LABOUR UNREST

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12298, 12 April 1937, Page 3

LABOUR UNREST

MOTOR EMPLOYEES ONTARIO CONFERENCES VIEWS OF MR HENRY FORD Montreal, April 11. The conferences to settle the strike at the plant of the General Motors (Canada) Corporation at Oshawa, Ontario, have collapsed. The Premier of Ontario, Mr M. F. Hepburn, refused to deal with the delegation, including Mr Thompson, of the Automobile Workers' Union, or “any other paid foreign agitator of the Committee of industrial Organisation." The union leader Mr Homer Martin arrived and haa consultations with the local union. Mr Hepburn stated that Mr Martin also was not acceptable and insisted that the General Motors Corporation had made concessions which would assure the settlement of the strike “except for Mr John Lewis and his paid organisers.” Pickets permitted the penetration of the lines in parts of the factory. It is reported that the General Motors Corporation is prepared to recognise the Automobile Workers’ Union, but not as an affiliate of the Committee of Industrial Organisation. Mr Henry Ford has issued another statement to the effect that labour unions were the worst things he had ever met and he promised that his company soon would demonstrate wages, production and competition such as had never oeen seen before. He reiterated that he would never recognise the Automobile Workers’ Union or any other union for collective bargaining. Mr Ford declined to confirm the rumours that he intended to increase the minimum wage to 10 dollars a day, which would exceed union rates. Pittsburg, April 11. The American 1< ederation of Labour has abandoned the traditional craft unionism and has adopted the industrial union plan of the Committee of Industrial Organisation, in open battle against the organisation. The electrical union has started an extensive drive to enrol all employees, including the clerical staffs and the workers of the Westinghouse and two other electrical companies. The Committee of Industrial Organisation retaliated in a statement giving the Westinghouse Company a week in which to sign a contract to replace the oral agreement reached several weeks ago in London. New York, April 11 A whimsical vein ran through the strike at New Jersey. The estranged wife of an industrialist joined the picket line of his employees, carrying a banner reading; “Unfair to WorkIt is reported that the woman’s divorce suit has just been filed and that she charges her husband with extravagant living and is asking for 1000 dollars a week as alimony. She induced the workers to demand a higher wage. New xork, April 10. The New York branch of Mr John Lewis’ Committee of Industrial Organisation announces that it has begun a campaign-to organise 270,000 employees of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the largest corporation in the United States.