board and the office of the general
counsel. —
The five-man board the
members' staffs comprise 84 per-*
sons. Denham's office has 711, in
cluding all 444 field employees.
To make it more complicated,
yet a third group has its home at
the Rochambeau. composed of 28
"hearing examiners" and their
three employers. The examiners
have the role of independent
judges.
One of the two main duties of
the five-man board is to decide
what union, if any, shall represent
certain groups of American wrok
ers. It does this with the help of
Denham’s field personnel.
The other main duty relates to
unfair practices. Now here is the
way the three Rochambeau groups
fit into that picture:
Suppose a union or an employer
files an unfair practice charge.
The Denham office investigates.
The Denham office has the sole
power to decide whether to issue
a complaint and call a hearing.
If it issues a complaint, it also
has the power—and sometimes the
duty—to ask for a court order
temporarily halting the alleged
unfair practice pending a decision.
The five-man NLRB can’t issue
such complaints and can’t ask for
such court orders.
An examiner journeys from
Washington to preside over the
hearing. The hearing is like a
court trial, with a representative
of Denham acting as prosecutor,
and the party who filed the orig
inal charge helping him.
The examiner make a prelimi
nary verdict. If any party objects
to it—and usually someone does—
the case moves to Washington for
the five-man board to decide.
If the board’s verdict is “guilty”
it orders the unfair practice stop-1
ped. If necessary it can ask a fed
eral court to enforce the order.
Britain Refuses
Jewish Entry Into ,
Palestine
LAKE SUCCESS, (>P)—Britain’s
refusal to give the Jews a beach
head in Palestine by Februarq 1
for “substantial immigration” dis-•
rupted yesterday the time-table!
laid down by the United Nations!
assembly for the partition of the!
Holy Land.
Confronted with the British in
tention to retain "undivided con
trol of the whole of Palestine” un
til they surrendered their man
date, the five-member Palestine
partition commission turned to
drafting a report to the security
council recording the first failure
in the assembly partition scheme, j
Dewey Advises j
Farmers Pay Debts
ALBANY, N. Y. (/P)—Governor
Thomas E. Dewey advises Ameri- j
can farmers that their “best pro-i
tection” against a possible reces- j
sion is to pay their debts now and i
not expand any further.
The governor, a candidate for
the Republican Presidential nom
ination, gave the counsel last night
at the 116th annual dinner meet
ing of the New York State Agri
cultural society.
He said that if economic condi
tions should dictate large govern
ment subsidies, “it seems to be
much more logical to subsidize a
continued high consumption of
full agricultural produ c t i o n ”
rather than pay for crop curtail
ment.
“People need to eat,” he observ
ed, “even if they are in a depres
sion.”
Th IS YEAR presents a welcome challenge to us at the Alaska Steamship Company.
We look forward to every day of it, because we know it is going to be a period of great
progress in our service to Alaska.
This progress will be a projection of the fundamental improvements effected during the
last seven months of the old year, since our return to private operation, which in itself was
a long-anticipated forward movement. To review, briefly:
The Alaska Steamship Company again placed a fleet of seventeen vessels into
^ Alaska service, re-establishing its pre-war policy of offering sailings geared to meet
Alaska’s seasonal requirements.
In August, the finest terminal facilities ever offered Alaska t
were placed in use when the Alaska Steamship Company
i
opened its new and modern Seattle headquarters at The Alaska
Terminal — Pier 42. |
Radar installations were completed on all passenger ships by September and author
, ization made to so equip our freighters, work on six of which has already been
completed. Radar-equipped ships mean improved service through reliable scheduling
> ' — even in the thickest weather.
The proper packaging program, instituted by the Seattle Chamber of
Commerce, has been strongly promoted by The Alaska Line as a part ■j
of its effort to eliminate damage and pilferage of merchandise shipped 1
to Alaska.
These are but some of the forward strides taken during the last half of 1947, not to men
tion our important new policy of keeping Alaskans informed of our plans and problems.
Yes, the old year —short as it was for the Alaska Steamship Company—was packed full of
accomplishments. But, now is the time to look forward — not backward. The Alaska Steam
ship Company is undergoing a reorganization, aimed at affording greater efficiency of operation.
A proposed plan, about which we will tell you more in a later message, has been made for
the Company’s return to wholly private operation on a permanent basis. Other important
moves are at hand to give effect to the Alaska Steamship Company’s program of progress
and improvement for 1948.
Yes, we welcome this year’s challenge which will be fully met by our organization primed
to produce the best in transportation for Alaska.
Sincerely,
ALASKA STEAMSHIP COMPANY
***** Strvimg All Alstka *****
ft