TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT - National Labor Relations Board

Operations in Fiscal Year 1961
For 26 years the National Labor Relations Board has administered
the National Labor Relations Act
The act has been amended, the agency has been altered, but the
primary objective—to protect the public interest by sustaining stability
of labor-management relations—has remained constant
Today the Board is a focal point for contending forces in the
economic life of the Nation There are 1,820 full-time Board employees,
including some 1,150 in 28 regional offices The number employed
is noteworthy when compared to the 53 that made up the
original Washington staff, and the 62 others in 21 field offices
At the end of fiscal year 1961, the Board was composed of Chairman
Frank W McCulloch of Illinois and Members Philip Ray
Rodgers of Maryland, Boyd Leedom of South Dakota, John H
Fanning of Rhode Island, and Gerald A Brown of California
President John F Kennedy filled two vacancies by appomtmg Mr
McCulloch and Mr Brown, and at the same time designated Mr
McCulloch as Chairman Mr Stuart Rothman, of Mmnesota,
the General Counsel
1. Important Events
In fiscal 1961, the National Labor Relations Board delegated its
decisional powers with respect to employee collective bargaining
election cases to its 28 regional directors This was a new procedural
step—and one of the most important in Board history—made possible
by the 1959 amendments to the act The principal effect of
this delegation was to permit regional directors to decide in their
regions election cases that before the 1959 amendments had been
ruled on only by the five-man Board in Washington
This delegation includes decisions as to whether a question concerning
representation exists, determination of appropriate bargaining
unit, directions of elections to determine whether employees wish
union representation for collective-bargaining purposes, and rulings
on other matters such as challenged ballots and objections to elections
1