SERIOUS STRIKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24133, 27 November 1941, Page 10

SERIOUS STRIKE

AMERICAN MACHINISTS

LABOUR LEGISLATION POWERS OF COMPULSION Becd. 8.15 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 The labour relations expert of the Dffice of Production Management, Jr. Joseph Keenan. asserted that he strike at St. Louis of 8500 nachinists was "the most important md most serious labour tie-up hroughout the country." Mr. Keenan flew to St. Louis from iVashingtoii in an etlort to settle the lispute, which has shut down one air•raft factory, curtailed production at ;he Curtiss-Wright aircraft factory and paralysed *IOO other industrial plants. Railroad Dispute President .Roosevelt announced that ;he railroad dispute, in which a strike las been called to begin on December 7, las been referred back to the Emergency Fact Finding Board, which has leeu asked to report by December 1. Flie board previously recommended compromise increases in pay, which the uanagement accepted but the brotherloods rejected. A series of conferences between the management and union representatives ias since been held, including several it White House. The Labour Committee of the House Representatives has directed a member, Mr. It. Eamspeck, to prepare a bill embodying the principles of labour legislation agreed upon at the White House conference. The bill will provide for the following:— Four Steps Outlined (1) Negotiation between management and employees. (2) Conciliation bv the Labour Department. (3) Mediation by a'statutory board empowered to ban strikes for a reasonable period during mediation. (4) Compulsory arbitration in disputes not settled by the foregoing, or, if the President directs, in the interests of defence. Mr. Ramspeck said that when a strike or other labour stoppage threatened in a defence plant the dispute would go through the successive steps of normal, collective bargaining, conciliation and mediation, and, finally, at the President's v discretion, compulsory arbitration. Therefore, both sides were bound in advance to accept the Arbitration Board's decision. If the workers refused they would lose their rights under the Wagner Act, virtually depriving them of their collective bargaining rights and rendering their union ineffective. If an employer were recalcitrant the Government could tal.e over his plant. ATLANTIC CONVOYS CLOSER CO-OPERATION BRITISH AND AMERICAN NAVIES LONDON, Nov. 20 Naval circles are quoted by the Exchange Telegraph's correspondent in Washington as saying that the North Atlantic convoy system is shortly to be reorganised. There 'will be greater co-operation between the British and American navies. It is likely that they will jointly escort convoys all the way across the Atlantic. At present American warships are escorting merchant ships only part of the way. The first United States merchant ship to be armed under the Neutrality Act amendment will probably be ready in a few days, states the same correspondent. 1 AXIS PACT RENEWED CEREMONY IN BERLIN FURTHER FIVE-YEAR PERIOD (Reed. 5.50 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 25 The German news agency announced that Ribbentrop presided on behalf of Hitler when the anti-Comintern Pact was formally extended for a further five years. Representatives of Italy, Japan, Spain, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Croatia, Rumania and Slovakia announced adherence to the pact. Ribbentrop read a telegram from the "Chinese National Government" pledging adherence to the pact. The Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Hosima, in a speech after the ceremony, said that the new order in the Far East would have to be reconstructed in the spirit of the anti-Comintern Pact. The German news agency says the Danish Foreign Office claims that Denmark's adherence to the pact does not affect her position as a non-belligerent. AIDING THE GERMANS CRITICISM OF FINLAND WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 Mr. H. L. Stimson, Secretary for War, said to-day that Finnish troops were being used by the Germans to help to close the Murmansk-Moscow supply line. The deputy administrator of the Lease-or-Lend" Act, Major-General Burns, who recently returned from Russia, said the Finns were offering Germany great assistance by obstructing lease-or-lend material to Russia. Both Mr. Stimson and Major-General Burns said the Finnish position should be altered.