The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-06-15
Unions Foil Avert IW0IkoutS
 Weekend Shipping
 Smorl ThFoueoms AM WoeeVeVomes

WASAauBA AOats ~0eH@ 41 (UPl-Work stopped ln most of the nations ports today while union leaaers pressed sU ratification of agreemen8 shes came loo late eo avert the uAlko11A
 News of the agreements was flashed b union locals ln poEt ol1aes late last night but the strike ses for midnight already vas e3ElciAIW under way pending rank~and-ilAe approval 0e the settlement.
 IL was l0.se P M., Eastern 8smn0~ ard Tine, one minute before na1l~ nigaat. Eastern Daylight Tine m New YoEk, Boston and F1iladelphiAs x'hen Harry Bridges. Lonszhore- mens chief. stepped from tAs ooss- ference room and told reporteRB that the LsongslaOremen. the les union, had reached an agreemenk
 Pir&eas Return nsme
 New York seamen were b meet ae noon tO vote on the Washington agreements. and there wAs n0 change of the waterfront tssap tn the nations higgest port ending be- fore that time pickess were mes when they reported at 6 A- 8. as ordered and told to return hmne until the meeting.
 Pickeas were placed sRosznd D ships in Philadelphia. Tssey weEs called back ct BIO A. M, DT. Seamen and t0ngshoresnen wU@ told to attend a mass meeting e& g A. M to consider the terms q eae settlement.
 San FranciecO6 waterfront wae idle and union leaders said they would take no action until 6 P. Ms PST0. tonight tl2 midnight. EDTJ
 The first group to ratify tae new agreements was Boseon's maEzktDe workers. Two hundred pickets be- gan patrolling Boston's downtown section along the waterfront e midnight. They remained ct tlse1R posts until the local uEsinns rnsifled the agreement some three hosE1 later.
 Ne naDwnB Made eD HEalt @dEsalag
 The settlement, which came me the end of a hectic day aG the Labor Department. involved six C.LO. unions and one independent with a total membership 0f abous 100000. Inaslnucil as all were eozn- mftted Co strike unless an of them son new agreements, 10 definite moves weDe taken to halt the wnlkS outs until the iOngshoremen accepe- cd.
 Despite the threat 0f . gensrss weekend shipping snarl. Govern ment labor officials greeted the sse- tlement with obvious relief. They were looking forward to ct least . temporary period of labor peace. For the hrSt time since last Autumn. there was no major labog dispute on the horizon.
 It was not clear whether fzzrtheg action was necessary by the marf- time union leaders who have been meeting in Washington. A union spokesman, confident that ail oe the agreements would be approved, said the ratification votes would auto- matically cancel the strikes. Pre- sumably. however, the local unions would require notification Of the results of the countrywide voting.
 Government. labor and manage inent officials began their final at- tack oD the maritime dispute yes- terday by drafting memorandum agreements based on principles ac- cepted earlier. Not until 6 ?. A~ EDp was a full dress joint confeEs ence under way.
 Firenaen Notified The Marine Fremen's Union lIndD. notified it's locals of a set- tlement and ordered ratification meetings. The other unions ordered locals to stand by.
 But the hours draGged on wtth- out an announcement. It wag dis closed that the iongstoremen's agreement was being delayed by . dispute over the payment Of Ml0fe than esO00I0OO in retroactive wage increases. The union demanded that the payment be completed hg Sept 30, expiration date Of the rev contract, Employer Ep0kasmen ln~ sisted they needed more time.
 Representatives of West C0Aa9 Employers scnFried back and forth between the conference room aF1 another room from which they teiephOned their bosses ct San Francisco. Finally the dispute wns compromised and the date nnsd as Oct. 3i,
 Next q Labor Department spolsas- man reported that . dispute he'd developed over the way ln which the l0ngshOremen's agreement should hs Signed-by the individual employers or by their association.
 CurTnn Also Reports
 Finally Bridges made hls ans nouncement. 4 few minutes laters