The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-11
JOHN [. LEWIS
 FACES PROBLEM

CContinued from Page i1 The two Congress of Industrial Or- ganizations representatives, both of- ficials of Lewis union, were the dis senters.
 Lewis, has not said publicly that he would can the captive miners out on strike again if the boards decision was against him, but by setting Saturday as Q deadline for another strike if the board had not reported by then, he inferred as much.
 Expects Him to Strike
 Informed labor officials expected Lewis to call the strike.
 No White House statement was made but reliable sources said Presi- dent Roosevelt was prepared to take strong action if Lewis calls another strike in the captive pits which pro- vide the needs of the steel mills that are vital to the defense pro- gram.
 Presidential action may take two forms: Commander of all soft coal above the ground for allocation among steel mills and other defense industries, and-or, a green light to Congress for drastic anti-strike legis- lation.
 The miners in captive coal mines struck for three days two weeks ago. MT. Roosevelt asked Lewis four times to call off that strike in order to insure lInhroken produc- tion of steel for defense, before Lewis acceded.
 The defense mediation board has been considering the dispute since then. All II members of the board sat at the hearing = four repre- senting labor, four representing man. agement and three representing the public.
 Board Chairman William H. Davis called reporters to his office last night and read to them only one paragraph of the majority opinion:
 Recommendation
 We, therefore, recommend:
 That the United Mine Workers of America and the operators in- volved in this dispute proceed im- mediately to sign the Appalachian agreement, with the reservation that the provision of the Appalachian agreement which requires member ship in the United Mine Workers of America as 8 condition of em- ployment shall be imperative for the duration of the contract.'
 Davis revealed that the two mem | bers of the board who voted against the decision were Philip Murray, | president of the CIO and vice pres ident of the UMWA, and Thomas Kennedy, secretary treasurer of the | UMWA. The surprise announcement l was that the other two labor mem bers of the board-William A. Cal win of the AFL International Bro- therhood of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders, and George Lynch, president of the AFL Patternmak- CTS League of North America-voted against the union shcp.
 Those voting with them against the union shop were the three rep- resentativeS of the public = Davis, | Frank P. Graham and Charles P. Wyanski, Jr.- and the four man. agement representatives = Cyrus Ching, Roger P. Lapham, Walter Teagle and Eugene Myer.
 David withheld the rest of the majority decision and the boards findings until the minority makes public it's opinion which will be to- day.
 They Are SkepticaI
 Associates of Lewis who have dis cussed the mine situation with him recently, were frankly skeptical that he would accept.
 I've never known John Lewis to | back water and I don't think that | he will now" one of them told the United Press. T think he has made l his mind up to fight this thing out | and that he'll call the miners out"
 But government labor officials re- gard this situation as crucial in the l administrators efforts to make ef- fective the presidents plea for un- interrupted defense production.
 The union shop-all employees must join the union after specified | period-is not 8 vitally important | one to the union in itself. A large l proportion, estimated at 80 to 95 per mt of the so-called captive coal miners, already are members and it bargains for all of them.
 Lewis began his drive for a union shop in the Naptiye Mines last sum- mer after he had achieved 1t for all | other mines in the Appalachian area, even in such heretofore open shop regions as bloody" Harlan County, Ky. The steel companies op- posed the union shop for their mines, fearing it would be wedge for a union shop demand in the | steel mills.