Evening star., 1943-11-24
Coal Contract Refused
By Lewis Until More
Operators Sign Up
D. the Associated Prsxa.

b the Associated Press.
-, Operators producing approx
mately so per cent of the Nations
soft coal have offered the United
Mine Workers 4 contract that il
substantially acceptable, but John
L. Lewis, UNIV president, declared
today the miners are mot interest
ed" in an agreement with half the
industry.
q Refusal Of the Southern Coal
Producers Association to sign ON q
portal-to-portal basis and the ab-
sence of the captive (steel company
mine operators from the wage con-
ference appeared to be the principal
obstacle to a contract that would be
virtually national in scope.
Conferees agreed to resume their
discussions.
The AFL Progressive Mine Work
ers and representative Of their
employers in Illinois, meanwhile,
submitted tentative wage agree
ment to the War Labor Board. The
contents were not divulged.
Follows Ickes' Offer.
The contract offered to Mr.. Lewis
Is substantially the Ickes-Lewis
agreement under which the mines
now are operating, plus the $40 re-
troactive payment for underground
travel time
Edward R. Burk, president OF the
Southern producers, said his group
would sign a contract that would
assure equivalent earnings, but de-
clines to pay the money on a por-
tal-to-portal basis and wants eight
hours of productive work assured
instead of assumed" as is provided
in the Ickes-Lewis agreement.
The group represent" said Mr..
Burke, "is unalterably opposed to a
contract that would inflict on the
industry portal-to-portal arrange
ment beyond the period of Govern
ment control"
Travel Time Estimated.
A portal-to- portal day is based on
the time a miner enters the mine
until he leaves it, rather than on
actual productive hours. The Ickes-
Lewis agreement assumes an aver
age of As minutes travel time man
a day. In some mines. travelling con-
sumes more than As minutes and the
actual production hours therefore
are reduced in direct proportion to
the increase in travel time.
Opeators who made the offer to
Mr.. Lewis represent an approximate
annual production of 100000, 900
tons, principally In the Northern
Appalachian field. Indiana and
Illinois.
Meanwhile, the Solid Fuels Ad-
ministration last night ordered all
shippers of anthracite to ship coal on
hand at once and to bill customers
under new emergency price ceilings
to be announced today.
Shipments Held Up.
The STA said some producers and
wholesalers of hard coal had refused
to ship their product under present
ceilings because costs had risen since
the Ickes-Lewis agreement went into
effect.
The Government officials said
they did not know how much coal
had been delayed in transit because
of this complaint, but that it was a
substantial amount and had caused
serious concern in New York and
elsewhere Fuels officials said they
had no knowledge what the new
OPA prices would be. -
Other authoritative sources re-
ported, however, that the new
schedule would call for retail in
creases ranging from about IS cents
ton on smaller sizes to 10 cents
ton on larger sizes, with the overall
average about go to IS cents.
The new ceilings, it was under
stood, are designed primarily as an
emergency measure to shake loose
coal now being held back because Of
present prices and probably will be
revised later.