STRIKE SPREADS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20618, 20 November 1941, Page 5

STRIKE SPREADS

AMERICAN COLLIERIES STEEL FIRMS AFFECTED ‘•WALK-OUTS” FEARED (Reed. Nov. 20, 11.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 19. President Roosevelt told the press that he had nothing to say about the coal strike except that he considered the argument advanced by Mr. John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers’ Association that failure to obtain a union shop contract with the captive mines would jeopardise the union shop agreements already concluded with the rest of the mines, was invalid. The Carnegie (Illinois) Steel Company announced in Pittsburgh that it expects that it will be forced to cease operations in six blast furnaces on Thursday due to lack of coal. Call to State Police

The strike is extending to commercial mines in Pennsylvania. The State police moved in to the Gary mine to preserve order following the shooting and wounding of two negro miners in a clash with pickets. The executive of the United Mine Smelter Workers’ Union, at Kirkland Lake, ordered 4300 gold miners to strike in the northern Ontario gold mining area as a result of the operators’ refusal to recognise the union as the sole collective bargaining agency. President Roosevelt, seeking to avert the threatened railway strike, invited leaders, both management and Labour and also Government executives to the White House for a-con-ference. The meeting adjourned without reaching conclusions.