Joint Committee on Industrial and Labor Conditions

The Joint Legislative Committee on Industrial and Labor Conditions was created (Concurrent Resolution adopted March 18, 1938) to examine the role of industrial and labor relations in the growth of the state's economy and to recommend improved legislation and state programs. From its inception through the mid-1940's, the committee concentrated on several areas of concern. First, it examined federal and state laws relating to employer-employee relations (collective bargaining, mediation, and arbitration) and federal and state agencies that administered these laws. Among the results of this investigation were a revised State Labor Relations Act and a streamlined mediation and arbitration procedure. Secondly, the committee examined how improved industrial and labor relations would help the business climate in the state. This examination, including an extensive survey of business migration in the 1930's, eventually led to the establishment of the State Department of Commerce to assist business growth. Third, the committee examined college courses in labor and related topics to determine their nature and effectiveness. This eventually led the committee to publish a textbook, The American Story of Industrial and Labor Relations (1943), and to work for the establishment of the School of industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. Early in 1941, the committee began planning for ways that state government could assist economic expansion after World War II. It helped establish a number of programs including the Temporary Postwar Public Works Planning Commission to help ease veteran unemployment. Finally, the committee in its first several years made a broad examination of worker's compensation programs and unemployment insurance and made recommendations for legislation to create a more equitable system. In the post-war years, the committee continued to deal with the concerns of industrial and labor relations and economic growth. It dealt specifically with problems such as veteran's employment, employment of women, growth of small business, equal pay issues, minimum wage, tax incentives for business, and the development of agriculture. It continued to examine ways to improve worker's compensation and umemployment insurance. During the 1960's and early 1970s, the committee expanded to include the problems of discrimination in employment, occupational health and safety, employment of the handicapped, migrant farm workers, and public employee issues. Throughout these years, the committee continued to deal primarily with problems of settling labor-management disputes and of creating a sound legislative and administrative environment for increased economic expansion. The committee ceased operation in 1974. The New York State Library has a complete set of the committee's annual reports from 1938 to 1974 and a nearly complete set of public hearing testimony documenting much of the committee's activities.