Labor Participation in the Office of Price Administration

The movement for labor participation in governmental agencies began long before America's entry into World War II, but no significant progress was made until the beginning of the national defense program. Recent economic pressures and the enlarged wartime influence of federal administrative agencies have intensified labor's demand for a more direct voice in the affairs of these agencies.As early as 1939, when the National Resources Planning Board was created by President Roosevelt, labor manifested its concern over the failure to provide for its representation on the Board. At its 1939 convention, the AFL adopted a resolution providing that “on all War Boards, Labor shall be adequately represented by men appointed from the trade unions themselves.” A similar demand for appropriate representation on all important federal and state administrative agencies was made by the 1939 convention of the CIO.