Evening star., 1941-04-09


night. when an Official" strike was
authorized by C. I. o. officials. All
departments were closed by am.
and the strikers left the plant on
orders from their leaders.
Gov Van Wagner, Mr.. Dewey and
special State mediation commits
sion named by The Governor sought
to effect truce. but the union lead
ers announced list of demands and
declared their strike would be
fought to a victory"
Union membership meetings had
already, more than a month ago,
authorized the c. I. o. leaders to call
a strike, and the 30-day cooling off"
period prescribed by the Michigan
law had expired the previous Fri
day.
Since the first day instances of
violence have been rare and most
of them have been of small conse-
quence.
Little Violence.
The main outbreak on the first day
was started by a group of perhaps
200 colored men who charged out
of the plant across the overpass at
the principal plant entrance, gate 4
on Miller road, and pelted nearby
pickets with steel missiles. Early in
the day the strikers threw barricades
of men and cars across all the roads
leading to the plant. These were
removed by that night.
Generally speaking, the strike has
lacked that context of violence of
which Justice Frankfurter spoke in
recent opinion. BY last Monday
the streets around the plant had
taken on gala aspect. This is not
to say that explosive possibilities are
not there. They are inherent in all
mass picketing.
The quarrel between the company
and the strikers. on other scores
than that of union recognition, may
be epitomized from statements by
r. j. Thomas. president of the
United Automobile Workers, and
Michael F. Wideman, jr.. head Of
the Ford organizing campaign, on
one hand, and I. A. Capizzi, general
counsel of the Ford Co.. on the other.
The strikers declared that the
primary function of the service
department" of the company is TO
spy on the workers. 1t is major
grievance that these service men
are not uniformed as they are in
some plants. They are accused Of
extreme and brutal violence" against
union members and workers sus-
pected of union sympathies. Service
men are said to visit the Ford wash
rooms, the eating places around
the plant, public halls, etc. They are
declared to have had under sur
veillance even the hotel in which
the recent conciliation efforts have
been under way.
Spy Charge Denied.
The company replies that the one
and only purpose of the service
department is to police and protect
an industrial plant that spreads
over an area of approximately two
square miles. The charge that the
service men are spies is branded
as a communist tactic"
The strikers say that the average
hourly pay of Ford workers of 80
cents is less than the pay in the
General Motors and Chrysler plants
The company replies that the COM
parison is unfair because of the
larger proportion of unskilled labor
/ byy lob H.,
manufacturing materials that other
motor companies buy.
The strikers contend that hiring,
| layoffs and unemployment are not
governed by any system of seniority,
that the Ford worker must regard
every layoff as a dismissal. The
reply is that the Ford Co. for years
| has practiced security for its work.
ers; that for literally tens of thou
sands" of workers a job at Ford s
has meant a lifetime job.
The strikers compain there is no
grievance machinery, as in General
Motors and Chrysler, through which
the workers may obtain time studies
and adjustment of the speed of op-
erations. Ford denies that he has
any baleful or hidden practices.
Other Grievances.
The strikers charge that the Ford
plants alone in the automobile in
dustry have no system whereby
workers may take up their griev-
ances with the management. The
company says it has always been a
basic Ford policy that a workman
could go freely to his superin-
tendent with complaint.
Other grievances have to do with
10 or Is minute lunch periods
mo smoking" regulations and pro-
| hibition Of chewing tobacco: lack Of
| lunch rooms. The workers, II. Is said
must eat their lunches sitting or