Evening star., 1941-11-24
Wa|kout Para|yzes
Defense Production
In s., Louis Area
$500 Muchinists Out;
100 Truck Freight
Workers on Strike
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
A general strike by $500 Amer
lean Federation of Labor machinlsts
practically paralyzed production on
millions CT dollars of defense orders
in the ST Louis area today as miners
in captive coal mines ended week
long walkout which had threatened
steel production.
The strike. growing out of a juris-
dictional dispute with A F. L. hoist
ing engineers and millWrightS. al
ready had seriously curtailed" oper-
ations at the Curtiss- Wright Corp. S
Lambert-St Louis plane plant.
where 5000 machlnists are employed,
and had all but halted operations at
the Busch -Sulzer Bros. Diesel En-
CINE Co., which has more than SIS
100000 in orders for Navy en-
glnes and anti-aircraft ordnance.
Throughout the city and the indus
trial East Side plants with defense
orders ranging down to machine
tools were reported shut down or
hampered.
The labor picture was definitely
brighter than last week, when the
captive miners were Joined by thou
sands of commercial miners in SYM
pathy strikes, but President Roose-
velt was said to favor legislation
to prevent a recurrence of the re-
cent series of labor crises.
Neither was Congress in any mood
to let the strike matter drop,
Speaker Rayburn was expected to
announce the House would take up
labor legislation next week, and
committees on both sides of the
Capitol were called to act on anti
strike bills.
As captive mines, which are owned
by steel companies, resumed coal
production curtailed steel operations
were expanded. One of three blast
furnaces closed down in the Bir-
mingham area was expected to re-
sum operations tomorrow. and Car
negie- Illinois Steel Corp. which
closed II furnaces, said all would
be in production again by We'd
nesday
In Chicago 1900 dock workers,
members of the A. F. L. Inter-
national Brotherhood of Teamsters,
started a strike which threatened to
tie up the motor transport system in
Illinois and adjoining Midwestern
States. A spokesman for the truck
operators said Is per cent of the
city's truck operations already were
halted.
John L. Keeshin, general chair
man of an employers committee,
said the strike vote was a violation
of an agreement between freight
companies and the union reached
November IA to avert a threatened
walkout of about 100000 A. F. l..
truck drivers in II States. Both
sides agreed at that time to refer
unsettled issues of wages and work.
ing conditions to the Defense Me-
diation Board.
Wage Increases Is Issue.
A union spokesman said the dock
workers voted the strike after
charging the companies had refused
most of their demands for wage in
creases. The dock workers wanted
an increase from 55 to IS cents an
hour. time and a half for Sundays
and hours exceeding eight daily,
double pay for legal holidays and
a weeks vacation with pay. The
companies offered a 3-cent hourly
increase and to pay at that rate Tor
all hours exceeding 10 a day and
the double-pay plan.
Seven persons were injured, none
seriously. in inter-union rioting at
the Mount Clemens Pottery Co., a
subsidiary of the S. S. Kresge Co..
at Mount Clemens, Mich. Members
of c. I. O. union called the strike
and picketed the plant, clashlng
with members of an independent
union who tried to 60 through. The
CLIO. union charged five members
had been discharged without suffl-
cient reason. Company officials said
100 of a normal force Of about 1000
were on duty.
MachInlStS Strlke.
The St. Louis strike was voted
after contractors failed to reinstate
40 machinistS at the S35 ,OOO.0OO
Weldon Springs INT plant and the
SlOO.OOO,O00 st. Louis small arms
ammunition plant. A union Official
said the only demand was that it be
given jurisdiction over garage
workers at the TINT plant and ma
chinists at the small arms plant.
More than 400 industrial plants,
would be affected by a general walk
out.
The captive mine strike ended un-
expectedly Saturday when the Policy
Committee of C. l. O.-Unlted Mine
Workers voted to accept President
Roosevelt's peace formula and sub
NIT the disputed union shop issue to
a three-man board of arbitration.
The board may hold its first meeting
today.
Telephone Strike Averted.
Besides the coal strike end, the
week end also brought an agree
ment which erased the threat OF
a telephone strike affecting long
distance communications in AZ
States.
This dispute involved the Amer
lean Telephone e. Telegraph COM
munication system and the Fedora
ton of Long Lines Telephone Work
ers, an independent union repre-
senting $4,000 workers. The agree.
ment, reached last night, provided
for wage increases totaling $4,000,
600 annually and for the creation
of two boards to make further wag'
adjustments and to study geographic
wage differentials.
Mine Arbiters.
Members of the board named Il
arbitrate the captive mine uniol
shop issue were Benjamin F. Fair
less of United States Steel Corp
representing his industry; John 1
Lewis, president of C. 1. O.'s Unite'
Mine Workers, and DR.. John r
Steelman. head of the Labor De