Document a1aKoJw3bvwZ2Z47X7V6ZevmN

INDUSTRIAL Published by the Illinois Manufacture 120 S. La Salle Street, Chic; Vol. 9 FEBRUARY, 1936 umber 105 Special Session of Legislature Called to Consider Legislation Relating to Occupational Diseases, Health, Comfort and Safety and Changes in Blower Act f-i OVERNOR HORNER hi* called I j i Third Special Session of the Illinois General Assembly which began Wednesday, February 8. This session wilt run concurrently with the first and second special sessions which now bay, been in progress for several weeks. Items to be considered In this Third Special Session which are of impor tance to industry relate to bills provid-. ing for remedies in occupational dis ease situation; legislation relating to health, comfort and safety; and meas ures making . certain changes in the Illinois Blower Act A digest of. the - principal provisions of these several bills Is subjoined. Copies of any or all of these measures will be sent to members upon request to our Chicago or Springfield offices. It has not been feasible for the Association to send copies of these measures to members . at an earlier date because the bills were not in form for submission to the Illinois Legislative Reference Bu.reau at Springfield until late Tuesday evening, February 4th. As a matter of fact, It is probable that some changes will still be made by the Legislative Reference Bureau helore the bills are finally submitted to the legislature. However, as indicated above, copies of the bills as'submitted to.the Legis lative Reference Bureau will be sent to our members upon request These measures are the result of ex tended consideration of this entire subject matter by the Occupational Diseases Committee of the Association under the chairmanship of O. E. Mount This committee was appointed by the President of the Association early in 1933 to study the occupational diseases problem with a view to deter mining what remedial legislation was necessary in the state to bring about an equitable and practical system gov- erning the rights, duties and liabilities of employers, employees and insurance carriers with respect to such diseases. At the time the committee was ap pointed. employers in the state were being flooded with damage suits, most of which were predicated on silicosis, asbestosis, and a .variety of real and fancied lung afflictions. Some of these suits were meritorious, but to a large extent they were stirred up and solic ited by ambulance chasers for unethical lawyers who, with the aid of doctors of like ilk; developed what for a time Legislative Situation at Springfield There are now three special sessions of the Illinois General Assembly rim ing concurrently. The first special session covers the subjects of pld age pensions, unemployment Insurance, etc. The second session relates to un employment relief, and the third, which has just been called by the Gov ernor; covers the subject of occupa tional disease legislation, and several other items which are not of direct importance to industry. The status of the unemployment in surance legislation remains unchanged. An unsuccessful effort was made to pass this measure in the State Senate on January 7th. Insufficient votes were secured. Senator Lee, sponsor of the bill in the Senate, secured the consent of the Senate to postpone con sideration of the bill. Therefore, he is in position' where he can call the bill up at any time for reconsideration. A companion bill is on second reading in the House of Representatives.""It is in position where it could be ad vanced at any time. The Association is carefully watching this legislation and wilt promptly advise its members in event any further efforts to enact the measures into law are made. The subject of occupational disease legislation is treated elsewhere in this issue. The Association is represented at Springfield at all sessions of the legis lature by Allan T. Gordon, Director of our Legislative Bureau, and other members of our staff Detailed infor mation regarding any measures pend ing at Springfield can be secured by communicating with our Chicago or Springfield offices. was a flourishing racket The uneth ical lawyers and doctors, and not the. employees themselves, profited from these suits. The committee has devoted its activ ities exclusively to the development of adequate and comprehensive occupa tional'disease legislation for the state, and it has actively and conscientiously continued its efforts to this desirable end during the past year. It has had the whole-hearted cooperation of mem ber companies of the Association, which companies have placed at the disposal of the committee the services of legal, medical, engineering and lay members of their organizations. It has also received the cooperation and as sistance of a number of the most out standing legal, medial and lay au thorities on the subject of occupational diseases In this country. i Measures Ca.refu.lly .Studied Careful study and consideration has been given to occupational diseases acts which have been enacted by vari ous states in this country and by for eign countries; and in our study- of these various acts especial efforts have been made . to determine what has proven satisfactory in actual operation from the standpoint of both employers and employees. A* soon as the first draft of a pro posed act was approved by the com mittee, a copy of such measure was delivered to the representatives of la bor for their consideration. We ho'ped that an agreed bill might be developed and introduced at the 1983 regular ses sion of the Illinois General Assembly. The representatives of labor, however, introduced their own bill, which action placed us under the necessity of intro ducing our bill Both bills. were re ferred to the House Judiciary Com mittee, and by that committee in turn to a special sub-committee. The sub committee conducted many hearings. Shortly before the end of the regular session, the Illinois Director of Labor requested representatives of employers and labor to confer in an effort to de velop an agreed bill. The widely di vergent views of the two groups ren- PLEASB PASS THIS BULLETIN DOWN THE EXECUTIVE LINE i SC-ALL-01185 SCF-ALLF-00365 SC-IT-50