Evening star., 1948-05-19
Coal Pay Talks
Broken OFF as
South Is Barred
Charges Of Refusal
TO Bargain Filed
Against Lewis
By Jones Y. Newton

W SouSS - tNSWAOb
New contract negotiations be-
tween soft coal operators and
John L. Lewis United Mine
Workers were broken of today
over the issue of seating the
president of the Southern Coal
Producers Association as a ne
gotiator.
The end of the meeting. at which
the coal industry hoped to draft a
new contract to replace the present
one which expires June 80. came
suddenly few minutes after the
coal conference opened this MORN
ing.
Mr.. Lewis has refused to bargain
if the operators insist on including
as a negotiator Joseph E. Moody.
president of the Southern Produc-
ers' Association. Mr.. Lewis took
the position that since neither MIR.
Moody nor the SCPA had signed
the present coal contract, they are
not authorized to negotiate a new
one.
Moody Files Charges.
After the negotiations collapsed,
Mr.. Moody filed additional charges
of refusal to bargain against Mr..
Lewis with the National Labor Re-
latlons Board He asked NLRB
General Counsel Robert N. Denham
to seek Immediately court injunc-
ton to compel Mr.. Lewis to bargain
with the Southern Coal Producers
Association. The action was taken
under the Taft-Hartley Act.
Once before, during the recent
dispute over miners pensions. Mr..
Moody sought NLRB help in an
effort to force the UNIV to bargain
with him.
Shortly after today's meeting
opened at the Shoreham Hotel.
Chairman Harvey Cartwright called
for a vote on motion made by the
operators to seat Mr.. Moody as a
negotiator The operators voted
AYE" and Mr.. Lewis UNIV dele
oates shouted a firm no" Mr..
Cartwright ruled the motion had
lost.
Then the chairman called for a
vote on the UNIV proposal that ne
gotiations go forward between the
union and coal producers outside OF
the South, representing about two
thirds of the Nations total pro-
duction. The miners delegates ap-
proved the motion and the operat-
ors shouted no" Mr.. Cartwright
said the motion had carried and
started to take up the next order OF
business when Mr.. Lewis rose to
his feet.
Policy Group to Meet.
"I make the observation, Mr..
Chairman" he said, that there Is
no conference. The operators have
voted themselves and the mine
workers out of the conference and
there is no one to pay the hall rent
from now on.
THE mine workers Policy Com
mittee will meet tomorrow morning
at TO-"
Later Charles O'Neill, spokesman
for the Northern operators, told
neWsmen:
Personally. I view the situation
as serious. Whether this will drift
into a strike. I do not know. What
the Government will do about 1t,
I do not know.
1.-The consequences cannot be
guessed. The union left. There is
no conference and all negotiations
for a contract at this point are
stopped.
"Unless there is change in
position there will be no negotia-
tions"
| Mr.. O'Neill said there was no
| discussion among the operators
about separate wage negotiations
for Northern and Western pro-
ducers with Mr.. Lewis.
| mfr. Moody was here as proper
representative" Mr.. O'Neill con-
| tinued. He represents 10000, 900
/ tons of coal production year. The
United Mine Workers used a tech
nical point to deny them repre-
sentation in the contract confer
ence"
New Lewis Move Expected.
| The fact that Mr.. Lewis is con-
vening his Policy Committee indi-
Gates that he has some new move
in mind, but he gave no hint as
| to what 1t was.
The coal wage conference operates
on the unit rule and therefore since
unanimity was lacking on the Moody
issue, the meeting could not 60 for
ward.
| There was some fear among the
(See COAL, Page A-4)