Evening star., 1948-04-13
Coal
Continued From First Page.)

Of the pension dispute that touched
of the strike and they considered
asking District Court to dismiss the
so-called pension agreement"
Mr.. Lewis teamed with Senator
Bridges, Republican, of New Har11p-
shire to push through the strike
settling pension arrangement over
objections of Ezra Van Horn, OPP
orators trustee for the UNIV well
fare and retirement fund.
Senator Bridges. the new neutral
trustee for the fund, presented the
plan less than "a hours after he had
entered the highly technical and
complicated dispute. He described
his arrangement as tentative" and
said legal and actuarial details could
be worked out at later meetings OF
the trustees.
The important thing, Senator
Bridges contended. was to arrive at
a basis on which the miners could
return to work.
Van Horn May File Motion.
The court challenge of the plan
would be made by Mr.. Van Horn.
A prominent operator said a dis
missal motion was sure to be filed
along with an additional request TO
the court to untangle the still-very-
much tangled pension and welfare
situation. He said filing Of a suit
was only a question of timing.
Court action presumably could be
Instituted on the grounds that the
Bridges plan. by apparently making
eligible for pensions miners whose
employers have not contributed to
the s32OO0,00O fund. violates the
ft-Hartley Act. Or the operators
could say the Bridges plan was
pushed through without their con-
sent.
Suspicious of the operators were
aroused by the unusual promptness
with which Senator Bridges came
up with his strike-settling arrange
ment. Some charged the pension
plan was worked out in advance of
the 13-minute meeting in Speaker
Martins Capitol Office Saturday.
It was at that time the Speaker an
nounced dramatically that Mr..
Lewis and Mr.. Van Horn had agreed
to selection of Senator Bridges as
neutral" trustee.
Senator Bridges long written ex-
planation of his actions and views
on the strike, together with his de-
tailed plan were mimeographed in
advance of the trustees meeting
held at $50 am. yesterday.
Telegram Prepared in Advance.
When the Lewis attorneys ap-
oeared before Justice Goldsborough
at 10 am. they also had mimeo-
graphed copies of their defense,
which included a long back-to- work
telegram to the miners prepared in
advance of the strike settling trus-
tees meeting In the telegram, Mr..
Lewis told the miners early reso-
luton of the questions at issue
tpension dispute) may now be ex-
pected." In other words, the oper-
ators say. Mr.. Lewis apparently was
sure a plan would be adopted.
Representative Hartley, Repub-
iican.' of New Jersey. chairman of
the House Labor Committee and
co-author of the Taft-Harley Act
said the action of Mr.. Martin and
Senator Bridges had helped to by
pass the Jaw.
When asked in a televised inter-
view what he thought of Mr.. Mar
tins intervention in the strike, Mr.
Hartley said last night:
We'll, this is a presidential year
and when the presidential bug
bites, it bites hard"
Mr.. Martin has been considered
. dark horse contender for the
COP presidential nomination. He
received a standing ovation IN the
House after the tentative settle
ment Of the dispute was announced
Provisions of Plans.
Briefly, the Bridges plan provides
for 500 monthly pensions for UNIV
members who (A) retired after May
2s, 1916 (the date the Government
gave Mr.. Lewis his first welfare
fund to end the 1916 spring strike)
and tB) are more than 81 years
old with 20 years service. Senator
Bridges set aside s5.000.0 900 for
initial payments. and said the whole
plan could be reviewed any time.
Mr.. Lewis had wanted 500 q
month for miners when they reach
T.