In form and purpose the War Labor Board was a new departure for even a democratic nation to take. It had no precedents behind it and no body of law with which to enforce its decisions. To make its work effective it depended upon the general sense of justice and fair play, the confidence of workers and employers in the justice of the policies by which it was guided and the loyalty and patriotism of both the opposing sides of industrial controversies. Its purpose was to secure maximum production of all war necessities by preventing strikes and lockouts, and also proper conditions of labor and of living that would aid in making possible that maximum production. With regard to labor unions the Board based all its procedure upon the right of labor to organize and to bargain collectively with employers, but forbade any coercion by labor unions or their members of either employers or employees. Employers were not allowed to discharge workers or to penalize them, directly or indirectly, for attempting to organize, although shops were to be continued as closed or open, on their existing status, for the period of the war. In open shops the union standard of wages and conditions was to be maintained. The Board would not use its power to compel open shops to become union shops, but employers agreed to recognize the right of the employees of a shop to form a full organization of their own members if they chose. The Board recognized the basic eight-hour day as applying in all cases where required by the existing law and in other cases it pledged itself to settle the question with due regard to the welfare of the workers and to governmental necessities. In the case of women workers it insisted upon equal pay for equal work and said that their tasks must be proportioned to their strength. The National War Labor Board called to its aid a large number of men and women trained in the investigation of labor problems and when its services were necessary the case was studied by several of these agents, the sides respectively of labor and of management being investigated each by those sympathetic with its point of view. They studied each case on its own merits, listed the grievances, collected evidence and selected witnesses to appear before the Board. In some cases, in order to expedite the work, trained examiners conducted hearings at which both sides were represented and then reported to the Board with an analysis and summary of the case.