Strike Epidemic Continues To Spread

Northern Advocate, 8 June 1936, Page 5

Strike Epidemic Continues To Spread

Million Workers Estimated Idle

Trouble Is Sweeping The Country t United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph. — Copyngnt.} (Received 10 a.m.) PARIS, June 6. M. Blum was announcing: his “new deal,” the strike epidemic was spreading in France to additional industries. Although 107 disputes have been settled, it is estimated that 1,000,000 people are idle. Forty factories are closed at Roubaix. The most serious development today was the decision of the miners of the Nord and the Pas de Calais to strike on Monday. The railwaymen in the Lenz district have struck, rendering thousands of miners and steel workers idle. The canals are affected, and traffic is at a standstill, barges being moored in the fairways. The employees of the Wagon Lits Company came out, thus depriving the railways of restaurant cars and sleeping cars.

Fears of Food Shortage. Locksmiths, carpenters, upholsterers, tanners, cement makers, wine bottlers and printers have struck in numerous towns and additional textile workers have struck at Roubaix, Lille and surrounding towns. The movement has spread to Paris, where 20,000 clothiers in cheap garment factories came out, but fashionable firms are not affected. The drivers of flour lorries have struck in Paris, thus reviving fears of a food hortage and causing a rush to scantily stocked shops. The gas workers at Versailles have ceased work, leaving the town practically without light. Parisians had difficulty in finding amusement at the week-end. The shortage of petrol stopped motoring. The , theatres and cinemas were opened, but threatened, and many sporting fixtures were cancelled. A pageant entitled “France at Work” was to have been held tomor-' row, but has been postponed. Strikers attacked the offices of the Paris newspaper, “Le Soir,” and destroyed formes and type. Others tore up editions of “L’lnstransigeant” and burned the papers in the streets. Slowness of Legislation.

There is speculation as to whether M. Blum’s new measures will improve the situation, as the workers are aware of the slowness of legislation. Even if it is speeded tip by the Chamber it must pass the committees and the Senate; Therefore, there is no prospect of an immediate fulfilment of M. Blum’s promises.. On the contrary, the strike has proved that direct action against the employers is more profitable. M. Blum and members of the Cabinet discussed the possibility of speeding legislation and aiding the strikers’ families and dependents. M. Jouhoux, secretary of the Confederation of Labour, .. informed M. Salengro, Minister of the Interior, that organised labour would resume work on Monday. It was uncertain, however, whether non-unionists would follow that lead. Demands Obtained. Three thousand market workers in Paris are returning after obtaining all their demands. At Marseilles the dockers wbo were unloading the French vessel Capcorse, struck and “occupied” both the ship and the warehouses at the docks. The Government is supplying Paris bakeries with fuel oil for their ovens and with petrol to ensure delivery. The meat supplies are satisfactory, owing to the return to work of the Villete Vaugirad slaughtermen. Milk now is abundant.

The miners at Denain are holding up motorists and demanding monetary support under penalty of punctured tyres.