CONTROL OF U.S. LABOUR

Southland Times, Issue 24602, 26 November 1941, Page 5

CONTROL OF U.S. LABOUR

STOPPING STRIKES COMPULSORY ARBITRATION MAY BE PROVIDED (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, November 25. The United Press of America says President Roosevelt and House of Representatives leaders at a meeting at the White House reached a general understanding on the proposed labour legislation, including authority for the President to resolve disputes by compulsory arbitration if negotiations and conciliation fail. It is stated that the bill will be introduced next week. A general strike of 8500 American Federation of Labour machinists began at St. Louis today. It paralysed factories with millions of pounds worth of defence orders. Two isolationist senators, Senator Robert A. Taft (Republican, Ohio), son of a former President, and Senator Guy M. Gillette (Democrat, Iowa), have announced that they will in future support President Roosevelt’s foreign policy, provided it is taken within the ambit of congressional authority.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN DUTCH GUIANA (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, November 24. In announcing that an American Army contingent is being sent to Dutch Guiana (Surinam), a White House statement said the bauxite mines at Surinam furnish more than 60 per cent.

of the requirements of the United States aluminium industry, which is vital to the defence of the Western Hemisphere and the nations resisting aggression. It is, therefore, necessary that the safety of these mines should be as completely assured as the present conditions demand.

Normally the Netherlands Government would draw on the Netherlands East Indies forces to strengthen the defences of Dutch Guiana, but in view of the present situation in the southwestern Pacific it is not thought advisable to follow that course. As a result of consultations with the Netherlands it was agreed that an American Army contingent should go to Surinam to co-operate with the Netherlands forces.

Senator Tom Connally, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressing approval of the expedition, said: I think we shall have to take over Martinique and French Guiana also if Vichy continues to succumb to Nazi influence.”

The Dutch Prime Minister, Dr P. S. Gerbrandy, broadcasting to the Dutch people, said co-operation in Surinam was necessary because the insidious and treacherous tentacles of Hitler and his accessories reached out everywhere, specially in South America, to find weak spots. He added, the arrangement for American military co-operation in Surinam did not touch the absolute sovereignty of the Netherlands. Military co-operation would cease when there was no longer any danger.