The Maritime Labor Board (MLB) was an independent US government agency with responsibilities for mediating and researching

US labor law United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the "inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "org ...

in relation to labor disputes in the maritime industry. In 1941, its mediation function lapsed, after which it focused exclusively on research.

History

Creation

The Maritime Labor Board (MLB) was created by an amendment on June 23, 1948 (52 Stat. 968) to the Merchant Marine Act (49 Stat. 1985) of June 29, 1936.

Operations

The MLB began with two major functions. First, it mediated labor disputes within the maritime industry. Second, it conducted research on maritime labor problems. From its founding to June 30, 1941, the MLB became involved in 118 disputes, advised 40 disputes, and observed 37 disputes. The Sailors' Union of the Pacific refused to deal with it at all; the

National Maritime Union The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged wi ...

(NMU) would deal with it.

Walter Galenson Walter Galenson (1914 – December 30, 1999) was a professor of economics at Cornell University and a noted U.S. labor historian and economist. Education and early career He received his bachelor's degree in 1934, his Master of Science in 1935 ...

pronounced the MLB "unsuccessful" in 1960.

Devolution

On June 23, 1941, an amendment (55 Stat. 259) to the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 let the MLB's mediation functions lapse. From then on, it focused only as a research agency.

Closure

On February 14 (or 15), 1942, the MLB ceased operations due to exhaustion of appropriations. Three days later, its files went to the National Archives. The Conciliation Service of the National Defense Mediation Board succeeded the MLB. On May 24, 1950, President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

abolished the U.S. Maritime Commission, replaced by the

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...

Members

Board Members

In July 1938, the MLB's board included: * Robert W. Bruere of New York (chairman) * Dr. Louis Bloch of San Francisco (member) * Claude E. Seehorn of Denver (member)

Staff members

From 1938 to 1940,

Nathan Gregory Silvermaster Nathan Gregory Silvermaster (November 27, 1898 – October 7, 1964), an economist with the United States War Production Board (WPB) during World War II, was the head of a large ring of Communist spies in the U.S. government. It is from him that t ...

was a staff member: he ran the Silvermaster Group under Soviet spy Elizabeth Bentley.

References

External sources

* * *
Government Accounting Office
B-9707, JUNE 7, 1940, 19 COMP. GEN. 977 {{Authority control History of labor relations in the United States Labor relations boards Government agencies established in 1938 New Deal agencies