Evening star., 1934-10-30
Labor Relations Board
Drops Everything to Con.
fer on New Dispute.
LEADERS HASTEN HERE
TO DISCUSS ISSUES
Giant Grocery Concern Deter
mined It Will Not Reopen 800
Stores in Cleveland.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
A strenuous effort to save Presi-
dent Roosevelt's industrial truce from
going to smash started today.
The National Labor Relations Board
dropped everything to confer with
both sides in the row involving the
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
in Cleveland. Other agencies kept
sharp watch on half a dozen indus
trial sore spots.
The controversy that led the A. &
P. to close its 300 stores in Cleveland,
throwing more than 1000 persons out
of work, apparently gave the Labor
Board one of its hardest nuts to crack
As company officials and labor lead
ers gathered here for today's confer
ence, word went out that the giant
grocery concern has no intention ever
to return to Cleveland.
John A. Hartford, president, was
quoted as saying in New York last
night that the concern, with an in
vestment of $2,500,000 in Cleveland,
would never go back.
Coercion Charged.
The company complaint is that the
A. F. of L. demanded 100 per cent
unionization and used coercion. Union
leaders accuse the company of coer-
cion and violating the collective bar
gaining provisions of the industrial
recovery act.
What else could we do?" Hartford
asked, in explaining the company's
move. THE last week they (the
stores) weren't getting their supplies.
The police gave no protection. We
had our choice. We could have i'm
ported a lot of gunner and guarded
our own trucks and stores. That would
have meant riot and bloodshed. We
decided to close up the business and
get out"
President william Green Of the
A. F. of L., declaring he would CO.
operate toward peace, said repre-
sentatives Of the A. & P. workers
report that the fight which Is being
carried on against the A. & p. is for
the purpose Of protecting the workers
in the exercise Of theit right to or
ganize and bargain collectively"
Mayor Harry L. Davis of Cleveland
denied Hartford's charge that the
company got no protection.
To Confer This Afternoon.
Hartford headed the delegation Of
company of1cials who planned to con-
fer with the Labor Board at 2:30 pm.
today. Others listed for the confer
ence were Thomas S. Farrell, secre-
tary of the Cleveland Federation of
Labor, and Ralph A. Lind of the
Cleveland Regional Labor Board.
Other pressing problems anxiously
watched by Government we're:
1. The code for the giant automobile
industry expires Saturday. The A. F.
Of L., driving to organize the industry,
seeks to have the code amended to
provide higher pay. 30-hour week
and representation on the Code Au-
thority for Auto Workers. 1t also
wants to delete the merit clause,
which declares that nothing in section
IA Of the recovery act shall interfere
with the employers right to hire and
fire on merit. Labor leaders under
stand some manufacturers prefer to
drop the code rather than this clause.
2. Strike threats hung over the Tex
tile Labor Board as it drove to investi-
gate 800 complaints that mills dis
criminate against workers who took
part in the great strike recently. United
Textile Workers officials say strikes
involving $4,000 workers are in the
offing.
Meat Cutters Dispute.
8. The Meat Cutters Union in Mil
waukee said it would call butchers Of
five stores of the E. G. Simmer Co. out
on strike today. A. g. P. stores in
Milwaukee already are involved.
though the number on strike yesterday
was variously estimated at from to
20. ''The A. & p won't bargain with
u.s." a union leader said. A strike call
to Kroger store butchers in the Wis
consin city was Cancelled last night
when a settlement was reached.
4. Produce grew scarce in Milwau-
kee as striking truck drivers tight
ened picket lines and halted almost
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