Evening star., 1941-10-22
Strikes
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Continued From First Page)
union and that new contract be
sought.
o. P. NJ. Council Drafted Appeal.
Drafted by the o. P. M. Council,
composed of Director General
Knudsen, Associate Director Hill
man, Secretary of War Stimson and
Secretary of Navy Knox, the an
nouncement reiterated and empha-
sized President RooSevelt's state
nent to the A. F. L. convention at
Seattle urging mediation of labor
disputes.
THE defense program" the state
nent said, which is growing larger
every day, depends for its success
on the patriotic support of labor and
management. Uninterrupted pro-
duction is the pressing need. The
interruption of work by strikes or
slow-downs is the greatest help the
aggressors can get in these days
when material on the battlefield is
everything.
'"The Office of Production Man
agement directs attention to the
fact that there is within the Gov
eminent machinery for mediation of
disputes before stoppages occur.
When any dispute arises telephone
call to the conciliation service Of the
Department of Labor and the Labor
Division of the Office of Production
Management will be given immedi-
ate attention. Failing settlement,
the dispute can be referred to the
National Defense Mediation Board
for final recommendation.
Time Is Short
-These means are provided in
order to avoid breaks in production.
We must have the manpoWer on the
lob. Our President has said this is
not the time to take chances with
the national safety through any
stoppage of defense work or defense
production
"T'he Office of Production Man.
agement fully indorses the voluntary
system set up to handle disputes and
it expects all parties involved in the
production of defense material to
take no action which will impede
production.
Time is short. We need the man
hours: your country needs your
strength and skill Let us have all
the cooperation and help possible" D."
A total of $500 men have been
idle since the Great Lakes strike
began last Wednesday night, stop
ping high-tensile steel production
for defense.
John Doherty, S. w. o. c. regional
director from Chicago. told the
strikers before they ballotted last
night the Army already has re-
ceived orders to move in" and that
the Government had notified the
S. w. o. c. the strike would not be
tolerated.
The War Department declined to
comment on Mr.. Doherty's state
ment. But some Federal authorities
said they had 'neard of no such
orders to the Army and expressed
doubt any had been issued.
Mr.. Doherty, who was sent to De-
troit on instructions of Philip Muir
ray, c. I. o. president, told the
workers, The reputation of the
S. w. o. c. and Of the C. I. o. rests
In the balance Your position will
wreck the S. w. o. c., and we do
not intend to allow it to be
wrecked. *-*
"I am not going to be so silly
and so asinine as to drive you back
to work. If you refuse, however,
you forfeit any right to the pro-
lection of the S. w. o. C. The
United States Army has already
served notice on the S. w. o. c. that
If we cannot put you back to work,
the Army will"
The men replied with shouts of
Bring on the ARMY"
Four strikes have been called at
the plant in the last four months.
Birmingham Strike Ends.
IN Birmingham, Ala, another steel
strike ended, while labor disputes
continued in aircraft plants in Cali
fornia, New York and New Jersey,
and in other industries elsewhere.
Eight hundred members of the
G. I. o. United Mine Workers de-
cided last night to go back to work
at the Sloss-Shefield Steel e. Iron
Co. furnaces and by-product plant
ut Birmingham, although terms Of