Evening star., 1946-10-01
Ocean Shipping
|0n All Coasts
Halted byS Strike
Some Hope Is Held
For Settlement at
New PorIeys Today
By jones Y. Newton

A second great maritime strike
within a month halted ocean
shipping on u coasts today as
licensed officers walked out fol-
lowing failure of Labor Depart
ment conferences here to bring
about contract agreement.
Government efforts to confine the
strike to the West Coast continued
until 4 am. today when talks with
East and Gulf Coast shipowners and
the unions finally were recessed.
There was some hope that a settle
ment among those groups might be
reached when conferences are re-
Sumed this afternoon.
The two unions involved in the
strike are the CIO Marine Engi-
neers Beneficial Association, repre-
senting engineroom licensed per-
sonnel, and the AFL Masters, Mates
and Pilots. representing deck off,
GERS. Their contracts with ship op-
orators of all coasts expired last
midnight.
1Ai1 CotAldtCo Zo,oOO lOtdl 1uSm-
bership of the two union is involved
directly IN the strike, although all
of the maritime unions are expected
to support the stoppage. The CIO
Engineers is the larger of the two
with about 5000 members.
Longshoremen Also on Strike.
CIO Longshoremen, headed BY
Harry Bridges, whose contract also
expired at midnight, were striking,
too. The union represents dock
workers only on the West Coast.
The strategy of Mr.. Bridges group
was to hold port mass meetings in
stead of reporting for work, although
5000 longshoremen in Los Angeles
and 1000 in Seattle actually stopped
work. Troop, troop supply ships
and relief vessels, however, were
still being serviced in Seattle.
This second major shipping tieup
follows by only two weeks the great
17-day strike of seamen and other
unlicensed merchant marine per-
sonnel which began September 5.
American shipping was only begin
ming to free itself from the earlier
all-coast stoppage when the second
blow struck this morning.
Frantic efforts of Labor Depart
ment conciliators to avert the new
strike were thwarted shortly after
midnight when representatives of
the West Coast shipowners rejected
the demands of the two unions for
more favorable hiring terms.
For. several hours after that the
concilators kept the two unions and
Eastern shipping interests together
in the hope of confning the strike
to the Pacific.
Union Demands Rejected.
Ofdcials Of the Pacific American
Sbipowners' Association fatty re-
jected the unions demands for
union security" similar to the plan
already in effect in the East.
Marion Plant, attorney, and
Wallace Brown, secretary Of the
association, met with the Maritime
Commission and Secretary OF Labor
SchweIenbach until 1:30 am. in
an effort to get over the hurdle.
Federal officials said the ship oper-
ators' representatives repeatedly
said mo- to the unions demands.
Mr.. Plant said he and Mr.. Brown
had not thought of the next move.
Mr.. Plant said:
II assume the strike is on, and I
assume any further negotiations will
be back home where they should
have been in the first place"
Owners Opposed Meeting Here.
The West Coast owners had con-
tended that their negotiations should
have been held at San Francisco
and resisted Mr.. SchweIenbachis
plans to have all sides meet here.
This delayed the start of the Wash
ington conferences until Saturday
night, only about 48 hours before
the strike deadline.
Contracts of the licensed officers
unions with most Eastern operators
call for preferential hiring" of new
men. This means that union mem
bers are hired in preference to nom
union men.
The unions in the East also have
maintenance of membership"
Under such clause, ordered into
contracts widely by the War Labor
! (See MARITIME, Page A-12)