Evening star., 1947-10-13
81 Return 10 Work
AT Struck Button Plant
On Eastern Shore
By George Kennedy
Stor Stoff CORRESPONDENT

R1DGELY, Nd, Oct. 13.-Work
resumed today without incident at
the Excelsior Pearl Works, Inc, but
ton plant here, which has been
struck since Tuesday.
About 81 workers, mostly men
filed into the barnlike plant in this
Eastern Shore town we'll ahead OF
the 7 am. starting time. The full
work force is said to be 81.
Three deputized police officers
with pistols on their hips were
among a group of 20 male citizens
of the community standing in front
of the plant. One State policeman
stopped In front of the plant but
did not get out of his car.
The deputizing of IS citizens
Thursday night by M. L. Sutton,
feed merchant, who is Mayor of the
community, had caused the Balti-
more representative of the Interna-
tional Ladies' Garment Workers
Union, AFL, to petition State au-
thorities for protection and media
ton.
The union put out 10 picket lines
this morning. Charles F. Tillman,
jr., international representative
from Norfolk, was on hand with
three union members but they did
not carry signs nor walk in front
of the plant. There had been no
interference with the picket line
last week, Mr.. Tillman said
Admits Right to Picket.
The strike at the little plant here
developed from a strike at the main
plant of the company at Federals-
burg, 81 miles away.
In the plant here the workers,
mostly men, cut discs from the
mother of pearl shells imported
from the Southwest Pacific.
Mayor Sutton, who arrived shortly
after the 7 am. opening, acknowl-
edged the unions right to picket.
But" he said, I'VE are not going
to stand for crowd of Is outsiders
from fredericksburg blocking our
street, as happened last week. And
we are not going to stand for any
one inciting the workers to riot
by telling them to 60 in the plant
as this man James Christopher did
Thursday. And further, we are not
going to stand for any one passing
out canned beer on the street, as
this man Irving Jaffe did Tuesday"
Striker Faces Hearing.
| Roth Mr. TbrictonLor . Tadar,1z
burg striker, and Mr.. Jaffe, ILGWU
organizer, are held in $500 bail on
charges of disorderly conduct and
will have hearing in fredericksburg
this week.
Mayor Sutton denied that there
had been any effort by town lead
ers to start a back-to-work move
ment over the week end. He said
that the community had subscribed
$15, 200 to help finance a new $780,
600 plant, which has not yet been
opened, to increase employment.
The plant the company is in now,
he said, was given to the Excelsior
company about r. years ago by
the Chamber of Commerce.
The company, said to be one of
the largest pearl button manufac-
turers in the country, is owned by
Bernard Rifkin of New York.
Election Held Up.
Reached on the telephone in
Baltimore, Miss Angela Bambase,
international representative of the
union for Maryland and Virginia,
said that an election at the plant
had been held up by the original
National Labor Relations Board
ruling on Communist disclaimers.
Miss Bambase said that the ILGWU,
an AFL union, was unable to OBJ
tain an NLRB election because of
the ruling of Robert Dunham, gen.
eral counsel of the labor board, that
top officers of the AFL and CIO
would have to sign affidavits that
they were not Communists. The
ruling was later reversed by the
board.
She said that the union made a
one hour strike demonstration in
the company's plants two weeks
ago. She said that Mr.. Rirkin then
agreed to meet with the union. In
stead, she said, he came to Fed
eralsburg 10 days ago and gave the
workers an antiunion talk and a.
10 per cent raise.
after that" she said, 1--WE had
to call the strike. We didn't ask
for this. The workers came to us
and asked to be organized because
| of low wages"
Union representatives said the
men at the fredericksburg plant
average $26 for As hours work on a
piece work basis.