretary of Labor. Meetings were held on February 10 and May 19 to provide briefings for the trade union leaders and to consult with them on international labor affairs. The committee strongly recommended the expansion of the Foreign Service Labor Officer Corps and sought means toward more effective trade union participation in the Government's foreign visitor program and in providing a welcome to foreign students in the United States.

Country Program Affairs.

Increased emphasis was given to the work of the five area specialists in this unit, who are responsible for developing country papers, analyzing the problems within the countries of their regions. These papers are used to prepare individually tailored programs for foreign visitor teams based on the political, social, and economic problems of their respective countries, and for other program activities. The workload of the area specialists was increased by a greater number of requests for analyses of State Department dispatches. The area specialists also participated more frequently in the deliberations of the area working groups of the Operations Coordinating Board.

The area specialist for the Near East and South Asia visited several countries in his region and participated in the U.S. trade fair in Calcutta. The trip revealed the need for a labor attaché in Ceylon and an assistant labor attaché in India. In the United Arab Republic, the area specialist was received with great cordiality, and preliminary arrangements were made for a tripartite team of government, worker, and employer representatives to visit the United States. Arrangements were also made for the Under Secretary of Labor to visit the Near East in the next fiscal year.

Greatly increased attention is being given to the labor movements in the independent and newly emerging countries of Africa, where labor movements are strongly influencing the development of the nationalist and economic aspirations of the people.

International Labor Organization

Several notable events marked the past year's participation by the United States in the International Labor Organization, particularly the 40th anniversary of the ILO and the 25th anniversary of U.S. participation.

ILO activities have expanded in the last 25 years. The volume of Labor Department work in this field has increased with the growth of industrial committee activity, the increasing importance of the ILO technical assistance programs, Russia's reentry into the ILO, and the development within the U.S. Government of interdepartmental collaboration on ILO matters.

With the support of other nations of the free world, the United States has been increasingly successful in shifting emphasis from the traditional ILO work of standards development to operational programs, practical research, and technical work on specific problems such as safety and health, industrial relations, and workers' education. The United States has, for example, supported ILO's activities designed to increase productivity as a means of raising living standards and to stress the importance of effective labor-management cooperation.

The annual International Labor Conference in June witnessed a record attendance of nearly 1,000 delegates, observers, and advisers in attendance from 75 of the 80 member countries and from 15 dependent territories, primarily in Africa. The U.S. delegation headed by Assistant Secretary George C. Lodge achieved all of its major objectives. Mr. Lodge also served as the chairman of the important resolutions committee.

Secretary of Labor Mitchell, who attended as a Visiting Minister, delivered a message from President Eisenhower reaffirming U.S. support for the International Labor Organization. It read in part:

The ILO is a vital forum for the exchange of information and opinions by representatives of governments, employers, and working men and women. It has adapted itself ably to changing conditions and developed new techniques to meet new problems. It has grown strong in service to the people of the world.

Over the years, from its rich store of experience, the Organization has shared its wisdom with newly developing countries through technical assistance and educational programs-advisory and informational services. I understand that these countries call upon the ILO increasingly to help them realize their aspirations for a better life.

The United States is proud of its membership in the International Labor Organization We are glad that so many of our citizens have been able to serve the cause of world peace through participation in its work.

On this occasion, I am delighted to reaffirm our support of the ILO and to add my best wishes for a memorable session.

The more important decisions of the Conference on substantive items included the adoption of four new international instruments: three conventions dealing with the conditions of work of fishermen and one recommendation on the organization of occupational health services in places of employment.

The Conference took preliminary action toward final decision next year on three other instruments: a proposed draft recommendation dealing with consultation and cooperation between public authorities and employers' and workers' organizations at the industrial and national levels and a draft convention supplemented by a recommendation concerning protection of workers against radiations. It also adopted a resolution inviting the Governing Body to take cognizance in its future program of the need for adequate protection through workmen's compensation of workers occupationally exposed to ionizing radiations.

Other resolutions adopted were concerned with giving encouragement to the ILO's operational program, program of youth services, regional activities, and participation in a World Health Year.

The Conference adopted an appeals procedure recommended by the Governing Body permitting any Conference delegate excluded as a voting member of a Conference committee to appeal to a panel of three jurists. This action resulted from an issue in the 1954 ILO Conference when the Soviet "employers" and "workers" were seated over the opposition of the U.S. Government, employer, and worker delegates, following which the free employers refused to nominate "employers" from Communist countries to Conference committees. The International Labor Conference again rejected by more than a two-thirds majority the credentials of the Hungarian Government, employer, and worker delegates.

Early in 1959, a four-man mission from the ILO conducted a 3-month survey on freedom of association in the United States. This was in response to an invitation extended by the U.S. Government. The mission spoke highly of the cooperation it had received. It intended to make a similar survey in the U.S.S.R., which had also invited the mission, and report its findings early in 1960.

The United States participated in three Governing Body sessions (140th, 141st, and 142d). The Assistant Secretary for International Affairs served as the U.S. Government delegate at these sessions. Aside from routine administrative matters, the Governing Body took the following significant actions:

1. Approved a U.S. proposal that a general review of the activities and programs of the ILO be undertaken at the November 1959 Governing Body session.

2. Accepted the report of its Committee To Review the Program of the ILO Conferences and Meetings recommending changes in appeals procedure already

noted, limited major meetings of the International Labor Office-regional conferences, industrial committees, and comparable meetings—to four a year.

3. Decided to publish the reports and findings of its Committee on Freedom of Association regarding complaints of infringement of trade union rights by the U.S.S.R. and Hungary.

4. Approved a program for associating the North African countries more closely with the activities of the ILO, including holding an African Regional Conference in 1960.

5. Decided to undertake a review of the membership of industrial committees in November 1959, indicating that each year at least one additional industry might be considered for an ad hoc meeting.

6. Approved the establishment of an International Occupational Safety and Health Information Center.

7. Gave preliminary consideration to the establishment of an International Institute for Labor Studies.

An ad hoc committee on the timber industry convened in Geneva, December 8-19, 1958. The Coal Mines Committee met in its seventh session April 27 to May 8, 1959. There were three meetings of Committees of Experts attended by U.S. representatives: "Conditions of Work and Employment of Nurses" (October 6 to 11, 1958); "Problems Affecting Teachers" (October 20 to November I, 1958); and the second session of the Committee of Experts on Social Security (January 26 to February 5, 1959). The Labor Department furnished the U.S. expert for the committee on teachers and the delegates for the Timber and Coal Mines Committees.

The Timber Committee made recommendations to the Governing Body on the subjects of accident prevention, conditions of work and workers' welfare in logging camps, and labor-management relations in the timber industry.

The Coal Mines Committee considered principles and methods of wage determination in the coal mining industry, and its labor-management relations; the committee agreed that safety and the social consequences arising from fuel and power consumption trends were still among the most important preoccupations of the industry.

The Committee on the Conditions of Work and Employment of Nurses recommended that more complete, reliable, and detailed statistical information be compiled as a basis for relating the supply of nurses to the demand for nursing services; that governmental policies aim at more effective utilization and retention of available nursing resources; and that hours of work be reduced where possible.

The Committee of Experts on Problems Affecting Teachers considered the social and economic problems affecting teachers, principles underlying the determination of salaries, and superannuation arrangements. Specific recommendations on each of these subjects were made to the Governing Body.

The Committee of Social Security Experts recommended that outstanding conventions dealing with social security be completely remodeled and that separate instruments should deal with (a) benefits in case of employment accidents