The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-11-16
2 Borred At Strike Meet


 pended members of the AFL Team sters' union-both of them honor ably discharged World War II vet erans-were barred today when they sought to attend a mass meeting Tn connection with the Boston Truck strike. { Cries of How do you like that?" and 'What are we fighting for?" came from the milling crowd out side the Municipal Auditorium m the South End as the two veterans Joseph E. Rego and Patrick Pocaro' were refused admission.
 A dozen other union members who also were suspended for al- legedly precipitating a wildcat walk out of more than 5000 drivers also were in the crowd outside the nall: Meanwhile, undelivered foodstuf1s continued to pile up in terminals and central and northern New Eng land increasingly felt the pinch Of the five-day holiday which has cost dealers at least $200,00
 State and national arbitration ot- ficials were hopeful the mass meet ing would bring an end to the walk out after union officers told them the membership would be offered the alternative of returning to WorK or losing union seniority rights.
 Already the strikes effects were felt in Portland, Me, where 300 trucks were idle because drivers re- fused to enter Boston in fear of violence, In Massachusetts areas, according to a spokesman for the huge Boston Terminal CO, numer- o,ls food and produce dealers faced the threat of closing because they were unable to obtain supplies.
 The intra- union dispute came whom the national office of the 1n- ternational Brotherhood of Team sters. Chauffeurs, Warehousemen SC Helpers of America (AFL) allegedly took over the powers of a Boston local following several minor t1eups' The resulting squabble brought the suspension of IA local members.
 End Predicted
 President John M. Sullivan ot local 25 of the International Broth erhood of teamsters, chauffeurs warehousemen and helpers of Amer lea (AFL) predicted the strike would end today.
 Eighty per cent of the members are loafing because of fear," he said
 Chairman Charles H. Cole of the state arbitration board previously had forecast an early end to the dis pute. which alledegly was based on the International Brotherhood's as- sumption of the locals electoral powers following minor tieups.
 The National War Labor Boaro also was expected to intervene with a back to work order after the U. 5 Cancellation service certified the controversy to the WLB.
 Food stocks were low on dealers shelves as distributors found 1t lm- possible to fill more than few or ders, and wholesalers and ware housemen warned perishables were in danger of spoilage.
 Hundreds of freight cars loaded with food and war materials stooo on siding at almost deserted termln- als.
 Relatively few trucks were 1r operation and most of these were under police escort. There were lsol- ated reports of drivers forced tc abandon thei vehicles. However, nc violence occurred.
 Atty. Herbert Aljert, representing the Boston Terminal Co.,, said his client lost more than $200,000 worth of business during the past two days and expected heavy losses again today.
 More than $1,OOO,OOO worth of per isflables were reported to be at the terminal, which handles a large proportion of greater Boston's food and the bottleneck was said to be increasing hourly.