Evening star., 1950-02-11

called captive mines" are owned
or managed by companies which
consume their production, mainly
in the steel industry.
Collective Bargaining Agent.
United Mine Workers of Amer
lea is the collective bargaining
agent for the employees in all
three groups. This union has had
agreements with these operators
for many years.
Negotiations for a new national
agreement have been in progress
intermittently for more than eight
months. They have received con-
siderable publicity. 1t was the
most recent breakdown of these
negotiations, followed by a wide
spread stoppage of work in the
mines, which led to the creation of
this Board of Inquiry.
The Presidents order of Febru-
Iary 6 conferred on the board the
powers and duties set forth in
Title II of the Labor Management
Relations Act, 1947. Under the
terms of this act, it is the board S
duty "to ascertain the facts with
respect to the causes and circum-
stances of the dispute and to re-
port these facts, including leach
party's statement of its position. ("
The act expressly states that the
report shall not contain any rec
concentrations
III. Background of the Dispute.
The national bituminous coal
wage agreement of 1948, nego-
tiated during the tenure of a
board of inquiry, carried forward
and modified the 1947 agreement.
On April 81, 1949, the Southern
Coal Producers Association gave
the union notice of termination
effective at the expiration of the
agreement on June 80, 1949. On
May 13, 1949. the union gave
notice of termination covering
coal mines operated by United
States Steel Corp. and it's SUBJ
salaries, and on June IA, 1949
similar notices were served on all
other signatory companies.
Following these notices of ter
mination of the 1948 agreement
series of bal gaining conferences
were begun between the repre-
sentatives of the United Mine
Workers and the three principal
groups ct operators. The South
ern Wage Conference, held at
Bluef1eld, w. Va, commenced on
May 25, 1919: the captive" con-
ference was begun on June I3,
l949, at Philadelphia; the north
ern conference convened at White
Sulphur Springs, w. Va, on june
%, 1949.
The Southern Wage Conference
met for a total of A days and
was terminated by the operators
on November 2. 1949. The South
ern Coal Producers Association
nonetheless dispatched a telegram,
dated November 25, 1949, offering
to resume negotiations with the
union. The union did not reply.
IL Negotiation Meetings.
Negotiations between the union
and representatives of certain
captive mines were conducted at
ii meetings between June and the
end of September. 1949. There
after informal conversations were
held number of times. These
discussions were allowed to lapse
with the understanding that
either side might call the other
by telephone to arrange further
meetings.
The. Northern Conference, met
total of 27 days of sessions prior
to October 81. 1949. when these
negotiations were terminated by
the operators. They were resumed
in February. 1850.
AS the result of the failure to
reach agreement at these various
conferences. the National Btu
minous Wage Agreements of 194e
was terminated. The wages ano
conditions of employment sci
forth in the expired contract con-
tinued in a general way to gov
ern the relations between the
parties.
The Federal Mediation and Con-
ciliation Service, which had been
closely following all these develop
ments. arranged a conference
among all the parties on October
7, 1949. A subsequent conference
called for November 8, 1949. failed
to materialize when the repre-
sentative of the union indicated he
could not attend. On many other
occasions the Director of the
Service met with the parties in
diligent effort to effectuate a set
tlement of this controversy.
Sporadic Production.
Throughout the period of these
negotiations there has been spo.
radio and unstable production
On June 8 the union ordered q
brief stabilizing period of mac
tion,' and from June 13 to &C
little coal was mined. On July S
l949, the union placed into effect
In Mrtttnrtattt