Declaration of Policy
Section 1.
A national emergency productive of widespread unemployment and disorganization
of industry, which burdens interstate and foreign commerce, affects the public
welfare, and undermines the standards of living of the American people, is hereby
declared to exist. It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress
to remove obstructions to the free flow of interstate and foreign commerce which
tend to diminish the amount thereof; and to provide for the general welfare
by promoting the organization of industry for the purpose of cooperative action
among trade groups, to induce and maintain united action of labor and management
under adequate governmental sanctions and supervision, to eliminate unfair competitive
practices, to promote the fullest possible utilization of the present protective
capacity of industries, to avoid undue restriction of production (except as
may be temporarily required), to increase the consumption of industrial and
agricultural products by increasing purchasing power, to reduce and relieve
unemployment, to improve standards of labor, and otherwise to rehabilitate industry
and to conserve natural resources.
...
Codes of Fair Competition
Sec. 3. (a) Upon
the application to the President by one or more trade or industrial associations
or groups, the President may approve a code or codes of fair competition for
the trade or industry or subdivision thereof, represented by the applicant or
applicants, if the President finds (1) that such associations or groups impose
no inequitable restrictions on admission to membership therein and are truly
representative of such trades or industries or subdivisions thereof, and (2)
that such code or codes are not designed to promote monopolies or to eliminate
or oppress small enterprises and will not operate to discriminate against them,
and will tend to effectuate the policy of this title: Provided, That such
code or codes shall not permit monopolies or monopolistic practices: Provided
further, That where such code or codes affect the services and welfare of persons
engaged in other steps of the economic process, nothing in this section shall
deprive such persons of the right to be heard prior to approval by the President
of such code or codes. The President may, as a condition of his approval of
any such code, impose such conditions (including requirements for the making
of reports and the keeping of accounts) for the protection of consumers, competitors,
employees, and others, and in furtherance of the public interest, and may provide
such exceptions to and exemptions from the provisions of such code, as the President
in his discretion deems necessary to effectuate the policy herein declared.
(b) After the President shall have approved any such code, the provisions of
such code shall be the standards of fair competition for such trade or industry
or subdivision thereof. Any violation of such standards in any transaction in
or affecting interstate or foreign commerce shall be deemed an unfair method
of competition in commerce within the meaning of the Federal Trade Commission
Act, as amended; but nothing in this title shall be construed to impair the
powers of the Federal Trade Commission under such Act, as amended.
...
Agreements and Licenses
Sec. 4. (a) The President is authorized to enter into agreements with, and to
approve voluntary agreements between and among, persons engaged in a trade or
industry, labor organizations, and trade or, industrial organizations, associations,
or groups, relating to any trade or industry, if in his judgment such agreements
will aid in effectuating the policy of this title with respect to transactions
in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, and will be consistent with
the requirements of clause (2) of subsection (a) of section 3 for a code of
fair competition.
(b) Whenever the President shall find that destructive wage or price cutting
or other activities contrary to the policy of this title are being practiced
in any trade or industry or any subdivision thereof, and, after such public
notice and hearing as he shall specify, shall find it essential to license business
enterprises in order to make effective a code of fair competition or an agreement
under this title or otherwise to effectuate the policy of this title, and shall
publicly so announce, no person shall, after a date fixed in such announcement,
engage in or carry on any business, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce,
specified in such announcement, unless he shall have first obtained a license
issued pursuant to such regulations as the President shall prescribe. The President
may suspend or revoke any such license, after due notice and opportunity for
hearing, for violations of the terms or conditions thereof. Any order of the
President suspending or revoking any such license shall be final if in accordance
with law. Any person who, without such a license or in violation of any condition
thereof, carries on any such business for which a license is so required, shall,
upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $500, or imprisoned not more
than six months, or both, and each day such violation continues shall be deemed
a separate offense. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2(c), this subsection
shall cease to be in effect at the expiration of one year after the date of
enactment of this Act or sooner if the President shall by proclamation or the
Congress shall by joint resolution declare that the emergency recognized by
section 1 has ended.
Nothing in this Act, and no regulation thereunder, shall prevent an individual
from pursuing the vocation of manual labor and selling or trading the products
thereof; nor shall anything in this Act, or regulation thereunder, prevent anyone
from marketing or trading the produce of his farm.
Sec. 7. (a) Every
code of fair competition, agreement, and license approved, prescribed, or issued
under this title shall contain the following conditions: (1) That employees
shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives
of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference, restraint, or
coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such
representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for
the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; (2)
that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition
of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing,
or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing; and (3) that employers
shall comply with the maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and other
conditions of employment, approved or prescribed by the President.