GENERAL MOTORS STRIKE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22005, 1 February 1937, Page 5

GENERAL MOTORS STRIKE

"MORE CONFUSED THAN EVER" FAILURE OF ATTEMPTS AT NEGOTIATION (Received January 31, 9.36 p.m.) NEW YORK, January 30. Miss Frances Perkins (Secretary for Labour) reported that substantial progress had been made in a conference with Mr Sloan, of the General Motors Corporation, towards a basis upon which negotiations to end the automobile workers' strike could be resumed. Miss Perkins earlier promised a definite announcement; but she said she had found it impossible to reach a third party whose acquaintance was the sole remaining factor needed for a truce. She declined to name the person until she had talked to him. Mr F. Murphy (Governor of Michigan) rebuked the 25 nonstrikers who threatened to sit down in his office at Detroit until he evicted the strikers from the General Motors Corporation plants. He asserted that non-strikers were responsible; for the break-down of the previous negotiations. Miss Perkins later announced that Mr Sloan had rejected her proposal for a conference during the weekend, between the union and the General Motors Corporation. She stated that Mr Sloan "ran out on me" after agreeing to participate in the proposed conference, provided Mr Murphy arranged it. She said Mr Sloan telephoned her after his return to New York, and withdrew [his promise. Miss Perkins added: "I am bitterly disappointed. I have no plans." Growing Confusion The strike has become more confused than ever, Mr Sloan issuing a statement denying that he had agreed with Miss Perkins to negotiate. He reiterated that the paramount issue was the evacuation of the strikers. Mr Murphy had intimated that if the Federal Government ceased further intervention he was ready to call a joint conference of spokesmen for both parties. Mr Homer Martin (president of the union) praised Miss Perkins's efforts, and accused General Motors of blocking all peace efforts, and of deliberately closing many factories not on strike in an effort to turn the general public and the workers against the union. General Motors Corporation announced that 123,000 of the 149,000 workers affected by labour troubles at its plant were supporting a back-to-work movement, and had shown their satisfaction with the current bargaining methods. Meanwhile a slightly humorous touch was given at Flint when the strikers declined to admit reporters to the plant. Mr J. L. Lewis,' the labour leader, in an interview, said that the steel, automobile, and other great industries of the nation were controlled by interlocking financial groups, so that their policies were finally "what Morgan and Pierre S. Dupont say." He insisted that there should be no settlement of the strike in the General Motors plants, • which did not recognise the American Workers' Union as the sole bargaining agency, whether the employees were members of it or not.