RIGHT TO WORK

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 June 1937, Page 7

RIGHT TO WORK

U.S.A. STEEL CO.’s STAND

STRIKE COMMITTEE’S WARNING [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] MONTREAL, June 21. Mr T. M. Girdler, chairman of directors of .the Republic Steel Corporation, said to-day: “Republic Steel cannot and will not enter into any contract, oral oi’ written, with the Committee for Industrial Organisation. “During the last few years a great deal has been said about the right of collective bargaining and the right to strike. Is there not an equal right in this country for free American citizens who want to work to do so unmolested? The right to strike is undeniable, but it is another thing to have plants and employees picketed by men armed with clubs and guns who, by show of force, keep plants from operating.” The strike committee at Youngstown has telegraphed Mr Roosevelt asking him to prevent the reopening of the mills “to avoid in time the most horrible thing that may be let loose Within the next 24 hours., Any at- . tempt to reopen the gates will auto- . matically bring terrific violence and bloodshed.’’

A message from Cleveland (Ohio) says the Committee for Industrial Organisation has matched Mr Girdler’s statement by announcing that it will not accept any settlement less than a written agreement.

The Federal Mediation Board’s first efforts, it is considered, have resulted in a complete collapse. The situation is further complicated by the issue of an injunction by the Ohio State Court limiting pickets to a dozen men at the two Republic Steel plants at Warren and Niles (Ohio), and forbidding arming and interference in any manner with the operation of the mills.

A message from Columbus (Ohio) says the Governor (Mr Marton L. Davey) ordered troops into the Mahoning Valley, where they will arrive at daybreak to-morrow. He stipulated that the steel plants now operating must continue to do so? Those closed must remain closed.

Mr Roosevelt, according to a Washington message, telegraphed the directors of the Republic Steel Corporation and the Youngstown Sheet Tube Company asking them not to open their Youn’gstown plants. The companies, replying to Mr Roosevelt, asserted that it • was too late to cancel the reopening of the plants. They contended that the responsibility for the protection of the men reporting for work rested with Mr Davey.

“SIT-DOWN” ILLEGAL.

PHILADELPHIA, June 21.

The first ruling by a Federal Court on the “sit-down” strike has been issued by the Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court declares the “sit-down’’ strike illegal, gnd orders' the strikers to vacate a hosiery mill seized by them. The seizure has now been declared a criminal action, and the union is held to have violated the Sherman Act on the ground that it restrained inter-State commerce.

FEDERAL GOVT. EMPLOYEES.

WASHINGTON, June 21.

The leader of the Committee for Industrial Organisation (Mr John L. Lewis) has announced plans to organise 800,000 Federal Government employees into a single union to be called the United Federal Workers’ Union of America. The first recruits are 15 dissenting local members of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Labour.

RE-OPENING CANCELLED

(Recd. June 23, 8 a.m.). NEW YORK, June 22.

Shortly before 7 a.m., police and non-union leaders began notifying the non-strikers, who were already assembling, that the re-opening of the two plants had been cancelled, due to Mr. Davey’s intervention, although the companies had not made an announcement regarding the sudden change in the plans. Their representatives admitted that the companies sanctioned the notification.