Evening star., 1946-01-11

partment began a series of
conferences seeking to termi-
nate strikes disrupting ma
tional telephone service.
Communications equipment
workers of the Washington area
Joined those of A States today
in picketing telephone company
offices, as Secretary of Labor
Schwellenbach called confer
ence of union leaders at 4 pm.
Whether the Government will in
woke seizure orders apparently de-
pendS on the outcome of the confer
ence with Ernest Weaver, national
president of the striking Association
OF Communications Equipment
Workers and Joseph A. Beirne,
president of the National Federation
of Telephone Workers.
Mr.. Beirne said the NFTW would
make a statement after the con-
ference "as to whether or not a
country wide walkout of telephone
workers will be called"
'The members of the NFTW have
been called in to Washington to be
ready to make a decision regarding
the matter" he said.
A union spokesman said that if
a national strike of the NFTW
was called today it would be in
sympathy with the Western Electric
strike.
1920 Other Workers Out.
In addition to the communica-
tions equipment workers who began
picketing today, 17,200 other West
ern Electric employees have been on
strike for more than a week.
The NFTW said it had heard
nothing of report that Mr.. Weaver
would attempt to have pickets with
drawn today and insisted that
everything depends on this after
Moons meeting"
The union spokesman added that
a meeting will be held in February
to discuss the possibility of a ma
tional strike of telephone workers
February Is over operators wages.
Efforts to settle another phase of
the telephone tie-up-the walkout
yesterday of 5000 operators in pro-
test against working conditions =
were to be resumed at pm. today.
Cancellation Commissioner Rich
ard Goodrich said he had called a
meeting at that time with officials
of the Washington Telephone Traf-
fic Union and another a half hour
later with officials of the Chesapeake
& Potomac Telephone Co.
District Local Begins Picketing.
The District local of the ACEW,
which struck Wednesday, joined the
picket parade at am, throwing
200 pickets around the struck West
ern Electric Co. at I'LL North Capt.
tol street. and II telephone Offices
in the District, Maryland and .Vir-
ginia.
A survey of the telephone proper
ties indicated that about so per cent
of the District Federation of Tele-
phone Workers 1000 members had
refused to cross the picket lines.
District telephone operators, who
have been idle since 10 am. yester-
day, marked time while conciliators
attempted to settle the dispute over
working conditions.
A meeting between union and
management begged down yesterday
evening after f1ve-hour session in
which both sides refused to alter
their stand.
The picketing here proceeded in
orderly fashion.
Employees Honor Picket Lines.
The number of pickets at each
point varied from one to half
dozen. depending on the size of the
building. At the Western Electric
Co., A. F. Rothballer, manager, said
IT'S employees of the distributing
division had honored the picket
lines. These employees are members
of the National Association of Tele-
phone Equipment Workers, also affil-
lated with the NFTW.
With one exception, all nonunion
workers, numbering about rs, passed
the picket lines at the Western
Electric Building. The exception
was identified as Frank Cannon,
stock maintenance man, and hus-
band of the telephone operators
union president, Mrs. Mary Cannon.
Mr.. Cannon recently was discharged
from the Army after service in
Germany.
The telephone company employees
who Joined the operators on the
sidelines were maintenance men,
accounting and commercial depart
ment workers.
Their walkout had no immediate
significance toward telephone serv-
ice, which now is about S per cent
impaired in local calls and almost
(See OPERATORS, Page A-4.)