Cyrus S. Ching
Encyclopedia
Cyrus S. Ching was a Canadian-American
who became an American
industrialist, federal civil servant, and noted labor union
mediator
. He was the first director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
(FMCS) and the Wage Stabilization Board
.
, Canada
on May 21, 1876. The Chings were of Welsh
heritage (the family name was originally spelled Chynge). He was the only boy in a family with eight children.
Ching was educated in a one-room school
house. When he was 16, he was a spectator in a local courtroom, and the experience inspired him to become a lawyer. He attended Prince of Wales College
, a college preparatory academy, after a well-off uncle paid for his high school education. He transferred to a local business college and studied bookkeeping
and stenography
. In 1895, he left Prince Edward Island to work for an Alberta
n grain elevator
company.
On October 31, 1899, Ching moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and took a job as a clerk with the West End Street Railway
. He became an instructor, teaching motormen
how to operate the new elevated rail cars
. In 1901, Ching was nearly electrocuted on the job while repairing a rail car. Although he was expected to be blind and his face heavily scarred for life, he left the hospital after two months with only minimal scar damage to his hands. Since Massachusetts
had yet to enact worker's compensation protection, Ching was fired by the company during his hospitalization. Afterward, however, the company rehired him—this time as a manager, training motormen on the city's streetcars
.
Ching became a naturalized
American citizen in 1909. In 1912, he obtained his law degree
from the Evening Institute for Younger Men (now Northeastern University). The same year, he married the former Anna MacIntosh. After her death, Ching married Mildred Vergosen.
. Management refused to heed his warnings. In June 1912, the Amalgamated Association of Street Car Employees struck the transit system. The Mayor
of Boston, John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, and the Governor of Massachusetts
, Eugene Foss
, accused the president of the company of bribing
state legislators to obtain favorable treatment. The president resigned, leading to an end to the strike in August 1912. The system's new president appointed Ching as company negotiator. Ching promised to end the use of management spies
, which quickly led to a labor agreement. When the American Federation of Labor
(AFL) forced the Amalgamated to give up jurisdiction over 34 separate job titles to various craft unions
, Ching consented to the change—and negotiated another 34 labor contracts.
When the United States entered World War I
in 1918, Ching attempted to enlist but was turned down because the military refused to induct anyone taller than 6'4" (Ching was 6'7"). Rather than continue to work for the transit company, Ching went to work for the United States Rubber Company
in 1919 as director of industrial relations. U.S. Rubber had 34 subsidiary units, most of which were independent. When employees assisted by the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW) engaged in a recognition strike
at the company's Dominion Rubber unit in Montreal
, Ching convinced both Dominion and U.S. Rubber officials to agree to binding arbitration
. The workers subsequently rejected the IWW in favor of affiliating with the AFL. Ching later secured company acquiescence in the formation of workers' councils in every U.S. Rubber factory. Yet Ching opposed widespread unionization of U.S. Rubber due to the AFL's insistence on craft unionism
.
Unions began forming in the American rubber industry after passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act
in June 1933. Goodyear
, B. F. Goodrich
, and Firestone
all were quickly organized by the AFL. But workers at U.S. Rubber remained by and large satisfied with working conditions, and unionization made little inroad among company employees. Ching, however, saw unionization coming. Although the United Rubber Workers (URW) had made few inroads among the company's workers, Ching met with URW and Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) organizers and arranged for card check
elections at U.S. Rubber factories. Unionization of the company proceeded without the acrimony observed at other rubber manufacturers, and contracts were quickly signed.
, chairman of the National Defense Advisory Commission, asked Ching to mediate a dispute at a Bethlehem Steel
factory in upstate New York
. When the union struck in February 1941, Bethlehem Steel executives demanded that the governor
crush the strike using the New York Army National Guard
. Ching not only refused to ask for military intervention, he demanded that Bethlehem Steel executives meet with him in Washington, D.C.
At a meeting a few days later, Ching surprised the company by having Philip Murray
, president of the United Steelworkers of America, and Sidney Hillman
, associate director of the Office of Production Management and a former CIO leader, at the meeting. Ching had won Murray's consent to a quick election at the plant. When the employer claimed the union effort was led by a mere handful of agitators, Ching demanded that the company prove its claim by holding a snap National Labor Relations Board
election. Management, its bluff called, reluctantly agreed. An election was held 10 days later which the union won by a vote of 75 percent to 25 percent. The strike ended, and a contract was signed.
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
named Ching to the National Defense Mediation Board (NDMB) in early 1941. The Board collapsed shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor
after Ching and a majority of the Board's members voted against imposing the union shop
on the "captive mines". A later panel overturned the ruling in 1942, but Ching continued to espouse a philosophy of consensual collective bargaining rather than government imposition in employer-union relations.
President Roosevelt then named Ching to the War Labor Board, the NDMB's successor. He served from February 1942 to September 1943, then returned to U.S. Rubber. Ching retired from the company in August 1947.
Passage of the Taft-Hartley Act
over President Harry S. Truman
's veto on June 23, 1947, established the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service as an independent agency. John R. Steelman
, Assistant to the President of the United States (the office later became the White House Chief of Staff
), asked Ching to head up the new agency. Ching initially refused, but Truman himself asked Ching to direct the new agency in order to forestall congressional opposition to funding the new agency. Ching served until the end of the Truman administration. During his time in office, Ching advised Truman to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act during a strike at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
in December 1947, and mediated several important strikes—including the 1949 steel strike, the 1949 Hawaii dockworkers' strike, and several coal strikes. He also spent much of his time fighting off attempts to put FMCS back under the authority of the United States Department of Labor
.
Ching took a leave of absence from FMCS in October 1950 to head the Wage Stabilization Board
, a Korean War
-era agency created in September 1950 to limit wage increases and help stabilize the economy as defense mobilization ramped upward. He was the agency's first director. He quit the Board in April 1951 when President Truman reconstituted the panel, and returned to FMCS.
After departing FMCS in September 1952, President Dwight Eisenhower asked Ching to lead a panel which would arbitrate labor disputes at Oak Ridge. Ching agreed, and remained head of the arbitration panel until his death.
the same year. A partial scholarship was endowed in 1956 in honor of Ching at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations
.
In 1961, the Dept. of Labor presented Ching with its Award of Merit for his service in labor-management relations.
Ching died at his home in Washington, D.C., of a heart attack on December 27, 1967. At his death, AFL-CIO
president George Meany
noted, "He contributed as much to the cause of industrial peace and labor-management understanding as any man of his generation."
Ching was inducted into the Labor Department's Hall of Fame in 1989.
Canadian-American
A Canadian American is someone who was born or someone who grew up in Canada then moved to the United States. The term is particularly apt when applied or self-applied to people with strong ties to Canada, such as those who have lived a significant portion of their lives in, or were educated in,...
who became an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
industrialist, federal civil servant, and noted labor union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
mediator
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
. He was the first director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (USA)
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is an independent agency of the United States government, founded in 1947, which provides mediation services to industry, community and government agencies worldwide. One of its most common tasks is to help to mediate labor disputes around the country....
(FMCS) and the Wage Stabilization Board
Wage Stabilization Board
The Wage Stabilization Board was set up by President Harry Truman within the United States Department of Labor, in December 1945, to take over the work of the National War Labor Board...
.
Early life
Ching was born on his father's farm in Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on May 21, 1876. The Chings were of Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
heritage (the family name was originally spelled Chynge). He was the only boy in a family with eight children.
Ching was educated in a one-room school
One-room school
One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room...
house. When he was 16, he was a spectator in a local courtroom, and the experience inspired him to become a lawyer. He attended Prince of Wales College
Prince of Wales College
Prince of Wales College is a former university college, which was located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. PWC merged with St. Dunstan's University in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island....
, a college preparatory academy, after a well-off uncle paid for his high school education. He transferred to a local business college and studied bookkeeping
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include sales, purchases, income, receipts and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with accounting. The accounting process is usually...
and stenography
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
. In 1895, he left Prince Edward Island to work for an Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
n grain elevator
Grain elevator
A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
company.
On October 31, 1899, Ching moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and took a job as a clerk with the West End Street Railway
Boston Elevated Railway
The Boston Elevated Railway was a precursor first to the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Massachusetts, now the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, operating rapid transit, streetcars and buses in the Boston, Massachusetts area. It was formerly known as the West End Street Railway.The...
. He became an instructor, teaching motormen
Motorman
A motorman is the person who operates an electrified trolley car, tram, light rail, or rapid transit train.The term refers to the person who is in charge of the motor in the same sense as a railroad engineer is in charge of the engine. The term was gender-neutral...
how to operate the new elevated rail cars
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
. In 1901, Ching was nearly electrocuted on the job while repairing a rail car. Although he was expected to be blind and his face heavily scarred for life, he left the hospital after two months with only minimal scar damage to his hands. Since Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
had yet to enact worker's compensation protection, Ching was fired by the company during his hospitalization. Afterward, however, the company rehired him—this time as a manager, training motormen on the city's streetcars
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
.
Ching became a naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
American citizen in 1909. In 1912, he obtained his law degree
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the Evening Institute for Younger Men (now Northeastern University). The same year, he married the former Anna MacIntosh. After her death, Ching married Mildred Vergosen.
Industrial relations career
While working for the public transit system, Ching witnessed the 1912 Boston streetcar strike. Ching had warned management that 11 years of frozen wages, lack of communication and general disregard for workers' issues would lead to a strikeStrike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. Management refused to heed his warnings. In June 1912, the Amalgamated Association of Street Car Employees struck the transit system. The Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Boston, John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, and the Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
, Eugene Foss
Eugene Foss
Eugene Noble Foss, was an American Representative and the 45th Governor of Massachusetts, as well as brother of George Edmund Foss.-Biography:...
, accused the president of the company of bribing
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
state legislators to obtain favorable treatment. The president resigned, leading to an end to the strike in August 1912. The system's new president appointed Ching as company negotiator. Ching promised to end the use of management spies
Labor spies
Labor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, committing sabotage, sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, typically within the context of an employer/labor organization relationship....
, which quickly led to a labor agreement. When the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
(AFL) forced the Amalgamated to give up jurisdiction over 34 separate job titles to various craft unions
Craft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
, Ching consented to the change—and negotiated another 34 labor contracts.
When the United States entered World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1918, Ching attempted to enlist but was turned down because the military refused to induct anyone taller than 6'4" (Ching was 6'7"). Rather than continue to work for the transit company, Ching went to work for the United States Rubber Company
United States Rubber Company
The United States Rubber Company was founded in Naugatuck, Connecticut in 1892. It was one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and became Uniroyal Inc...
in 1919 as director of industrial relations. U.S. Rubber had 34 subsidiary units, most of which were independent. When employees assisted by the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW) engaged in a recognition strike
Recognition strike
A recognition strike is an industrial strike implemented in order to force a particular employer or industry to recognize a trade union as the legitimate collective bargaining agent for a company's workers...
at the company's Dominion Rubber unit in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Ching convinced both Dominion and U.S. Rubber officials to agree to binding arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
. The workers subsequently rejected the IWW in favor of affiliating with the AFL. Ching later secured company acquiescence in the formation of workers' councils in every U.S. Rubber factory. Yet Ching opposed widespread unionization of U.S. Rubber due to the AFL's insistence on craft unionism
Craft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
.
Unions began forming in the American rubber industry after passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act
National Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act , officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly...
in June 1933. Goodyear
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
, B. F. Goodrich
Goodrich Corporation
The Goodrich Corporation , formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, is an American aerospace manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The company name was changed to the "B.F...
, and Firestone
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...
all were quickly organized by the AFL. But workers at U.S. Rubber remained by and large satisfied with working conditions, and unionization made little inroad among company employees. Ching, however, saw unionization coming. Although the United Rubber Workers (URW) had made few inroads among the company's workers, Ching met with URW and Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO) organizers and arranged for card check
Card check
Card check is a method for American employees to organize into a labor union in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards," stating they wish to be represented by the union...
elections at U.S. Rubber factories. Unionization of the company proceeded without the acrimony observed at other rubber manufacturers, and contracts were quickly signed.
Federal service
Ching's career as a mediator began in 1941. William S. KnudsenWilliam S. Knudsen
William Signius Knudsen was a leading automotive industry executive. His experience and success as a key senior manager in the operations sides of Ford Motor Company and later General Motors led the Franklin Roosevelt Administration to commission him as a Lieutenant General in the United States...
, chairman of the National Defense Advisory Commission, asked Ching to mediate a dispute at a Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...
factory in upstate New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. When the union struck in February 1941, Bethlehem Steel executives demanded that the governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
crush the strike using the New York Army National Guard
New York Army National Guard
The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization...
. Ching not only refused to ask for military intervention, he demanded that Bethlehem Steel executives meet with him in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
At a meeting a few days later, Ching surprised the company by having Philip Murray
Philip Murray
Philip Murray was a Scottish born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee , the first president of the United Steelworkers of America , and the longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations .-Early...
, president of the United Steelworkers of America, and Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman was an American labor leader. Head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, he was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor's support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party.-Early years:Sidney Hillman was...
, associate director of the Office of Production Management and a former CIO leader, at the meeting. Ching had won Murray's consent to a quick election at the plant. When the employer claimed the union effort was led by a mere handful of agitators, Ching demanded that the company prove its claim by holding a snap National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
election. Management, its bluff called, reluctantly agreed. An election was held 10 days later which the union won by a vote of 75 percent to 25 percent. The strike ended, and a contract was signed.
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
named Ching to the National Defense Mediation Board (NDMB) in early 1941. The Board collapsed shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
after Ching and a majority of the Board's members voted against imposing the union shop
Union shop
A union shop is a form of a union security clause under which the employer agrees to hire either labor union members or nonmembers but all non-union employees must become union members within a specified period of time or lose their jobs...
on the "captive mines". A later panel overturned the ruling in 1942, but Ching continued to espouse a philosophy of consensual collective bargaining rather than government imposition in employer-union relations.
President Roosevelt then named Ching to the War Labor Board, the NDMB's successor. He served from February 1942 to September 1943, then returned to U.S. Rubber. Ching retired from the company in August 1947.
Passage of the Taft-Hartley Act
Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor–Management Relations Act is a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S...
over President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's veto on June 23, 1947, established the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service as an independent agency. John R. Steelman
John R. Steelman
John Roy Steelman was the first Assistant to the President of the United States, serving President Harry S. Truman from 1946 to 1953. The office later became the White House Chief of Staff....
, Assistant to the President of the United States (the office later became the White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
), asked Ching to head up the new agency. Ching initially refused, but Truman himself asked Ching to direct the new agency in order to forestall congressional opposition to funding the new agency. Ching served until the end of the Truman administration. During his time in office, Ching advised Truman to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act during a strike at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
in December 1947, and mediated several important strikes—including the 1949 steel strike, the 1949 Hawaii dockworkers' strike, and several coal strikes. He also spent much of his time fighting off attempts to put FMCS back under the authority of the United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
.
Ching took a leave of absence from FMCS in October 1950 to head the Wage Stabilization Board
Wage Stabilization Board
The Wage Stabilization Board was set up by President Harry Truman within the United States Department of Labor, in December 1945, to take over the work of the National War Labor Board...
, a Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
-era agency created in September 1950 to limit wage increases and help stabilize the economy as defense mobilization ramped upward. He was the agency's first director. He quit the Board in April 1951 when President Truman reconstituted the panel, and returned to FMCS.
After departing FMCS in September 1952, President Dwight Eisenhower asked Ching to lead a panel which would arbitrate labor disputes at Oak Ridge. Ching agreed, and remained head of the arbitration panel until his death.
Retirement, honors, death
Cyrus Ching published his memoirs, Review and Reflection: A Half Century of Labor Relations, in 1953. He received an honorary degree from Bowdoin CollegeBowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
the same year. A partial scholarship was endowed in 1956 in honor of Ching at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations
Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations
The New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations is an industrial relations school at Cornell University, an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, USA...
.
In 1961, the Dept. of Labor presented Ching with its Award of Merit for his service in labor-management relations.
Ching died at his home in Washington, D.C., of a heart attack on December 27, 1967. At his death, AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
president George Meany
George Meany
William George Meany led labor union federations in the United States. As an officer of the American Federation of Labor, he represented the AFL on the National War Labor Board during World War II....
noted, "He contributed as much to the cause of industrial peace and labor-management understanding as any man of his generation."
Ching was inducted into the Labor Department's Hall of Fame in 1989.