The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-02-04
Auto Strike Farley
 Makes SomeAduance
Continued from Page D

Ranization, that the United Automo- bile Workers be tine sole bargaining agent of the workers.
 rDid General Motors bring its nneRcr to the unions demand for exclusive bargaining rights?" the gpokegEnaii was asked.
 "Not exactly was the reply.
 This development became known after today's conference Tween Lewis and William S. Knudsen, ex- ectutive Yice-president of General Motors, and their aides had been ln progress an hour and half. In two meetings yesterday lasting six hours the question Of evacuation ot General Motors plants held by sit- down strikers was sidetracked while the leaders fenced over the recog" nition issue.
 Gov. Murphy Anxious
 Gov. Frank Murphy, sitting in as special mediator at President Roose- veit's request, urged the union lead- CTS and company officials to reach some agreement on this fundamen- tai issue in the General Motors strike.
 Spokesman for the c. I. o. was it's chairman, John L. Lewis, who ar- rived twenty minutes ahead of schedule with James F. Dewey, fed- eral labor conciliator. John Thom- as Smith, corporation general coun- gel for the automobile company, led the counter-attack.
 A somewhat silent participant as Lewis and Smith bore the burden of debate was William s. Knudsen, executive yice-president of General Motors. Homer Martin, president of the United Automobile Workers, c. I. o. Union, sat with Lewis. The discussion began shortly after 10 Q. m.
 Lewis There Early
 Lewis early arrival gave him op- portunity for 20 minutes conversa- ton with Gov. Murphy and Dewey, in which Martin joined later.
 The argument centered about LeWig' contention that since the corporation speaks for the stock holders as an entity, the automobile union should speak for the workers in the same capacity.
 The determination of Lewis to gain recognition rested on belief that his entire c. I. O. unionization drive probably is dependent on his achievements here.
 Two new figures appeared at to- days meeting. The were Donald son Brown, chairman of General Motors finance committee, and Lee Pressman, general counsel for the 0. I. O.
 Their late arrival, with Knudsen and Smith, delayed start of the conference some IS minutes. PICK UP
 Gov. Murphy Works Hard
 0ov. Frank Murphy, acting as special mediator at the request of President Roosevelt. strove to pre- ve..t the first face to face meeting of William s. Knudsen, executive yice-president of one, and John L. Lewis, chairman of the other, from trailing of into stalemate.
 Sixty miles away, in the automo- tivo city of Flint where 4,500 mem- bers of Lewis United Automobile Workers still occupied three General Motors plants in defiance of a court Injunction, all was calm. But City Manager John M. Barringer was mobilizing 1000 citizens volnteers into a special police force "to pro- tect homes and property. The mobilization continued through civil authorities had signed a truce with strike leaders promising that the citizen-police would not be called.
 Murphy Optimistic
 Here, the only openly optimistic person was Murphy. buoyed by his success in bringing Knudsen and Lewis together after other media . -s had failed.
 T feel good" he bubbled. Both sides have been fair in trying to be helpful"
 An authoritative sources describ- ed the positions of Lewis, Knudscn and Murphy as follows:
 How Each Feels
 Lewis-The committee for indus trial organization believed that It's affiliate, the United Automobile Workers of America, should be recognized as the sole collectice bar gaining agency of automotive labor Lewis rcstated the traditional trade union argument, that exclusive rev. ognition is the only real" recogni- tion, and that the group which has the foresight and ability" to or ganize deserved the right to serve as spokesman in dealing with wages, hours and working conditions.
 lHnudSen-The corporation be- lieycs that 1t is it's duty to protect the interests of the individual, non- union worker and other groups in it's plants. It feels that any man should have the right to join or not to join the union and to make his own financial arrangements with his employer. These rights, 1t is held, would be abdicated if the company consented to recognize the U. A. w. A. as exclusive agent for It's work CTS.
 Murphy-The governor, 1t was re- ported, offered a dual proposition: To General Motors-Rccognize the U. A. w. A. as sole agency con- cerned in the present dispute; to the union---evacuate the plants on the governors assurance that they will not be reopened during wage and hour parleys.
 Yesterdays C0nfab
 Yesterday mornings session was concerned chiefly with the gover- nor,s presentation of the dual pro- posal. It lasted an hour and half. The parties got down to real argu- ment when the conference resumed at 3 D. m. Knudsen returned with John Thomas Smith, corporation s neral counsel. Lewis brought Homer Martin, president Of the United Automobile Workers.
 Throughout the afternoon and Into the evening they fenced. .al- ways, 1t was said authoritatively, on the iesue O. recognition.
 The question of evacuation of the plants was sidetracked.
 Lewis was represented today as