NEW STRIKE THREAT

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 May 1946, Page 7

NEW STRIKE THREAT

HARD-COAL MINERS IN UNITED STATES 76,000 MAY BE INVOLVED IVASHINGTON, May 30. Although the soft coal mine strike has been settled, a new strike in the United States coal mining industry is threatened. The United Mineworkers’ Association has notified the Anthracite Operators’ Union that it will not agree to an extension of the present contract which ends at midnight on May- 30. Therefore, a stoppage of work by 76,000 hard coal miners will be called.

The soft coal mine strike, which lasted for GO days, has been settled by the signing of a new contract between the Secretary of the Interior (Mr. J. A. Krug) and the president of the United Mineworkers’ Association (Mr. John L. Lewis). The contract is temporary, and is valid as long as the Government continues to operate the mines. The soft coal miners began to return to work to-day, but it is not expected that the mines will be in full production until Monday. The strike is estimated to have caused a loss of 89,400,000 tons of coal. The terms’ on which the strike was settled'included: (1) a wage increase of 18! cents an hour, which, with overtime, totals 185 cents a day. (2) A welfare retirement fund financed by a royalty of five cents on every ton of coal produced, which unofficially is estimated as yielding 23,000,000 to 30,000,000 dollars a year and also a medical and hospital fund financed by deductions now made from miners’ pay, and to be administered by trustees appointed by the president of the United Mineworkers’ Association (Mr. John L. Lewis). (3) Overtime payments after seven hours’ work daily (miners at present are on a 54-hour week). (4) A Federal mine safety code to be issued by the Director of the Bureau of Mines. (5) The establishment of proper standards of hospital, medical, sanitary, and housing conditions in coalmining areas. , Answering criticism of his labour policy Mr. Truman said he would continue to fight for the rights of the j individual. “We have just come through the greatest struggle in history to preserve the rights of the individual,” he added.