Mass strike threat to U.S. economy

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34119, 3 April 1976, Page 15

Mass strike threat to U.S. economy

f\ Z Press Assn —Copyright) CHICAGO, April 2. Independent truckdrivers were shot at in the early hours of a nation-wide Teamsters’ Union strike that threatens to hobble the nation’s economy—from cars to bread and beer. At midnigrht on Wednesday, 450,000 Teamsters’ Union drivers and freight handlers walked out.

In Ohio, an independent. driver, Mr Paul Allan, aged • 32, told the Cleveland police he was shot at twice when ! he refused to pull his semi-• trailer off the road. Another | driver was fired upon from | an overpass in Detroit. Nei- i ther man was hit. Rocks and debris were, hurled at trucks from over-I passes in Michigan and Ohio' and there were attempts to force trucks off the road.

Negotiators are working; at the Arlington Park Hilton; Hotel, outside Chicago, try-1 ing to hammer out an agree- j ment between the trucking industry and drivers’ negotiators. It is the first nationwide truck-driver’s, strike ever. The Labour Secretary (Mr William Usery) told newsmen in Chicago that the

i White House was consid--1 ering declaring a national (emergency and seeking a (court injunction against the ; strike.

Any injunction against the teamsters would be brought • under the Taft-Hartley Act which provides for an 80day cooling-off period while negotiations continue. There was no indication how long the Administration might wait before acting, but the Transportation Department said a one-week strike would idle a million workers and cost s3oom. Shortages Within two weeks consumers would begin facing shortages of goods such as food and petrol, it said. A car industry spokesman said Detroit would feel the effects almost immediately and predicted that plants would be shut down next week if a settlement was not reached. Steel and home ap-j pliance manufacturers also• said production would be: curtailed by a long strike.

President Ford was believed to be concerned that the strike could reverse the recent strong economic recovery from the 1975 recession — a double headache in an election year. The striking teamsters, who earn $7.18 to $7.33 an hour hauling more than 60 per cent of the nation’s

goods. are •seeking a 30 per cent raise in wages and benefits over • three years, and an end to the present ceiling on cost-of-living rises. A verted In New York negotiators have narrowly averted a bus and underground rail strike that threatened misery to millions of commuters. They reached a tentative accord on a new labour contract for the 35,000 workers who run the vast rail and bus network with just 90 minutes to go to an extended strike deadline. Most travellers did not know the strike was “off” until they turned on the radio. Many, taking no • chances, had spent the night I in Manhattan hotels to be • sure of getting to work on time. During a 12-day transport’ strike in 1966, tens of thou-; ; sands of commuters drove their cars and even bicycles; (into New York, causing mammoth traffic jams.; People had to set out for’ (work five or six hours early. ■ The new contract, which i the Transport Workers’; •Union is expected to ratify,; provides for a cost-of-living adjustment but no wage in-; (crease. Transport workers! earn an average of $13,000 a I year.