The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-02-19

circulate on pending change Officials of the concern were re- ported to be in Washington today to confer with government officials on the latest developments on the com- pany'S ammunition orders. Although no definite statement was issued, Alan CurtiSS, assistant general su- perintendent, said there have been changes in the situation since yes- terday.
 Several hundred employees on the to 3 shift today were scheduled to be freed from work at noon, while others in the second shift were in- structed not to report today, one source reported. It is believed the decrease in the work hours this week was planned for the extensive inventory work which will be con- ducted.
 It was reliably reported that all jobs in the concern will be studied over the weekend to see what trans fers may be made when contract cancellations occur and which work CTS can be absorbed in other depart ments.
 It had been reported originally that many of the workers who leave at noon today would be given dis charge notices, but it is believed def mite action will be held off until further word is received from Washington.
 Since the Chase Brass Copper company makes fuses similar to those of the Scovill concern, it is believed the decision of the govern ment will also affect the Chase plants. Estimates of the num.,er of workers to be involved in changes vary, but several reports have been made that more than 600 workers will be affected at the Scovill com- pany alone.
 It is believed efforts will be made by the factories to retain as many of the fuse workers as possible in other jobs, but outright dismissals are expected to follow official noti- fication of contract changes. One report said today that other new contracts are being considered by the government and the lay-offs may not be as large as anticipated yesterday.
 No official report has been made on this weeks decrease in work hours at Scovill's, but it is believed no objection will be voiced by the WING. administrator of the 48-hour work week program, because of the inventory purposes of the change.
 Meanwhile a voluntary program was announced in Hartford whereby firms employing 20 or more workers will adopt job ceilings if not already affected by the WING priority sys- tenn. The program will apply here only to non-eSsential establish ments, as all other firms are already covered by job ceiling rulings.
 Hartford, Conn.,, Feb. 19.-(UP)- Cent al Connecticut businesses now without manpoWer ceilings, and which employ 20 or more workers, have voluntarily adopted ceilings as of Feb. l, 1944 to help relieve the critical labor situation in vital war plants, according to an announce nent of Gov. Raymond E. Baldwin today.
 A group of 30 representatives of labor, manufacturers, banks, insur- ance companies, public utilities and other enterprises, set up new arm of the Connecticut War Council, known as the victory manpoWer committee, to set up cooperative program.
 Besides adopting the manpower ceiling, the committee will start la Dor recruitment campaigns, solicit the cooperation of all firms without WING manpower ceilings to accept voluntary ceilings, and it will assist in shifting available labor from non- critical areas.
 Regarding the project, Gov. Bald win said, T think that the great thing about this is that we have people uniting on 8 voluntary basis to see what they can do to allevi- ate the critical manpower situation without any more orders or direc- tives from federal agencies. Here also we have the federal agencies CO., operating in the program . .. what We want to do is to bring home to everybody in the central Connecticut area, that this war isn't over yet, that we still have big production job to do. While in the beginning the job wah, all-out production in all lines, now it has reached the stage where we have a need for specialized items"
 DIR. MADE DEAN