Evening star., 1950-01-03
Illinois Miners
Ordered Back 10
Work Monday
About 1000 Out in
State; Remainder Of
UNIV Men Work Pits
BULLETIN

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. P.-
Hugh White. Illinois district
president of the United Mine
Workers, said today he had in
structed the 1000 soft coal min
ers who remained away from
the pits today to resume work
Monday. Mr.. White said he
had discussed the walkout with
John L. Lewis. UNIV chieftain,
and decided it was advisable"
to order the men back under the
three-day week.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 3.-Unex-
planned work stoppages kept at
least 1000 Illinois coal miners
out of the pits today but most of
the Nations 100000 diggers picked
up their tools amid rumors of an
impending nationwide strike.
A large number of Illinois mines
which are not covered by new
contracts with the United Mine
Workers were forced to close
UNIV President John L. Lewis,
visiting his ailing mother in
Springfield, ILL.,, refused to COM
ment on the work stoppages.
Stop work orders were reported
to have been telegraphed to Illi-
nois UNIV district headquarters
The source of the telegram is not
known.
C0nfers With Lewis.
Hugh White, Illinois UNIV pres
ident, said, Il don't know why
they're not working" Later, he
Nconferred with Mr.. Lewis in a
Springfield hotel room.
About $4,000 UNIV miners are
employed in Illinois.
In nearby Indiana, all but about
400 of the States $500 UNIV
members are back at work. The
Viking Mine near Terre Haute
was closed by a local dispute
with 300 idle. A broken pump
forced the Tallydale Mine to
close.
Some $50 of 600 miners in the
Danville. ILL.,. area were idle.
Just Didn't Show Up.
Other mines were down In
the West Frankfort, Taylorville
Springfield and Canton mining
fields. No one was willing to say
why the miners either didn't show
up at all or answered the whistle
and Immediately returned home
"All know is that they just
didn't show up" said one miner
About 1000 men in the Taylor
ville-Springfeld area remained
idle. Some of the miners reported
for work at Taylorville but left
before the shift began. At West
Frankfort, another $500 miners
stayed home.
Ten strip mines were closed near
Canton by the refusal to work of
about $500 miners. Some re-
ported but Immediately returned
home. .r...
Charges Believed Factor.
West Virginia and Pennsylvania
the two largest producing States
with more than 100000 miners
led the return to work. Many
coal industry observers thought
unfair labor practices, lodged by
operators against Mr.. Lewis, had
prevNted major walkouts.
Mr.. Lewis has had all 100000
miners on a three-day week since
December in one of his contract
maneuvers. For the past two hol-
iday weeks the miners have worked
only two days each week-on
Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The operators told the NLRE
the short work week amounts te
coercion on them to accept Mr.
Lewis contract terms.
At Lexington, Ohio, miners re.
ported for the midnight shift al
the mine of the Sunny Hill Goa.
Co., stripping operation employ.
ing 800 men.
Coal Supply Surveyed.
Meantime the Interstate Com.
merce Commission in Washington
scheduled a meeting today to sur.
vey the coal picture. Unless more
is produced soon there may be 9
cut ordered for the Nations rail.
roads which use steam engines.
Consumers will not be affected
under current conditions, for pos.
sibly a month.
On every hand there are indi.
cations this month will be g
critical one for Mr.. Lewis and the
operators. Mr.. Lewis claims tt
have signed contracts with nu.
merous small operators, calling fol
a 95-cent-per-day boost in the
miners basic wages and a 15-cent.
per-ton increase in, royalty pay.
ments to the UMW's health ane
welfare fund.
Under the old contract. the basic
wage was $14.05 and the royalty
payments 20 cents a ton. The
big operators say they can't pay
any more. because they are meet.
ing sitter competition from oil
and gas.
At the moment, it is estimated
that Mr.. Lewis has new contracts
covering about 100000 annual
tons of production. The unsigned
operators represent around $780,
000, 900 tons.
/ |Cunudiun Gets lINESCO Posi