Evening star., 1947-10-13
Food
Continued From FIRST Page.)

zens food committees and to issue
proclamations in support Of the
waste less" drive.
Pledges of support for the drive
came from numerous religious
groups and were made public by
Mr.. Luckman.
Injunction Threatened.
The latter has indicated his con-
fidence the distilling industry will
agree to the closing despite protests
from some Of the companies and
their employees.
Only five distillers are expected
at today's conference. The rest
either have phoned or telegraphed
their replies to the request for a
shutdown. A committee spokes-
man said the messages have not
yet been sorted to determine If the
answers are 100 per cent for the
closing.
Joseph O'Neill, president of the
Distillery Workers Union, threat
ened yesterday to sue the distillers
for damages under the Taft Hartley
Act on the ground closing down
would be violation of contract. He
said the union would ask for court
Injunction If necessary to keep the
plants open.
Opposes Step in Telegrams.
Mr.. ONeill sent a batch Of tele-
grams to the President, to Mr.
Luckman, Secretary of Labor
Schwellenbach and Secretary of
Agriculture Anderson declaring the
shutdown would mot result in any
significant contribution to the ma
tional food conservation program"
Instead, Mr.. O'Neill said, "thou-
sands of American workers and
their families in this and related
industries will be deprived OF their
livelihood and will thereby be re-
quired to make a needless and
meaningless sacrifice"
Joint Conference Asked.
The union urged the President to
call an immediate joint conference
pSV~SOA4 Vi GllC III.
dustry and the union, with Luck
mans committee.
Mr.. O'Neill said the shutdown
proposal was made without consul
tation with the workers representa-
tives.
In addition, approximately 40 big
distillers across the Nation were put
on notice in separate kilograms that
If the two months shutdown was
started, the union would:
l. Sue employers for damages
under the Taft-Hartley Labor Man
agement Relations Act for violation
of contract.
2. Demand from the employers
that they give workers standby
pay"
g. Take injunction action in the
courts to stop the proposed shut
down.
80 Agreed to Closing.
At least % of the 80 big distil-
leries, whose officials met with Mr.
Luckman last week, already had
agreed to close before the union
threat Of court action was made
public in San Francisco. The dis
titled spirits institute, representing
so per cent of the industry's ca
pacity went along under protest.
j. A. Engelhard, institute presi-
dent, said the result would be "se-
rious unemployment" and smaller
saving than the Government ex-
poets. He said closing the dis
tilleries would cut off byproducts
usually fed to livestock and force
farmers to feed grain instead, thus
pairing down the prospective saw
ing of 10000, 900 bushels or more.
The food campaign is aimed at
saving total of 00,000, 900 bushels
for export. .,
The national restaurant group,
headed by George r. LIE Savage,
himself a member of the Citizens
Food Committee, is faced with the
problem of showing cooperation
with the national drive and mollify-
ing the numerous local af1liates
which have fatty refused to 60 along
with the Tuesday Thursday pro-
gram. San Francisco, Chicago