Evening star., 1945-07-10
Consumers Of Food
And Fuel Gas Hit
ByLafesf Strikes
nv ths Associated Pres,.

By the Associated Press.
A wave of strikes, heretofore con-
fined principally to war production
extended today to affect food con-
sumers and fuel gas users.
Additions to the labor dispute
roster, with a national total OF
52A47 idle, included a strike at the
United Fuel Gas Co., serving six
States; Detroit dairy strike and q
stoppage among Rochester IN. W
bakers.
The gas utility strike, affecting
1900 employees in West Virginia and
Kentucky, shut off supplies in some
areas and limited the flow to do
mestic users and hospitals in six
States, CIO Oil and Gas Workers
Union officer said
Get Limited Supply.
All COMPRISING plants in West
Virginia and Kentucky closed at
midnight as the result of a union
vote under the Smith-C Connally Act.
A limited supply continued to flow
to consumers in Southern West Vir-
ginia and parts of Ohio, Kentucky,
Pennsylvania, Virginia and New
York.
The union attributed the strike to
company refusal to negotiate wage
increase. The company challenged
the statement, saying it had been
negotiating The wage scale ranges
from Al cents to SLIP an hour. The
union asked a fiat 10-cents-an- hour
boost, plus shift differentials rang
ing from to cents. The Regional
War Labor Board in Cleveland as
sumed jurisdiction in the strike.
The third day of work stoppage
by 420 bakers in Rochester saw many
restaurants rationing bread to pa
irons. The strike closed the Gen.
eral Baking, Continental Baking and
National Biscuit Co. plants. which
normally supply so per cent of the
city's bread.
Hits Speedup System.
An AFL Bakers Union official
said the men did not report to work
yesterday because the companies
refused to consider a demand for
modification of what he described
as a speedup system. A company
spokesman said all issues were be-
fore the War Labor Board
In Pennsylvania all four Jones g.
Laughlin Steel Corp. coal mines
were closed and 1916 miners were
idle. A company spokesman said
refusal to rehire a returned war
veteran without physical eXamina-
ton caused one mine to suspend. A
dispute over shift rotation closed
another and miners at two other
pits stopped work when pickets ap-
peared. The men are United Mine
Workers.
At Bellaire, Ohio, Supt. Taylor
Roy of the Cambria Mining Co.'S
Webb mine said ATS United Mine
Workers quit in protest against
fine of 81 day for three days for
refusal to work June 25, 26 and 27.
Six thousand employees of the
National Cast Iron Pipe Co. plant
in Birmingham, Ala, halted pro-
duction Of l55-mm. shells in a dis
pute company spokesman said was
over change in supervisory per-
sonnet. Unionists involved are
members of the International Asso-
citation of Machinists and the In
ternational Moulders and Foundry
Workers, both AFL units.
The strike by 1000 employees of
Detroit Creamery Co., and Ebling
Creamery Co., halted delivery of
milk to about 80 per cent of Detroit
homes and stores and also affected
the company's plants in nearby
Dearborn and Pontiac.
Another work stoppage at Detroit
kept idle 1890 employees of The
Dodge truck plant body department.
They were sent home after a strike
by II paint sprayers. Earlier, 324
Graham-Paige Motors Corp. plant
workers ended their stoppage.
Other disputes were of a week or
longer duration and there was no
immediate indication of settlement.