The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-10

(Continued from Page D
 hours to produce their working formula which, he said, the public interest demanded.
 The negotiators have been dead locked since March IS on the issue of granting the unlon 8 union shop or its equivalent. Mining stopped in the great Appalachian area April 1, and in the rest Of the soft coal mines of the country last week.
 A coal shortage already has seri- ously curtailed industries and trans- portation systems. In New York city and elsewhere, vital public er- vice, including production of elec- tricity and removal of garbage, which goes by coal-burning barges to be dumped in the Atlantic, were jeopardized.
 Some Expectations
 Should the negotiations reach an agreement today for resuming work, It was expected to be based on an extension of the old working con- tract, which expired April 1. John L. Lewis, president of the union, has offered several times to extend the old contract as much as a year so that work can proceed during ne- gotiations on the union shop de- mand. Operators have refused to ac- cept any extension for less than two years. Their reasons were based on the expectancy that the national hi+,,v,ai,,o o,,c ooo1 ooV,, ,,o iov, will iv mining prices, thereby giving the union a talking point for reinstating demands for wage increases, and also on the fact that a one-year extension would expire during next years presidential campaign when the political parties might try to secure labor votes at the expense of coal operators.
 Roosevelts Plan Secret
 President Roosevelt told of his re- quest at press conference, three hours after he had conferred with the negotiators. He declined to say what he would do if no agreement were submitted by the negotiators today. He said he was not looking that far ahetd.
 Whether he would use any more pressure than the prestige of his office affoded, was a matter of spec ulation. He has conferred with leg islative leaders on the coal situation, however, and it was suggested that he might have tried to give the negotiations the idea that he would ask congress for emergency powers. possibly to take over operation of the mines.
 MT. Roosevelt said he had told the negotiators that they must consider themselves not only operators and union leaders, but first, and fore- most, American citizens. There were no appreciable points of disagree ment between the two groups, he said, wages and hours were not an issue and both sides accepted the principle of the vertical union. The operators recognize the UMWA as that vertical union for the pur- poses of collective gargaining, he said.
 Government Interested
 MT. Roosevelt intervened after Lewis had charged that the govern ment's failure to approve or sus- tain" the unions offer to extend the old contract during negotiations. was responsible for the operators rejection of 1t.
 The unions demand specifically was that penalty clauses, under which miners are fined $l to @ c day each for unauthorized strikes. be eliminated from the new cone tract. Such an elimination would be equivalent to . union shop in that 1t would protect the uMWA from the Aremican Federation of labor's progressive Mine Workers of America, which is conducting an OF.