Evening star., 1939-05-09
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Negotiators in the soft coal crisis
walked silently into the White
House today to discuss with Presi-
dent Roosevelt the wage contract
dispute which has left $50 900 miners
idle.
Joint negotiating committees, in
vited here by Mr.. Roosevelt after
he became increasingly concerned
with the almost complete shutdown
of the industry, declined to specu-
late beforehand on prospects of an
agreement.
The administration was particu-
larly worried over a possibly serious
shortage of coal for industry and
transportation.
Sitting in on the conference was
Secretary of Labor Perkins. She
was accompanied by James F.
Dewey, Labor Department concilia-
tor.
The negotiations for new soft
coal contract have been deadlocked
for weeks over union demand
that the operators agree to recog-
nize a union shop. or, as an alterna-
tive, eliminate from the new con-
tract strike penalty clauses which
have been a part of the soft coal
agreement for years.
The union shop sought by John L.
Lewis, president of the United Mine
Workers and the C. I. o. differs
slightly from what is generally
called a closed shop, mine union
leaders said
Members of Delegation.
They explained that under the
U. M. w. constitution the miners
could not demand a closed shop in
the strict sense of the term. A
union shop permits mine workers
to obtain a job in the mines before
being required to join the union.
Under q closed shop. workers would
be required to join the union before
obtaining a job.
The U. M. w. delegation included
Mr.. Lewis, Philip Murray, John
Owens, Van A. Bittner and David
Mcdonald.
The operators were represented
by Walter Robson, chairman of the
Joint Wage Conference; John D. A.
Morrow, Lee Gunther, Charles
ONeil and L. T. Putnam.
The scene of the two-month-old
parley over a new contract shifted
to the Capital from New York in a
series of rapid developments:
/. Mr.. Lewis blamed the Roose-
welt administration and the Labor
Department specifically for the
shutdown.
2. Secretary Perkins. announcing
acceptance of the invitation to the
White House meeting, said last night
the operators had been guilty of a
violation of the principle, of the
ethics. of collective bargaining"
3. Miss Perkins also said the Coal
Commission would announce a coal
crisis in the near future and that
the coal need is so great that the
Government owes it to the citizens
to get the coal moving"
described as McUl6JOT.
The Labor Secretary described the
Presidents role as that of a medi-
ator. The conference marked Mr..
Roosevelt's first direct intervention
in a labor problem since he called
leaders of the A. F. l.. and the G. I
o. together during the winter in an
effort to make peace between the
rival organizations.
Miss Perkins held a long confer
ence in New York with the coal ne
gotiators yesterday. In the midst
of that session Mr.. Lewis made pub
lie letter to DR.. John R. Steelman
Federal conciliator, saying:
Failure of the Roosevelt admin
istration to approve or sustain the
Mine Workers offers to keep the in
dustry in operation caused many
coal operators to believe that they
had carte blanche to disembowel the
Mine Workers Union if they could. "
Denies Closed Shop Is Issue.
Declaring "the closed shop is not
an issue here, nor has 1t been" Mr.
(See COAL, Page A-4)