The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-02-09

Conferences have been held by several labor union representatives here with government officials in an effort to determine the effect of the new referral system on the lo- cal labor situation, it was revealed today, and the results of the special study are expected to be reported shortly.
 The states joint urgency and priority committee is scheduled to meet in Hartford today and the pro- tests of the Hartford unit are ex- pected to be brought up for dis cuSsion. It is believed possible changes in the local priority list may also be discussed, although no official statement regarding the nature of the meeting has been re- leased.
 Referrals from Waterbury to the New Departure plant in Bristol, the center of the ball-bearing in- dustry, have been reported to be very low, and 1t believed no mo- ticeable effect has been created on the local labor situation by the placement of the ball-bearing in- dustry at the top of the local prior ity list.
 Workers here have shown some reluctance to take jobs in Bristol and consequently the removal of labor from the area has been small, 1t is reported. Under the hiring controls program a worker may be given several choices from among the firms at the top of the priority list.
 The Hartford labor unit claims management is unwilling to accept equal responsibility with labor un- der the controlled hirings program. It charges that industries are choos- ing workers and random, ans in many cases are refusing referred workers at random, and in many cases are refusing referred workers despite excellent records. Charges also are made that labor Is not fully utilized under the present system No guarantee is gwen by the em- ployers that the new workers will not be dismissed, thereby further complicating the situation, the CIO council maintains.
 Utilization studies are conducted in Waterbury regularly by a worker in the local War Manpower of- flee. The Bristol concern, to which some local workers have been re- ferred, is in the jurisdiction of the WING office in New Britain, and no locla study has been made there.
 Hartford, Conn, Feb. p(UP)-. The Greater Hartford Industrial Council, CIO, demanded today that the Var Manpower Commission in. vesttgate the ball bearing industry. and charged that management was shirking it's responsibility under the controlled hiring plan and failing to fully utilize the labor pools.
 The accusations were contained in statement sent State WING Di- rector William J. Fitzgerald by CIO President Patrick J. Ward, and Secretary-Treasurer William Ze- man.
 They claimed that if labor were fully utilized, Hartford could be taken out of the critical labor short age area, with result that more war contracts could be awarded to in- dustries.
 The CIO officials offered to pro- duce evidence that large industries were not hiring referred workers, as agreed upon under the controlled hiring plan, and that when work CTS were hired, they were chosen in "an arbitrary manner
 In the ball bearing industry where critical manpower shortage has been reported for months, Ward and Zeman asserted that many workers have been laid off in this area and referred to the industry, which is outside the Hartford crit ical labor zone.
 They asserted that if an inves- tigation showed this to be true, then it is our view that there is no practical advantage to the war effort in keeping the Greater Hart ford area tied in with the ball bear ing industry