The emergency board shall notify the employer and the employees or their representatives of the time and place for commencement of hearings, which hearings shall commence within five days from the date the board has been constituted. The board shall ascertain the facts of the controversy and shall use its best efforts by mediation to bring the parties into agreement.

The board shall hold such meetings as it deems necessary or proper for a period not longer than twenty days from the date the hearings commenced; provided that the twenty-day period may be extended from time to time by the board with the written consent of the parties, a copy of which consent shall be filed with the director of labor and industrial relations.

Within three days from the date of termination of the hearings, the board shall submit to the governor a written report setting forth findings of fact and stating the position of each of the parties as to each issue on which agreement has been reached and as to each issue still in dispute at the time of termination of the hearings. Within five days from the receipt of the findings of the board and if no agreement is reached during this period, the governor shall make the findings of the board public.