The Washington herald., 1918-07-25
GREAT LAKES
TIE-UP BEGINS
NEXT MONDAY
Seamen's Union Votes to
Go Out When Carriers
Refuse to Treat.
OWNERS REJECT PLAN
Sailors Ask Cancellation Be
Agreed to by U. S. Steel
Corporation.
o. 8. stan Correspondent.

Informal negotiations are pending
between the Cancellation Depart
ment of the shipping Board and the
International Seamen's Union and
the Lake Carriers Association. seek
ing a settlement of difficulties be-
tween the lake seamen and the lake
c@rriers befor Monday. the date set
by the seamen for a general lake
strike IL the Carriers Association
has not accepted the award OF the
the joint committee appointed under
the auspices Of the United States
government last July.
Ten thousand lake seamen are af-
fected by the strike order, and pYac-
tically every freighter on the
Great Lakes would be tied up at the
dock IL the strike were called.
The friction between the men and
the ship owners has been brewing
over a year and a half. As a result
OF continual trouble. joint COM
mittee representing the seamen. the
carriers and the government was
appointed under government au-
spices last July. which recommend
ed a cooperative agreement be-
tween the seamen and the carriers.
Was Accepted.
This was accepted by the Inter-
national Seamcn's Union and the At
lanuc carriers. 1t was extended
later to the Pacific carriers, but the
Great Lakes Association has refuS-
ed to accept it
The Great Lakes Carriers Asso-
citation is largely dominated by the
Pittsburgh Steamship Company.
which is a L. S. Steel Corporation
subsidiary. The men have waited
months for the carriers to accept
the cooperative agreement, but have
finally voted to go on strike Mon
day IL acceptance is not had by then.
Victor Olander. secretary of the
International Seamen's Union, is a
member OF the War Labor Board
Members of that board feel that the
lake carriers might prefer that any
labor difficulties with the seamen not
come before it because of Olanders
membership.
Not CrgIng Wages.
. Il understand that the Shipping
Board is handling the matter" said
Mr.. Olander. THE men are not in
sssting on wage questions now. They
want the cooperative agreement ac-
certed. Then matters of wages, hours
and conditions OF labor are subject to
arbitration under its provisions.
They've waited more than a reason
able time for the carriers to act"
I'm hopeful there will be no strike"
said r. P. Bass. in charge OF concilia-
tiOn for the Shipping Board. I'VE
have informal negotiations on and 1
believe that something will happen
before Monday to stop the strike,
Though I had not heard that The men
had finally voted for the strike"
The matter is in Mr.. Bass Lands
and I expect that he will be able TO
avoid any strike" said H. L. Kerwin,
commissioner of conciliation in the
Labor Department.
In the meantime other departments
OF the government, especially the
Fuel Administration and the wa- In
dustEies Board. are watching the sit
uation with apprehension.
OIL Movements Affected.
Most OF the iron ore for the steel
mills in the Pittsburgh district come
down the lakes from the upper penin-
sula- Much OF the copper ore from
the same territory is freighted over
the lakes. Great stocks of coal for
Chicago. Duluth and upper lake
ports must be transported. And the
wheat from the Dakotas, Minneso-
ia and Canada crosses the lakes
for Buffalo.
A strike would paralyze the ports
of Chicago, Duluth. Superior, De-
troit, Toledo, Cleveland. Erie. Lo-
rain, Ashtabula and Buffalo. 1t
would put burden on the railroads
in that territory such as they have
not had to carry even in peace times.