Evening star., 1952-10-21


would heed an appeal from the
mine operators to get his men
back on the job.
That appeal came from Harry
M. Moses, president Of the Btu
minous Coal Operators Associa-
tin. In a letter, Mr.. Moses asked
Mr.. Lewis to strongly urge" the
men to go back to work.
The miners are protesting rul-
ing of the Federal Wage Stabili-
zation Board clipping 40 cents
from the $l.90 per day wage in
crease Mr.. Lewis recently nego-
Itiated for them with the operators.
The board held the $1.90 was more
than the miners are entitled to
under wage controls. This modi-
fication of the new contract is
interpreted by miners as cancella-
ton. They are holding to the coal
field tradition of mo contract, no
work"
Fringe" Plan Proposed.
There was behind the scenes
activity here to find a way to
settle the new dispute. One plan
under discussion was to give the
miners the 40 cents per day in So
called fringe" benefits. The
miners. for example. could be given
the money in the form of pay for
holidays not worked or improved
vacation arrangements.
The miners are not paid for
holiday. as are workers in steel
and other industries. Their 10
day vacation with pay is shorter
than the vacation of the steel
workers.
Whether such a plan would
meet with the approval of the
Wage Board was not known i'm
mediately. But it seemed to offer
some hope of a settlement of the
new coal dispute.
The two biggest soft coal pro-
ducing States, West Virginia and
Pennsylvania. were hardest hit by
the walkout. All of West vir-
ginia's $4,000 miners were idle.
Nearly all of those in Pennsylva-
mia were of the job.
Shots Fired at Cabin.
The only violence accompany
ing the walkout was reported at
Grundy. Va. The sheriff of Bu-
|chanan County, Ishmael Fletcher,
said shots were fired into a cabin
housing seven non union miners.
No one was injured.
Some railroad operations i'm
mediately were affected by the
walkout.
The Baltimore & Ohio notified
l 200 maintenance workers that
because of the strike they will be
furloughed after tomorrow. The
Virginian Railway said it would
lay off 600. The Pennsylvania,
under an automatic lay-off plan,
will release thousands if the strike
lasts more than a few days.
Otherwise, the coal stoppage
had little effect on the Nations
economy, and it will have little
for some time. Coal stocks above
ground are estimated as enough
to last the country as a whole for
80 days. The steel companies,
large users of soft coal, have an
average 60-day supply. There was
no emergency in sight.
Mr.. Lewis so far had not COM
lmented either on the Wage Board
decision or the walkout. There
were reports he had called the
UMW's 200-man Policy Commit
tee to a meeting here. Mr.. Lewis
office would neither confirm nor
deny this.
Possible Clue to Plans.
If true, the calling of the COM
|mittee could give the first indi-
cation Of what Mr.. Lewis plans
to do.
One of Mr.. Lewis top lieuten-
ants, George j. Titler. UNIV dis
trict president at Beckley, w. Va,
predicted a long strike.
THE mine shutdown might be
a long one, maybe as much as
six months" he said.
In his letter Mr.. Moses called
on Mr.. Lewis to accept the $50
|per-day wage increase which the
WSB said is all the miners should
have. Mr. Moses said it would be
illegal in the face of the decisions
for the operators to pay more. It
was the operators petition for ap-
Iproval of the full $1.90 increase
which was rejected by the board
last Saturday.