NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

IV. WORK OF THE BOARD 21
After thdl complaint cases had been transferred to the Board, either
by its order transferring the cases, by the filing of exceptions to the
intermediate report of the trial examiner by any of the parties to the
proceedings, or by the failure of the respondents to comply with the
recommendations contained in the intermediate report, and after the
representation cases had been heard, the Board issued decisions in 701
cases. This represents y2 percent of the 12,632 cases on docket during
the 12-month period covered by this report. Included in these 701
cases were 514 cases involving the determination of representatives,
and 187 cases involving unfair labor practices.
Settlements.—The Board has attempted in every way possible to reduce
the time element in the procedure before it to a minimum but it
has no control over the time which elapses as a result of the review
of its orders by the courts. Therefore, the ability of the regional directors
to secure settlements without recourse to formal proceedings
has meant the rapid removal from the area of possible industrial conflict
of certain disputes which, by their nature, are likely to lead to
economic strife. The Board is gratified to report, therefore, that substantial
compliance with the act was secured in 4,621 cases settled as
a result of the direct participation of the Board's staff during the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1938. These cases represented 52.2 percent of all
cases disposed of during the period.
In some of the settlements secured by the Board during the fiscal
period ending June 30, 1938, intervention by the Board took place
before the disputes involved had advanced to the stage of strikes or
threatened strikes. However, the issues in these disputes, discrimination,
and union recognition and collective bargaining, were the same
issues which have caused a large percentage of strikes in the United
States for many years, and it may safely be stated that a large proportion
of these disputes would have culminated in strikes but for the
intervention of the Board.'
Of the 4,621 cases settled by the Board, 2,972 were complaint cases,
the settlements of which resulted in recognition of the workers' representatives,
the disestablishment of company unions, reinstatement of
employees who were discriminated against because of union activity,
the cessation of interference with employees' exercise of the right of
self-organization, the posting of notices to this effect, the placement
of workers on preferential employment lists, payment of back wages.°
The settlements in these 2,972 complaint cases affected 595,640 workers.
The remaining 1,649 cases settled, involving 339,898 workers, were
representation cases. Of this total 830 cases were settled by elections
held with the consent of all parties involved. In many cases, as a result
of these elections, the employers entered into contractual relations with
the unions winning the elections. In 603 cases the employers entered
into collective bargaining negotiations with the petitioning union
without recourse to the election machinery provided for in the act, and
in 216 additional cases the employers consented to a pay-roll check,
i. e. a comparison of union membership cards with the employers' pay
rods, in order to determine whether or not a majority Of their
employees had selected the petitioning union as their representative.
In about 64 percent of all cases closed by settlement, the terms of
the agreement were reduced to writing.
6 See appendix A, p. 284.
"26 complaint cases were settled by elections conducted by the Board and its agents.