Evening star., 1945-06-27
i. 5. Labor Officials
Anxious as Strike
Total Nears 100000

The number of idle workers
caused by strikes and work stop.
pages throughout the country
edged toward the 100000 mark
today.
Government labor agencies made
little effort today to conceal their
anxiety over the situation.
They looked to President Truman
on his way back to Washington
and the almost simultaneous acces-
sion of Federal Judge Lewis B.
Schwellenbach to be Secretary of
Labor for some move to strengthen
the Governments position in dealing
with the flareup of labor strife.
Left to continue unabated, the
strike wave seems certain to prompt
new action in Congress. Just two
years ago the Smith -Connally Act
came into being as an outgrowth of
prolonged miners strikes.
War Labor Board staff members
say the outbreak, which has been
taking every resource of the United
States Cancellation Service and
WLB's dispute section, is directly
attributable to victory in Europe.
AS one WLB official puts it, the
present crop of strikes had its seed
in union rivalry, unsettled griev-
ances in war plants, and the re-
awakening struggle for local lead
ership. That may explain the in
ability of international officers of
some of the unions involved to win
compliance with their back-to- work
orders.
In Detroit, the total of idle work.
ers hit new high for 1945, as more
than $4,000 men and women stayed
from their jobs because of various
labor disputes.
The only bright spot along the
labor front was in Chicago, where
the 1l-day old walkout of 5000 truck
drivers apparently had ended. More
than 1000 members of the inde-
pendent Chicago truck drivers union
last night voted to return to work,
joining approximately 5000 men,
bers of the AFL International
Brotherhood of Teamsters who are
back on their jobs.
After the Government seized the
100 truck lines to break the strike,
which stemmed from a War Labor
Board wage-hour decision, soldiers
were called in to drive and guard the
trucks. In returning to work, the
drivers accepted a $408 increase for
51-hour week. They had demanded
a SIS weekly hike for 48-hour week.
Frankensteen Deplores Strike.
Richard T. Frankensteen, vice
president of the CIO United Auto
mobile Workers. said in Detroit the
wave of walkouts in the Detroit
area was bad and dangerous busi-
ness in peace" and "in time of war
it is tragic folly"
Additional hundreds joined the
idle in the motor city yesterday. The
number at all Ford Motor Co. plants
increased to about 10000 Other idle
included $4,000 at the Packard Mo-
tor Co.; $500 at the Budd Wheel
Co. and 5000 at the Hudson Motor
Car Co.
There were no developments af-
fecting the strikes of 16,70O CIO
United Rubber Workers at the
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in
Akron, Ohio, or the $4,000 employees
of 10 glass companies in IL cities.
A show-cause hearing was sched-
uled in Washington tomorrow for
the representatives of the CIO glass
workers.
A three-day work stoppage by
truck delivery drivers at the Pitts
burgh Press ended after three
days, Editor E. T. Leech announced.
The dispute involved paper-deliver-
ing duties of the drivers
Two New Pennsylvania Stoppages.
Two new stoppages were reported |
In Pennsylvania. In Mannheim,
a bout 1000 workers were idle at the
Raybestos- Manhattan Co.'S United
States asbestos division plant after
4 group of maintenance men failed
o report for work. A company
pokesman said the stoppage pre-
stemmed from a WLB di-
'ective on AFL textile workers re-
uest for new job classif1cations and
wage rates. =.
At Wilkes-Ba 900 employees of =
he Vulcan Iron Works were idle i,
esterday over a wage rate increase :
lispute. A CIO official said State !,
nd Federal authorities arbitrated :
nd the men were expected to re- !.
urn to work. !,
Other strikes, some of long dura- :
ion, continued to keep hundreds
way from their jobs, including
,lants in Toledo, Connellsville, Pa; ,
Decatur, Ill; Marion, Ohio, and !,
Chicago. +.