FRENCH STRIKES

Evening Star, Issue 23130, 2 December 1938, Page 9

FRENCH STRIKES

EMPLOYERS INSTITUTE SANCTIONS MEN DESIROUS OF RETURNING LOOKED OUT LILLE TEXTILE WORKERS STORM FACTORIES Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright PARIS, December 1. (Received December 2, at 10 a.m.) The employers have instituted sanctions against strikers, locking out men desirous' of resuming. Arsenal, tramway, factory employees, and metal workers were dismissed and told to apply again. The Valenciennes strikers attacked and injured several Belgians crossing the frontier to resume work. Lille textile workers, after being refused permission to enter the works, stormed the factories,' but were later evacuated by the police and mobile guards. Several Denain strikers were injured by guards using their rifle butts. STRIKERS SENTENCED PARIS, December 1. (Received December 2, at 8 a.m.) Six strikers were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. All Valenciennes miners and 20 per cent, of the metal workers have resumed. SITUATION ALMOST NORMAL GOVERNMENT SEEKS NATIONAL GO-OPERATION (Independent Cable Service.) PARIS, December 1. (Received December 2, at 1 p.m.) M. Daladier stated that he had summoned Parliament to meet on December 8. An indication of the Government’s policy was given by M. Reynaud in a speech at a luncheon. “ The events of yesterday do not signify a social landslide,” he said. “We want to obtain goodwill, not lifeless resignation. Democracy cannot exist without agreement from the great majority. National reconciliation is necessary for the success of our great enterprise.” The metal workers are still out at Dunkirk and Valenciennes, but the situation throughout France is reported to be almost normal. Forty were arrested at Valenciennes yesterday, and six were to-day sentenced to imprisonment varying from 21 to 45 days. BITTER AFTERMATH FOR STRIKERS STRAINED ATMOSPHERE IN INDUSTRIAL TOWNS. PARIS, December 1. (Received December 2, at 12.30 p.m.) The aftermath of the strike is proving bitter for the thousands who obeyed the union leaders. Many big employers throughout the country contend that the strike was a rupture of collective agreement, entailing dismissal and re-engagement under a new contract. The workers refuse to agree to this on the ground that they would thus lose th© right to the 12 days’ paid holiday and must begin afresh to acquire seniority. Lockouts have been proclaimed in many works and factories until the situation is cleared up. Strikers in some industries have been summarily dismissed, and the result is a strained atmosphere in a number of large industrial towns, where the police and mobile guards are still guarding factories. Two thousand five hundred dismissed strikers at Grenobles fought through the cordon of police and did considerable damage to the works. The admiral in charge of the Lorient arsenal ordered the dismissal of 3.000, who must apply for re-en-gagement. The strikers at the naval arsenal at Brest lost two days’ pay. Ten thousand workers at the naval shipyards at Saint Nazaire unexpectedly struck in the afternoon owing to the authorities refusing to re-engage some men, allegedly agitators. Roubaix workers, demonstrating against the new contract, agreed to submit to Government arbitration.

Three thousand men, allegedly agitators or pickets, were dismissed in the Toulouse district. A number of aeroplane metal works at Marseilles have not reopened. Twelve hundred demonstrators marched against Raismes, stoning the guards, who used the butts of their rifles, until reinforcements drove off the attackers. M. Jouhaux affirms that the confederation will pursue its. policy until the decrees against the workers are withdrawn.

THE PUBLIC SERVICES A NUMBER OP DISMISSALS. PARIS, December 1. (Received December 2, at 12.55 p.m.) M. Daladier, after a conference with the Minister of Justice and others, issued a communique, which after stating that the strike in the public services, though small, could not go unpunished, cancels the appointments held in the Bank of France, the railways,

and other State organisations of State officials who disobeyed the requisition order, and dismisses a few Civil servants and assistants belonging to the general administration, and suspends the pay of others pending a final decision. It is understood that after this order, M. Jouhaux, who is a director of the Bank of France, and M. Bernard, secretary of the Railwaymen’s Union, who is a director of the national railways, are dismissed from these posts. M. Daladier has decided to summon Parliament on December 8, subject to the Finance Committee’s examination of the Budget being sufficiently advanced, consequently the Socialists may have to cancel their meeting on December 2.

FINANCIAL OUTLOOK CAPITAL FLOWING BACK TO FRANCE. PARIS, December 1. (Received December 2, at 2 p.ra.) M. Reynaud, in a speech at the American Club, dealt optimistically ‘ with the financial position, and stressed the fact-'that capital was flowing back to France.