Evening star., 1948-06-25
By jones Y. Newton


announced today that they are
refusing to sign the new coal
contract which John L. Lewis
and commercial coal operators
of the Nation are completing
here.
Harry M. Moses. representative
of the captive. or steel company
owned mines, walked out of the con-
tract-drafting conference at the
Statler Hotel shortly after noon
telling reporters that ne had re-
fused to sign the contract.
Mr.. Moses said, however, that
the other operators were going to
sign an agreement, which provides
for a $l-a-day wage increase to
the 100000 miners and the doubling
of the royalty" for the UNIV well
fare and retirement fund. an in
crease to 20 cents per ton.
Il am not going to sign the con-
tract" Mr.. Moses said as he left
the conference. Il am not in agree
ment with what is going on in there
(the conference room)."
Union Shop is Crux.
Mr.. Moses had said last night
that he reluctantly accepted the
terms of the new agreement after
he previously had been regarded as
a holdout.
His last-minute objection to sign
ing the pact apparently involved
the provisions in the new agreement
for continuing the union shop, which
form of union security is regulated
by the Taft Hartley Act.
The clause in the present con-
tract on the subject of union Sc
curity states:
"It Is agreed that as g
condition of employment all en-
ployes shall be. or become. members
of the United Mine Workers OF
America, except in those exempted
classifications OF employment as
hereinafter provided in this agree
ment."
Mr.. Moses represents producers OF
about 60,0OO,0O0 tons of coal year
This is 10 per cent of the total
national production.
He is the head of all of the coal
producing subsidiaries of the United
States Steel Corp. but for purposes
of negotiations with Mr.. Lewis he
represents all of the other steel
companies. Mr.. Moses promised a
statement later which he said would
explain his position fully.
In the event the steel industry
continues to hold out on acceptance
Of the new contract to take effect
July /, shutdown of it's mines
appeared inevitable. Other coai
operators said that in such event
the steel producers would not be
able to purchase in the open market
sufficient fuel to keep their mills
operating.
The wage increase will raise the
average miners pay to s14.05 day
and the royalty increase will mean
a total payment Of about 100000
900 a. year into the fund,
Those will be the only ma jo1
changes in the new contract.
Lewis Tactics Irk Owners.
After last nights long negotiating
session broke up near midnight
some of the operators expressed trri-
tation at Mr.. Lewis position. They
said that after they had capitulated
on the major points. the UNIV chief
had raised host of subsidiary
issues, delaying the final drafting
of the contract.
An important operator said frank
ly he was "disgusted" by Mr.. Lewis
attitude. However, there was little
chance the disputes over minor
points Of the contract would pre-
vent the final agreement today on
the entire pact.
Under the new contract, the
miners will continue to work the
eight-hour, portal-to-portal day
with half-hour paid lunch Pc
riod. The $100 vacation pay, the
holiday and other provisions of the
present contract remain the same
The operators were unable to re-
move from the contract the clause
to the effect that the miners will
work when "able and willing"
1t was revealed that Mr.. Lewis
had demanded a 25-cent-per ton
royalty for the welfare fund and
a 7-hour overall day with no re-
duction in pay. He asked for other
things which were not granted, but
those two were his big demands.