FRENCHPREMIER APPEALS TO STRIKERS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 147, 6 June 1936, Page 5

FRENCHPREMIER APPEALS TO STRIKERS

Forty-Hour Week M. BLUM’S PROMISE Maintenance of Discipline Essential BOURSE OPTIMISTIC (By Telegraph—Press Amu.—Copyright.) (Received 6, 10.30 a.in.) PARIS, Juno 5. M. Blum, the new Socialist Premier, broadcasting, appealed to strikers and employers to end the industrial bickerings. He promised that the Government would immediately demand that Parliament pass the forty-hour week and other Bills dealing with industrial conditions. M. Blum asked the workers to submit to arbitration. Their claims must be dealt with by legal methods, he said. The maintenance of discipline was essential, M. Blum’s speech was the shortest •ver made by a French Premier. The Minister of Labour has issued a broadcast appeal to the strikers, stating that the Government’s programme would meet all the demands of the workers. A wave of optimism swept tho Bourse, based on hopes of a speedy settlement. Workers at Huntley Palmer’s McVitie Price factory rejected an oiler ef increased pay and twelve days’ an aual holiday. They demand double the employers’ concessions. British managers state: “It looks as though we shall have to remain in the factory for days yet. The strikers have turned off the refrigeration plant and food iu cold stores will thus go bad.” Only L’Action Francaise” and three left papers appeared this morning. Delivery was undertaken by volunteer labour. M. Blum’s paper, “Popnlaire”, claims that 5J strikes have been settled to the satisfaction of tho workers, but admits 354 new outbreaks. Tho threat to Paris food supplies, however, has been averted, lorry drivers having agreed to return to work. The central markets presented their usual appearance. Salesmen had to help to load the vans as labourers arc still out. Communists announced that plans had been drawn up to maintain essential food supplies if strikes elsewhere threaten to affect them. Chemists are tho latest recruits to the Paris strikers. They announced they will supply medicines and scrums on the production of an order from tho strike committees, which must be satisfied that they are urgently needed. Many social and sporting events, including races, were cancelled. The shortage of petrol has brought dozens of ramshackle horse cabs into the Streets. The “Manchester Guardian’s” Paris carrespondent says that tbo employers naturally condemn what is described as a revolutionary situation, and say they cannot negotiate while the rights of property and liberty aro flagrantly violated. “L’Action Francaise” describes tho strikers under the headline, •‘France under a Jew,” and prints a bitWr anti-semetic attack on M. Blum. The employers' organisation has sent a letter to M. Blum, urging that immediate steps should be taken to secure the evacuation of the works, as it is impossible to negotiate collective wage agreements while the premises are illegally occupied. If the strikers’ demands were fully conceded, they declare, prices and the cost of living would rise, aggravating the economic erims and the difficulties of export industries.