Evening star., 1939-05-12

rs bttu7ntnOuS States hare been
idle tor Ueeks because OF failure
OF employers and United Mine
Workers to ,Drite ne1O agreements
to replace contract 1Uhich expired
March 81. Negotiations cover
the Appalachian area, ,Ohich IS
basic for the industry. The
union demand for q union
shop" has stalemated the parleys
for oDer eight weeks.
~ the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, May 12-The Joint
Bituminous Negotiations Subcom-
mittee agreed today, after a dead
lock of eight weeks. on a new con-
tract between the United Mine
Workers Of American &C. I. o. and
the Appalachian operators, covering
wage and hour conditions for 346,
600 miners in eight States.
DR.. John R. Steelman, conciliator
of the United States Labor Depart
ment, said the contract would in
clude the union shop" clause which
John L. Lewis, c. I. o. chieftain and
president of the U. NJ w. A., had
insisted upon. 1t was this demand
which had deadlocked the negotia-
tons.
The spokesman for the operators,
w. L. Robson of Cleveland, said a
drafting committee would edit the
contract and report back to the
joint subcommittee promptly.
The joint committee of operators
and miners meets later today to con-
slider adoption of the contract.
Southerners May Refuse Pact.
The Appalachian Conference SON.
sists of 81 coal associations in Penn
sylvania, Maryland. Ohio, Eastern
Kentucky, West Virginia, Central
Tennessee. Michigan and Western
Virginia, and employs about 346,OO0
miners.
1t could not be determined how
many operators would agree to the
new contract. Those who do not,
however could register their disap-
proval by Withdrawing from the six
year-old conference.
Southern district operators have
opposed the union shop" provision
consistently and before the agree
ment was announced Spokesmen for
the Southern area said there was a
possibility of split with the North
ern group. Whether the agreement
forestalled this could not be learned.
A spokesman for the Southern op-
orators said in Knoxville, Tenn,
however, that his group would not
accept without further consideration
the tentative agreement and that a
meeting of those operators in Knox
vile would be requisite to accept
ance.
The union shop means that all new
employees must join the U. M. w. A.
within specified time, although old
employees not now members are not
required to do so. This differs from
a closed shop" in that all employees
must join union under such an
agreement.
Text of Statement.
The text of Mr.. Robinsons state
ment follows:
The joint subcommittee has COM
pleted its consideration of the sub
ject matter to go into new Appa-
lachian contract and has appointed
a drafting committee to edit such a
new document. This drafting COM
mittee will prompetly complete its
work and report back to the joint
subcommittee today. The general
Appalachian conference is called to
meet at 2:30 (E. S. TD at which time
the report of this joint subcommittee
will be made to it for such action as
1t may care to take thereon"
Mr.. Robinson said the joint Appa-
lachian conference of miners and
operators would convene later in the
day. Mr.. Lewis announced yester-
day he also had called back the
Miners Scale Committee, which
would be asked to ratify any action
taken by the subcommittee.
Wage-Hour Provisions Unchanged.
Under the new contract, which
would send approximately 3460OO
miners back to the soft coal pits
Monday, the same wages and hours
which were embodied in the old con-
tract will prevail This is a basic of
IS in Northern mines and $3.50 in
the South for a 35-hour week of
five days. The old contract, which
ran for two years, expired March 81.
The mines in the Appalachian
area-Pennsylvania, Maryland. Ohio,
Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia,
Central Tennessee, Michigan and
Western Virginia--closed April /.
Last week mines in the is outlying
States closed when their contracts
(See COAL, Page A-5D