Evening star., 1940-04-26
Trial Recessed
After Testimony
On Strike Cause
Engineers Union
Agent to Be Heard
In Case Against Five
BY J. A. FOX.

A District Court jury today still
was looking for more light on the
building strike here last fall which
tied up about 100000 in Gov-
ernment construction as the trial
of the five union officials the JUS
tice Department charges were re-
sponsible recessed until Monday.
After day of testimony in which
Walter r. Hutchinson, special as
sistant to the Attorney General,
and Joseph A. Padway, counsel for
the American Federation of Labor,
sought to prove conflicting theories
through the same witnesses. JUS
tice F. Dickinson Let's suspended
proceedings over the week end be-
cause he was to be engaged with ar
raignments and sentences today.
Ihe first witness when the trial
is resumed presumably will be John
P. Shields, business agent for Local
n OF the Operating Engineers
Union, who had just been brought
to the stand at adjournment time
yesterday.
Five Blamed For Strike.
The Government charges that five
officials of the teamsters' union
were responsible for a general
strike of teamsters which was
started on September II in an ef-
fort to put teamster union MEM
berS on concrete mixing trucks
driven by operating engineer mem
bers.
The defense says the strike ac-
tuaLy resulted from the failure of
dump truck drivers, who are mem
bers of the teamsters. to negotiate
a new contract, and that the inter.
union row was side issue.
Was a Side Issue.
Testifying for the Government,
two dump truck operators, George
l.. Potts and H. w. Kopp of Balti-
more, said their men were pulled of
OF the Census Building September
II, and that Stuart M. Keyser, a
business agent for Teamsters Local
o39, said 1t was development Of
the row over the mixer trucks with
which they were not concerned. At
that time the dump truck operators
were negotiating a new contract
with the Teamsters, and, under
cross s-eXamlnation, both witnesses
said they had no more trouble after
an agreement was reached Septem.
| ber 26.
Testifies on Strike Cause.
The dump trucks haul dirt and
the concrete mixers the mixed con-
crete. and the Government brought
the indictments under the Sherman
Act, declaring that alleged efforts
to stop the delivery of concrete con-
stlcuted an illegal restraint of COM
merce.
Mr.. Kopp, after testifying to Mr..
keyser's comment about the Census
building strike cause, said that "he
changed his statement quickly and
said it was due to a non-union con-
dition on the job"
| The defense contends that on this
building the employment of two
non-union mixer drivers by the gen.
eral contractor, Matthew McCloskey,
was the cause at issue.
Frank J. Sheehan, secretary of tho
Master Builders Association, an
other Government witness. re.
counted that after the strike started
John P. Coyne, president of the
building trades department of the
American Federation of Labor with
which Teamsters and Operating En-
gineers are affiliated, had him bring
Mr.. Keyser and Linwood A. Train
ham, another business agent of
Local 639 who also is a defendant,
to his office to discuss settlement.
Didn't Want to Tell"
He said Mr.. Coyne discussed the
strike as a jurisdHtional contro-
verSy, and that the building trades
head said newspapermen were after
him for statement and that ne
didn't want to tell them that it was
a jurisdictional strike"
He said he would prefer to tell
them it was a wage-hour dispute"
the witness said. He responded to
another question that "as I recall
it there was no conversation on the
wage-hour dispute at ALL"
Mr.. Sheehan did not remain
throughout the conference and said
he asked Mr.. Keyser the next day
If any conclusion had been reached,
but was told there had not been.
In addition to Mr.; Keyser and Mr..
Trainham, other defendants are
Charles j. Bell and Aubrey w.
Stream Of Local 639 and Thomas
OBrien, an international union
representative.