Evening star., 1937-02-11
urday or Sunday. when mass demon
strations would be held.
r:~Ix D--.-A- r;-s-L

StratlonS Vouio De neIo.
Eight Demands Listed.
The letter of January 4 referred 20
in the agreement listed eight demands
Of the United Automobile Workers.
Homer Martin, U. A. w. A. president.
addressed it to Knudsen. setting forth
the unions aims in the strikes as:
A national conference for collective
bargaining between General Motors
and its employees; a 3Q-hour week. g.
hour day and pay and half for over
time; establishment Of q minimum
rate Of pay commensurate with an
American standard Of living" senior
ity rights and reinstatement Of en-
ployes "unjustly discharged" abolition
of piecework systems Of pay and agree
ment on speed Of production between
the management and a union shop
committee.
The ceremony of signing the pact
that ended a 44-day strike required
only 10 minutes. 1t was delayed for
IS minutes. however, by a criminal
trial in progress in the court room
which had been the scene of the ex-
tended negotiations.
Labor and corporation represent
atives arrived at the IL am. hour
originally set for the ceremony. They
conferred at some length with Gov.
Murphy and Dewey.
400 Persons Pack Room.
Four hundred persons packed the
room when they finally entered.
They filed in one by one, Gov.
Murphy. Dewey, Knudsen. Donaldson
Brown, chairman of the General Mo-
tors Finance Committee; John Thomas
Smith, general counsel for the corpo-
ration; Lee Pressman. general counsel
for the c. I. O., and Mortimer.
They sat at the clerks table. in
front of the judges bench. Murphy
borrowed Mortimer's fountain pen and
handed it to Knudsen, who signed
the letter to Governor Murphy con-
tanning a qualified promise Of sole
recognition for the U. A. w. A. for
six months.
Then the corporation executive
placed the first signature on the peace
pact, one minute after the conferees
had entered the court room.
In turn, Smith, Brown, Mortimer
and Pressman afflxed their signatures
and the strike was over. Gov. Murphy
attested the document.
There were no remarks. Silence over
hung the court room. Then the scene
was re-enacted for news camera men,
statements we're written out and the
ceremony was concluded.
At 1925 Gov. Murphy and the labor
representatives reached Lewis hotel
suite with the agreement. The General
Motors representatives did not accom-
pany them.
There, behind closed doors, the
bushy-browed labor leader placed the
sixth and final signature on the treaty.
Seated in bed, he used huge fountain
pen in keeping with his own bulk.
To Resume Operations.
General Motors will resume opera
t1ons as soon as possible after the
plants have been evacuated.
Resumption Of full operations would
return approximately 100000 General
Motors employees to work. in addition
to raising $4,000 others from q part
time to full time basis.
Forty plants of the corporations
various divisions have been closed or
operated on a restricted basis, COM
pletely halting the production of Gen.
eral Motors passenger cars.
Since December 80 "sit-down" strik-
ers have held two Fisher Body plants
at Flint-the focal point Of the labor
dispute-and week ago union work
ers in the Chevrolet No. I plant also
started "sit down."
Gov. Frank Murphy, who called to-
gether representatives Of both sides q
week ago yesterday ct the wish" Of
President Roosevelt, smilingly an
nounced the settlement at 2:40 am.
today. The announcement came at
the conclusion of the fourteenth joint
meeting of delegations for General
Motors and the U. a. w. A.
Michigan's 43-year-old Governor
spent virtually all of the time since
his Inauguration January to cem-
posing the opponents differences. He
was aided constantly by Dewey.
At the conclusion OF . night Of dis