Evening star., 1934-03-16
Johnson OFFERS.
TWO PEACE PLANS.
TO AVERT STRIKE.
IN MOTOR PLANTS
Optimism Prevails as N. R.
A. Head Seeks to Avert
Blow of WaIkout to Prog
reSS of Recovery.
MOTOR LEADER IS COOL
TO PROPOSED PROGRAM
Labor Heads Wait Next Move
After Threat to Paralyze In
dustry if Recognition Is De-
nied-Dispute Feared as Start
ing Disorder Wave.
MOTOR LEADER is COOL
TO PROPOSED PROGRAM
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Gen Hugh S. Johnson, standing in
the breach left by National Labor
Board that conceded itself powerless
sought a pact between labor and auto
mobile executives today to ward off a
threatened strike in motordom.
Resolved that the automobile indus
try must not be tied up at this stage
the recovery administrator redoubled
efforts to sell the top executives of
the giant concerns on a program to
avert the strike.
He tentatively outlined two plans:
Elections to determine the strength
of American Federation of Labor
unions and works councils, or COM
pany unions. in each plant. without
disclosing to the employers the ,afhlia-
tion Of each worker.
2, An impartial grievance board to
hear complaints of men who say they
were fired or Disseminated against for
union activity.
Recovery Effect Feared.
A fear that a great strike at this
time might hamstring the Roosevelt
recovery drive drove negotiators on.
A hundred leaders Of organized
labor stood by and waited They
warned. however, that the deadline
was AIS pm. today, the hour pre-
viously set for their departure from
Washington.
I'VE simply can't go back to our
men and say that We had a round
table conference and got nowhere" :"
they had said earlier
Amid strong indications that
quick solution of the difficulties was
expected, johnson today conferred
with William s. Knudsen, executive
vice president of General Motors.
A distinct air of optimism was
noticeable at Johnson's Office and
among members of the National Labor
Board who, after dropping attempts
to solve the situation by formal board
action, were busy assisting the N R.
A. head.
johnson and his aides maintained
silence as to progress of the negotia-
tions and would not indicate how far
he had gotten in telephone conversa-
tions during the night with Walter p.
Chrysler and other automobile prin-
cipals at Detroit.
Labor Board Is Active.
Clay Williams, North Carolina to-
bacco man who is vice chairman OF
the Labor Board; Louis KRISTEN of
Boston and Walter 9. Teagle of
Standard Oil, all board members, were
active in the negotiations.
Knudsen appeared cool to the john
son plans thus far, however.
The Labor Board decided to leave
the situation to johnson rather than
bring on another of the deadlocks
which have cost many striking work.
men their jobs. The board had just
ended a day of hearings which re-
vealed a yawning chasm between the
industrialists and the labor leaders on
the question of A. F. of L. recogni-
tion and company unions.
1t was Knudsen who declared his
company was living up to the N. R. A.
and would not recognize the A. F. of
L. Union. William Green, attacking
company unions, told a Senate Com
mittee that history's greatest strike"
is brewing in Detroit.
Members of the Labor Board were
in frequent consultation with john
son after they suspended temporarily
their efforts to work out their own
solution. They gave johnson their
knowledge of the situation as out
lined In two days of testimony.
Strike Effect In Doubt.
No one in Washington professed to
know how far the strikes would 60 If
they started. But many believed that
unless something definite was done
(Continued on Page 2, Column A.