Miners set to defy Carter action to end marathon strike

Press, 7 March 1978, Page 9

Miners set to defy Carter action to end marathon strike

AZ 1 ‘ A-Reuter Washington President .Jimmy Carter, the settlement he endorsed rejected overwhelmingly by striking American coalminers, will today reveal the tough legal action he will take to end the nation's record pit stoppage.

The White House Press Secretary (Mr Jody Powell) said that Mr Carter had already decided on the form of Federal intervention he will order to end the three-month-old strike which has hit the American economy hard. Administration sources said that the President would make an announcement after a Cabinet meeting and consultations with leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Government says action must be taken to avoid a further 3 million lay-offs. Mr Powell would not disclose details of Mr Carter’s plans. But Cabinet members said earlier that the option the Administration favours

most is a court injunction; •under the Taft-Hartley Act. This law. three decades - old, orders strikers back to! work for an 80-day cooling | off period while further ne- i gotiations are initiated. I Rank-and-file compliance with the law is uncertain, however. In previous strikes, miners have twice refused to obey Taft-Hartley injunctions, and I their present mood is defiant. Miners fear trouble was ahead no matter what action Mr Carter takes. “No doubt in my mind, it’s going to cause blood- ! shed,” said one in West Virginia. The Energy Secretary (Mr James Schlesinger) said in a television interview that

I iffidavits for a Taft-Hartley-njunction had been pre-' ; pared. i The contract rejected by a ; I margin of more than two votes to one over the week- , i end would have increased ■! miners pay by 37 per cent , |over three years. The injunction could be. j combined with temporary y Government seizure of the II mines, a measure that would >• require the approval of Coni'gress. >i Results of the pithead bali lot were still incomplete I when Mr Bill Esselstyn, sec- ,; retary-treasurer of the - United Mine Workers, an- ■ i nounced that miners in 482 !of the 794 locals (union branches) had voted by 44,666 to 19,885 to reject the contract.