Registry No. 1702—22 NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION PROPOSED CODE OF FAIR COMPETITION FOR THE MAIL ORDER FASHION STUDIO INDUSTRY AS SUBMITTED ON AUGUST 30, 1933 The Code for the Mail Order Fashion Studio Industry in its present form merely reflects the proposal of the above-mentioned industry, and none of the provisions contained therein are to be regarded as having received the approval of the National Recovery Administration as applying to this industry UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1933 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. Price 5 cents Submitted By MAIL ORDER STUDIO BOARD OF TRADE OF NEW YORK (ii) MAIL ORDER FASHION STUDIO CODE To effectuate the policy of Title I of the National Industrial Recov- ery Act, during the period of the emergency, and to assist the Presi- dent's Recovery Program, and in order to induce and maintain the united action of labor and employers under adequate private and governmental sanction and supervision, the following provisions are established as a code of fair competition for the Mail Order Fashion industry. 1. Definitions. — The term "effective date" as used herein is defined to be the first Monday following the approval of this code by the President. The term "persons" as used herein shall include natural persons, partnerships, associations, and corporations. The term "employer" as used herein shall include every studio and/or person (whether individual, partnership, association, or corpora- tion) (a) engaged mainly in the production of women's style and wear- ing apparel drawings for mail order catalogues; and (6) having a sepa- rate, distinct, and entirely self-contained department of its general commercial art studio, so engaged; in which event, such department solely shall be deemed an "employer" hereunder. Inasmuch as this industry is a highly specialized one and is concen- trated as such specialized industry in the City of New York, no area divisions are required since this code, in its application to the parties hereto, in the City of New York, automatically and per se contains the entire industry in the entire United States. 2. On and after the effective date hereof, employers in this industry shall not employ as employees any persons under the age of sixteen (16) years. 3. Except as hereafter provided, on and after the effective date herein, employers in this industry shall not operate on a basic schedule for their employees in excess of forty and one half (40)0 hours per week. Because of the periodic nature of the industry and the inter- mittent value of the work and active duty even within the "peak periods", the necessity for peak periods is hereby expressly recognized, and hitherto existent trade practices and contracts may be continued, but during all such peak periods any employee required to work in excess of the said basic schedule shall be paid at overtime rates, to wit: one and one quarter (I/O- 4. On and after the effective date hereof the basic minimum wage that shall be paid by employers in this industry to any of their em- ployees shall be at the rate of not less than Fifteen ($15.00) Dollars per week, in the case of those employed by the week, and, in the cases of employees employed by the hour, not less than Forty ($0.40) Cents per hour. 5. The maximum hours herein fixed shall not apply to employees in a managerial or executive capacity who now receive more than Thirty-five ($35.00) Dollars per week; nor to employees on emergency 9147—33 (1) maintenance and repair work; nor to very special cases where restric- tions of hours of highly skilled workers on continuous processes would unavoidably reduce or delay production, but in any such special case time and one fourth shall be paid for hours worked in excess of the maximum. 6. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to intend or effect a reduction of the compensation for employment now in excess of the minimum wage herein set forth, whether or not the hours of work in said employment may hereby be reduced. 7. Inasmuch as the Mail Order Studios Board of Trade of New York (all the members of which are party hereto and constitute prac- tically 90% in volume of work done of the employers in this industry), and the Mail Order Catalogue Artists' Equity of New York (which comprises approximately 95% of the artists employed in the industry, and more than 75% of the total number of employees in the indus- try), have entered into a certain Memorandum of Agreement, dated March 15, 1933, concerning the conditions of labor, hours of employ- ment, and terms of compensation of artists of various classifications, and apprentices, all as therein set forth, which agreement is in all respects in excess of the minimum requirements of the N.R.A. and entirely consistent therewith, bearing in mind the conditions in this industry and the standards of labor therein, and inasmuch as there exists neither a surplus nor sufficiency of such highly specialized skilled labor, the aforesaid Memorandum of Agreement is hereby ratified, approved, and in all respects confirmed, and is hereby made a part hereof as if herein fully set forth at length, and is hereby annexed hereto and made "Exhibit A" hereof. 8. During the term of this code, nothing herein contained shall be interpreted to require adjustment, abrogation, violation, or any devia- tion from the terms and conditions of any contract or agreement now in effect with any employee or group of employees: and where, by the specific terms ci" such contract or agreement, provision is made for the renewal thereof by agreement or by arbitration, nothing herein contained shall serve to abrogate such a provision; nothing herein contained shall be construed as giving any employer or employee or group of employers or employees the right to abrogate or violate any contract or agreement now in effect with the other or require an adjustment of the conditions therein, provided in any way other than as such adjustment is provided for in such contract or agreement. But, wherever in this industry agreements between employers and employees arrived at by collective bargaining shall exist or shall come into existence hereafter, all the provisions of such agreement with reference to labor standards not prohibited by law and not inconsistent with N.R.A. shall be administered as though a part of this code. 9. The Mail Order Studios Board of Trade of New York (herein called the Association) is a voluntary, unincorporated Association. A copy of its Charter and By-Laws are hereto attached, marked "Exhibit B", and asked to be read as a part hereof. Membership within the association is open to any person tor studio 1 who conforms to the requirements of membership therein, hut for the purpose of thi-> code any person (or studio) who finds it impracticable to become a member of the Association, hut who subscribes hereto, shall he considered as having accepted his --hare of responsibility and shall he entitled to the benelits of its provisions. 10. All employer members of the Association herein mentioned shall display the N.R.A. label. All employers as herein defined not mem- bers of the Association herein mentioned may use the label only if they sign and comply with the standards set forth in this code. 11. Employers in this industry shall comply with the requirements of the National Industry Recovery Act, as follows: (a) Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collec- tively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from 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 col- lective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. (b) 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 organiza- tion of his own choosing; and (c) 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. 12. (a) This code is not designed to promote monopolies and shall not be availed of for that purpose. (6) The provisions of this code shall not be so interpreted or admin- istered as to eliminate or oppress small enterprises or to discriminate against them. 13. It is agreed by all of the parties hereto that sound economic principles require the realization of prices which will include a fair average cost plus a reasonable profit. 14. This code and all the provisions thereof are expressly made subject to the right of the President, in accordance with the pro- vision of Clause 10 (b) of the National Industrial Recovery Act, from time to time to cancel or modify any order, approval, license rule or regulation, issued under Title I of said Act, and specifically to the right of the President to cancel or modify his approval of this code or any conditions imposed by him upon his approval thereof. Such of the provisions of this code as are not required to be in- cluded therein by the National Industrial Recovery Act may, with the approval of the President, be modified or eliminated as changes in circumstances of experience may indicate. It is contemplated that from time to time supplementary provisions to this code or addi- tional codes will be submitted for approval of the President to prevent unfair competition in price and other unfair and destructive competi- tive practices and to effectuate the other purposes and policies of Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act consistent with the provisions hereof. Mail Order Studio Board of Trade or New York, By Bert D. Pagand, President. o Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/proposedcodeoffa8383unit UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 3 1262 08853 8383