Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-06-10
FBI Eyes
Outlaw Strike
Leaders
Red Blocks Mediation
Gives WaIkout Signal
BY PAUL MALL0.


outlaw StrikeS-and may shortly
get lis hands on some OF them.
Most prominent figure in
volved in the Gripping OF the
aviation defense effort was Lew
Kitchener. a district organizer
for the United Auto Workers
Go, according TO all authori-
ties. union. government and
private. He got his name into
the papers I'm connection with
The North American Aviation
strike. The FBI claims. not very
privately, that Kitchener is a
Communist.
His ally was one Wyndham
Mortimer, another organizer
from Detroit. Mortimer was in
Los Angeles until the day be-
fore the N. A. A. strike started
there. He then moved on TO
Try 10 organize" the Boeing
Aircraft plants in the Pacific
Northwest. where the AFL al
ready has a closed shop.
DART Of the story of Niche
ner's work has been sug-
geSted in the official statements
made by Go leaders. The
N. A. A. union negotialors had
met here last Wednesday after
noon with Mr.. RooSevelt's labor
mediation board and adjourned
until Thursday. Nothing had
been said about strike. The
mediation was progressing.
But that night Kitchener
longdiStanced Los Angeles, in
forming his local leaders the
mediation board was stalling
deliberately. The local leaders
went out with automobiles
equipped with loud speakers
and shouted into the plant build
ingS for all TO come out on
strike. The 3 a. m. shift did not
60 on. and thus the treaSonous
strike started.
The significant part OF it is
that the company had agreed at
the outset of negotiations. not
only to make any agreement
retroactive TO the time when the
negotiations began. but several
weeks before. The strike there
fore could not accomplish any
thing more for the workers.
even if the mediation board had
been stalling, as Kitchener
charged
TllE anger OF both the gov
L eminent and responsible
labor leaders was no idle display
for effect.
In thorough secrecy, several
New Deal officials approached
House Naval Chairman VinSon.
whose bill providing a cooling
off period before strikes is sup
posed TO have been blocked in
Congress by the New Deal
Two who were no doubt acting
under orders. were Assistant
Labor Secretary Dan Tracy and
an official Of the National Labor
Relations Board. They talked
about rcviSions in the measure
IN prospect Of lending 4 their
( support. -
What really worried the New
Dealers particularly was the
fact that all three of the outlaw
strikes aviation. lumber. ship
buildlngl wR.reSin direct open
defiance of FDR's labor media
( ton board. That made it more
/ of a personal matter.
Even the labor leaders became
sufficiently excited to talk about
1 proposing compulsory arbitra-
ton for outlaw strikes Ia SUBJ
lect hated by them until now.
( Well they knew. their work of
years might be ashcanned in a
/ day. il aSonouS defense
strikes could not be handled.
THE AFL has been catching
1t from the inside nearly as
much as Go One of the three
treaSonous strikes is theirs. the
one of the machiniStS in the
San Francisco yard of Bethle-
hem shipbullding Head of that
union is Harvey Brown, an old
conservative AFL leader.
He personally was a party to
the recent agreement. negotiated
by defense strike co-ordnator
IIillman and Roosevelt aide lsa
dore Lubin. preventing strikes
in the shipbuilding industry
Brown is also a member Of
the Hllman advisory commit
tee "a group of leaders with
whom lllllman discusses defense
policy) He did not appear for
tho last meeting, at which his
violation OF his own agreement
was discussed
Most bIttCr against him at
that private meeting was Harry
Bates. ms colleague acting head
of the AFL bricklayerS. Bates
took the position that President
/ Roosevelt was about the only
I friend labor had left in high