Exchanging wage rates among association members

No. 162. Exchanging wage rates among association members. The Commission rendered an advisory opinion in regard to the legality of a trade ,association s proposed statistical reporting plan. Specifically, the Commission was asked to rule upon the question of whether it would be ,permissible for the members of an association to exchange copies of their labor contrads.

The Commission ruled that it had no objection to the proposed plan itself, provided it was not used for some illegal purpose. If the plan is used as 'a means for fixing or tampering with the price of milk, or for some other illegal purpose, the Commission stated it would of course have serious objection to the plan. Pointing to the antitTIlst hazards inherent in such a plan, the Commission said: Statistical reporting plans which involve the collection and dissemination of experience in data related to future prices are not illegal per se. However, other cases indicates that an association s price reporting plan which involves future or advance prices, particularly when that plan invites an industrywide pricing policy, may ,proYide the basis for an inference of an agreement or combination to fix: prices in Yiolation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. Since labor costs re-presenta very significant element bearing upon the future price of milk, an agreement among competitors as to wage rates would be illegal, since it would have the effect of fixing the price of milk. In essence it is the potential dan~er ADVISORY OPIXIOK DIGEST 1293 inherent in the reporting plan which is related to future prices that prompts the Commission to suggest that it be used with extreme care. (File No. 683 7051, released Jan. 27, 1968.