Evening star., 1943-05-21
Strike
Ties Up Sixth
|Chrys|er Plant
1850 Now Idle;
WlB Officials Open
Peace TuIks
By the Associated Press.

DETROIT, May 21.-Employes
of sixth war plant of Chrysler
Corp. joined in a United Auto
mobile Workers (CIO) strike
move today as regional War
Labor Board officials entered a
conference with management
and union executives.
The walkout by day-shift work.
erS in the bomber plant of the
Chrysler De Soto division brought
the number of strikers and other
idle employees in the corporations
war factories to nearly 27.50O. 1t
was Detroits most serious stoppage
since Pearl Harbor.
Edwin E. Witte. regional WLB di-
rector, summoned Chrysler top ex-
ecutives and officers of the striking
UAW-CIO unions to attend the
closed conference and explain why
work cannot be resumed immedi-
ately pending settlement of current
disputes.
Before today's meeting Leo La
Motto, director of the unions Chry-
sler division, called on the strikers
to return to work, and in a state
ment said. There are certain in
dividuals within our own union who
are ready to sacrifice the interests
OF the workers in the shop and en-
danger the Nation at war to ad-
vance their own political aggrandize.
ment."
"Reuther's Boys" Blamed.
Mr.. La Motto. charging that Walter
P. Reuther, UAW-CIO international
vice president, was principal figure
in the unauthorized strikes, said that
"Reuther's boys pulled these strikes
/ Informed of Mr. La Notes state
ments, Mr. Reuther said La Notes
conduct will be handled and settled
through the regular channels of the
international union He declined to
elaborate this comment.
A company spokesman expressed
fear that the strikes, which closed
three plants yesterday and dis
rupted production in fourth.
might spread to the huge Chrysler
tank arsenal. The spokesman said
all $4,000 Chrysler workers in the
country might be affected in a few
days.
Workers at the three plants
walked out in protest over what
UAW-CIO President R. j. Thomas
described as Legitimate and serious
| grievances Mr.. Thomas said.
however, the strikes were not au-
thorized and added he believed the
leaders are making a mistake trying
to adjust these grievances through
strikes
Thomas Gets Appeal.
Robert w. Conder, Chrysler direc-
tor OF labor relations. wired Mr..
Thomas yesterday requesting him
! to urge the men to return to work.
The Walkout began at the corpora
tlon's Jefferson -Kercheval plant and
| soon spread to the Dodge main plant
and Dodge Lynch road plant. shut
ting these down completely. In ad-
| dltlon, several thousand workers at
the Dodge truck plant were made
idle by lack of materials.
The company spokesman said the
Jefferson -Kercheval plant fabricates
parts for every weapon made by
Chrysler and warned it's continued
| shutdown would mean eventual idle
ness for all Chrysler employees.
| Chrysler has nine plants in Detroit.
The strikes affected Chrysler's pro-
| duction of medium bomber planes,
antiaircraft guns. tank engines and
other war materiel.
Causes of Strikes Vary.
The causes Of the strikes varied,
but union leaders agreed the slow
ness of the War Labor Board ma.
| chinery" was seHous factor. Mr..
Thomas placed the responsibility
completely upon the management
| involved"
Earl Reynolds, president of Dodge
Local 3. UAW-CIO, said the Chrys-
Ter workers might stay away from
their jobs until the Government
takes over the plants"
The men are willing to work for
the Government at any time Mr..
Reynolds said. They are willing to
negotiate their grievances if the
WLB will appoint special umpire.
but we know we cannot get any,
where with the company
Ed Carey, president of Chrysler
Local 7. UAW-CIO. said collective
bargaining had completely broken
down and declared the workers
want to know whether the company
ever intends to bargain In good
faith" before they will return to
work.
A dispute over a new company
union contract to replace an agree
ment which expired last November
is in the hands of the War Labor
Board.
Carl Schedler. deputy executive
director of the War Labor Board at
Washington. late yesterday tele-
graphed heads of the two local
unions involved as follows: The
national interest demands that the
strikers employed at the Jefferson
Kercheval and Dodge plants OF
Chrysler Corp. return to work i'm
mediatelv -