J. - National Labor Relations Board

XL DIVISION OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 155pared material indicating that the employment relationship had notbeen terminated with the lay-offs, since it was customary practicein the industry and in related industries to consider as employeespersons laid off temporarily because of a seasonal decline inproduction.Additional questions of similar character for which the Divisionsupplied materials included (1) whether or not an insurance agentis an employee within the meaning of the Act, (2) whether a wagehourstrike in violation of a no-strike provision of an agreementterminates an employment relationship, and (3) whether a concertedrefusal to work on a holiday constitutes a labor dispute.Material was also provided to clarify the term, "substantially equivalentemployment."Additional problems connected with current case work.—In additionto its unfair labor practice work, the Division provided materialsfor representation cases where the question of appropriate bargainingunit • arose. These materials included the history of collectivebargaining in a given industry and within a respondent'splant, the nature of the occupations involved in the case, the structureof the respondent's organization, the constitutional jurisdiction ofthe unions, and marketing and competitive factors. More specificallythe questions were of the following type : Shall a foreman be considereda member of a union ; does the collective bargaining historyand the economic character of an industry warrant the certificationof a multiple employer unit; is a proposed unit appropriate in thelight of the traditional bargaining practices of the union or unionsin question.A variety of miscellaneous technical questions were presented tothe Division, including simple matters of fact and complex issuesrequiring substantial research and expert advisory opinions. Fre -quent requests were made for the identification i of a union or employerassociation, for occupational descriptions, and for definitionsof labor terminology. Other inquiries were more difficult to answer,e. g., is a given sale bona fide or was it made in an effort to evadeenforcement of a Board order? The Division often prepared materialto clarify ambiguous references or terms in a record, e. g., themeaning of "spot inventories."B. WORK EXTENDING BEYOND THE SCOPE OF PARTICULAR CASESAND OTHER WORK OF A GENERAL CHARACTERCongressional hearings.—In connection with congressional hearingsduring the past year the Division prepared a great deal of materialfor the use of Board officials. Statistical studies were made toshow the effect of the Act (1) upon strikes and (2) upon the acceptanceof collective bargaining procedures (the latter reflected in anextension of written agreements.) Other studies included a descriptionof independent unions involved in Board cases, an estimate ofthe costs of administering the act as compared with savings resultingfrom the Board's operations, an analysis of the distribution of regionaloffices with relation to the concentration of population andindustry in surrounding areas. In addition, material of a nonstatisticalnature was prepared: a comprehensive study differentiating ,agri-192197-40----11