Evening star., 1941-03-26
Bethlehem Strike

The G. I. o. strike at the Bethle-
hem Pa plant of the Bethlehem
! Steel Co. has been launched in an
atmosphere of violence which strong
| ly suggests that the union, regardless
| of the undeniably harmful effect on
the national defense program, is pre-
pared to go to extreme lengths to at
tain what is at best dubious OBJ
| jective.
This strike was called in an effort
to prevent the holding of an election
by the Employees Representation
| Plan an independent organization Of
| Bethlehem workers. The C. l. o. con-
! tends that E. R. P. is a company
| dominated union. and that conten-
ton was upheld by the National
Labor Relations Board a year and a
half ago. This is denied by the
independent group and by the COM
pany, however. and the question now
is awaiting determination in the
courts.
But the C. I. O.. evidently unwill-
ing to wait for a final ruling by the
Supreme Court which would fully
protect its interests if E. r. P. is in
fact company union, has decided
to take direct action. And this is
being done in defiant disregard of
the fact that the strike, if successful
would seriously interfere with the ma
tional defense effort.
OF particular significance at this
time is the fact that those Bethle-
hem employees affiliated with the c..
l. o. are not content with merely
going on strike themselves but are
openly reSorting to violence and in
tlmidation in an effort to prevent
employees who are not in sympathy
with the strickland these may we'll
be in the majority-from returning
to their jobs. In other words, the
union members are refusing to work
themselves and are using force in an
effort to prevent any other employees
from working.
The effort to accomplish this pur-
pose has taken the familiar form of
mass plcketlng, a technique which
often falls little short of mob vio-
lence. One C. l. o. official was quoted
as saying that there were l 500 pick
cts at the nine gates of the Bethle-
hem plant. In the face of this su-
perlor force the local police have been
helpless, and number of them have
been beaten and driven from their
posts of duty. Automobile loads of
Work-bound employees have been fore
IDLY prevented from entering the
plant, and in some instances cars
have been smashed The sheriff
with the situation obviously bevond
his control, appealed for help from
the State police, who forcefully
routed a crowd of picketing strikers
blockading the main entrance last
night.
Conditions at Bethlehem are not
unlike those at Chicago, where an
other c. I. o. union has been irving
to prevent the reopening of the
International Harvester Company
plant, which had been closed by a
strike since February %. Under
heavy police guard, the plant was
reopened Monday, and large num-
Der of A. F. of L. and unaffiliated
employees went back to work. When
these men tried to return to the
plant in small groups yesterday,
however, they were set upon and
beaten by what a police captain
described as "goon squads" One
A. F. of L. member had his leg
broken and many others received
lesser injuries before 1000 policemen
succeeded in restoring a Semblance
Of order.
Strikes accompanied by violence
are by no means a recent develop
ment, and in past years there has
been disposition in some official
quarters to tolerate if not tacitly
W COluOllt Illelll. buG UfldG cannot
be the case today, if Congress, the
President and the majority of the
American people are sincere in their
expressed determination to go "all
out" in the fight against the die
tatorS and in preparations for the
defense of the United States. The
question which must be decided, and
decided soon, is whether the primary
purpose of national self-preservation
which underlies the calling of mil
lion men for training, the passage
of the leaSe-lend bill and the appro-
priation of unprecedented billions
of dollars are to be defeated or i'm
paired by short-sighted selfishneSs
on the part of any minority group.
This issue is one which must be
faced, and the sooner the Govern
ment takes a firm and unequivocal
stand against any defense strike the
better it will be for both labor and
the country.
Grozioni Quits