The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-05
COMPANIES REJECT
GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS

WASHINGTON. May 4-P-Op-
posing sides in the four-week-old
telephone strike held new meetings
today, with a reported settlement
proposal by the government still
in the picture despite qualified
company rejection.
Labor department conciliators,
enjoining the conferees to Sc
crecy, were reported to have laid
before them yesterday a plan call
ing for an average pay raise Of
$3.50 a week and about 81 cents
in other concessions-making a
total package that would average
$5.14 week.
As government proposition, it
appeared to have collapsed in ad-
vance when the American Tele-
phone & Telegraph company said
anv settlement should be reached
by free collective bargaining and
I'VE would be opposed to any such
proposition by the government. !"
But this statement did not rule
out consideration of the proposal
if it should come from the Ameri-
can Union of Telephone workers,
a group of 10000 long distance
employees of A. T. & T. And there
were signs that the union was
about to make a new proposition Of
some sort.
Counter Move First
George S. Dring, assistant vice
president of the A. T. & T. long
lines department, has said the next
logical STEP in the dispute would
be for the union tc make counter
proposal to the S2-S4 offer made by
A. T. & T. Friday.
The long lines dispute is an I'M
portant phase of the nationwide
strike of unions-most of them af-
filiated with the National Fedora
ton of Telephone workers-which
started April 7.
The complexion OF the New York
city part of the strike changed
again today. The board Of directors
of the United Telephone organiza-
tions, one of four non-NFTW
unions which reached tentative
s4-a-week settlements with the
New York Telephone company, de-
cided to end this unions strike at
midnight tonight.
Thus the New York back-to-Work
movement, delayed by rank-and-
file opposition to the 81 figure,
got another forward spurt-re-
gardless of the national strike.
Entering today's long lines
meeting, government, union, and
company officials were not talking
about the reported S5.l4 proposal.
The news that ii had been sub
mitted came from a person close
to the negotiations who asked that
he not be identified.
Dring Silent
Dring, in saying the company
would be opposed to ANY such
proposition by the government,
did not acknowledge there had
been such proposal.
The union, along with others af-
filiated with the NFTW, had been
demanding uniform national
raise of Sc week for the more
than 100000 striking telephone
workers.
The 81 so proposal would throw
out any idea OF uniform national
pattern, because the raise would
vary in different cities, with $3.50
being an average. The other is
sues, which would bring "a cents
additional under the plan, include
vacations. pensions and the like.
SAY WON'T RETURN
ATLANTA, Ca, May 4 - W.D -
H. F. Tweedy, vice-president of
the Southern Federation of Tele-
phone workers, tonight denied
that striking telephone workers in
five North Carolina cities woulo
return to work tomorrow morning
Most of the workers will not ac-
cept the wake increase of ST to So
offered by Southern Bell" TWeedy
said.
Earlier, North Carolina SFTW
Director o. c. Lee reported some
985 strikers decided to return to
their jobs after voting on the
company's cffer in Raleigh, Ashe-
vile, Hendersonville, Waynes-
vile and Rutherfordton.