AMERICAN STEEL STRIKE

Evening Star, Issue 22685, 26 June 1937, Page 15

AMERICAN STEEL STRIKE

THE IHDEPEHDENT COMPANIES NO DEALINGS WITH C. 1.0. Pre»s Association —By Telegraph—Copyright CLEVELAND, June 24. The representatives of four independent steel companies informed the Federal Mediation Board that they -would not make an oral or written agreement with the Committee of Industrial Organisation (C. 1.0.) because that body was irresponsible and had resorted to. terrorism. A signed contract, it was stated, would be the first step toward the closing of the shops. The Mediation Board, in a statement at Cleveland, said: “ The companies in . refusing to make any agreement are taking an unwise position. Nothing can be clearer to-day than that management and organised labour, when the latter really represent the wishes of the men, must learn how to live together, to reach agreements, and to abide by them.” The Mediation Board proposed calling off the strike and making the signing of an agreement between the union and the companies effective only if the union demonstrated that it represented the majority of the workers, to be decided by an, election held by the National' Labour Relations Board. The mediators also urge that the union and the companies should confer with the board together. A development in the steel strike today was an announcement by Governor Earle that martial law. in Johnstown would cease to-morrow, as the state of emergency had passed. The mills may • reopen. , Mr Philip. Murray, leader of the steel strikers at Johnstown, informed the Mediation Board that the strikers ‘ were ready to accept President Roosevelt as final arbiter for a settlement of the dispute. MARTIAL LAW RELAXED POSITION EASIER AT YOUNGSTOWN. NEW YORK, June 25. , (Received June 26, at 8 a.m.) Governor Davey has announced the relaxation of martial law in Youngstown, .permitting workers to return to -the mills. Picfceters maintain orderly picket- lines in Bethlehem and Youngstown, but the sheet tube companies ’ ' r declined again the Mediation Board’s invitation to a joint conference with the C. 1.0, ~ Coal miners in the neighbourhood of Johnstown declared a labour holiday, and began a march to Johnstown to reinforce, the steel picketers.