Evening star., 1934-10-04
80 MORE TO GIVE
WE|RTON EVIDENCE
Federal Witnesses Tell of
Intimidation at Steel
Company Plant.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
WILMINGTON, Del, October A.
Building a case they hope will be
impregnable, slow as the process mey
be. Government attorneys contem-
plate summoning so more witnesses
In the suit against the Weirton Steel
Co., entering its third day in United
States Court today.
Battled every step of the way, the
Government has drawn from more
than a half-dozen witnesses testi
mony that the employe representation
plan, or company union" was ere
ated at the company plants before
they knew the nature of it and that
threats and intimidation have been
resorted to in an effort to diSsuade
them from joining the Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel and Tin
Workers, unit of the American
Federation of Labor.
To Demand Injunction.
On the basis of this and kindred
testimony to be presented in the next
week or two, the Government will
Illdb OudSC OOIlll 4NlClOS
issue a permanent injunction to re-
strain the company from taking any
part in the balloting of its employees
for collective bargaining representa-
tives or in their choice of an agency
to represent them
When the Government concludes
the factual side of its case the COM
pany will open and it, too, will be
permitted unlimited time Points of
law will be argued after all witnesses
are heard.
In calling its witnesses the COM
pany will endeavor to show that
employe representation plan is ade-
quate and a fair medium for the
workers to bargain collectively. De-
nial will be made that workers were
intimidated or threatened
Jesse Palmer. father of five chill
dren and whose wife is an invalid,
told the court he was threatened with
dismissal if he could not be counted
upon to stay with the company if
and when labor trouble developed.
Witnesses Tell Of Fear
A procession of witnesses testified
yesterday to support the Govern
ments contention that employees were
afraid to attend union meetings
and had to pay dues under secretive
circumstances lest they lose their
jobs
Unhurried by Judge John P. Nields,
Federal attorneys at the end of the
second day had questioned fewer than
10 of the witnesses.
Mrs. Elizabeth Entinger wife of a
company employe, testified some of
the workers came to her light lunch
and beer" place of bushes in Weirton
and paid her their dues in the Anal
gamated Association of Iron, Steel and
Tin Workers. They did this, she said,
because the men are afraid to 60 to
the hall there, especially among the
foreign class of people. for fear of
their bosses" Mrs. Entinger turned
the payments over to the lodge secre-
tary. she said.
George Moore, who was dismissed
from the Weirton employ two weeks
after the strike last Fall testified to
the presence of officers or bosses of
the company near the lodge hall
every meeting night"
About Is Bosses.
When Cornelia Bryce Pinchot. wife
of the Governor of PENNSYLVANIA.
spoke there, the bosses numbered
around fifteen" Moore said. Cross
examined by Early F. Reed, company
counsel, Moore said the number of
men attending lodge meetings of the
amalgamated varies between 100 and
500.
The Government followed a similar
course Of questioning with other wit
: nesses to support its complaints that
the employe representation plan, or
company union" is inadequate and
that Weirton workers who wanted
the amalgamated as their bargaining
agency were restrained from support
ing it because of company intimida-
ton.
Federal attorneys won a point when
Judge Nields admitted as evidence
two stacks of cards which purport to
be records of the N r. A. Lodge of
the Amalgamated. of which Moore is
financial secretary. Moore testified
the stack of cards totaled about 900
and represented the number of Weir
ton employees who enrolled in the
| Amalgamated
William J. Long testified to casting
ballot at an election under the COM
pany plan in June, 1888, because his
superior told him, You know what
will happen if you don't" Long said
the ballot he cast was blank. Ken
meth Koch, another witness, testifc.
| he voted against my own will"