TROOPS START MOVING FOOD

Chronicle (Levin), 14 January 1947, Page 5

TROOPS START MOVING FOOD

Press Assn.-

LONDON STRIKE SPREADS FOLIOWING USE OF . - SERVICE IABOUR

By Telegraph

■Copyrignt

Received Tuesday, J0.30 a.m. LONDON, January 13. Troops and army lorries, escorted by motor-cycle out-' riders, invaded Smithfield Market this nwwrning to begin the distribution. of foodstuff held up by the eg.rriers' strike.

Tliree thousand workers in thef Covent Garden Market stopped j work immediately they learnsd that ' the troops had moved into Smith- j field. Covent Garden is now clo.sed. ; The military authorities said a : brinade of the Coldstream Guards } had taken over Smithfield, with 3G0 or 400 vehicles and 1000 troops act- 1 ing as loaders. All operations arei being directed from a room at . Smithfield, but it is stated that ; evcrything is going according to plufi. j Ail sections of the Smithfield j Markm workers held a mass meet- i jng and issued a statement declar- j Ing that it was impossible for them • to remain at work while "blacklegs i in mnform are doing the work ofj tlw .slriking lorry drivers." The ^ ;st;a«*mmit added that they would not rt-turn to work until all the : tro; ){).-. were withdrawn. j Bt-iurt* the meeting a trades union oivnniser addressed the men. He; saici t he troops were only doing i tlif ir ,iob and admonished the men ••to m have and not congregate." j Mt.re than 500 salesmen and clerk.s are co-operating with the 1 troops. i The strike of 200 lorry drivers in ! Bristol yesterday has spread{ invoiving nearly another 800. A Smithfield Market official said the troops shifted, in addition to 600 tms of meat, 15,000 cases of corned b'-ef in just over four hours. Reuter's political correspondent says that the Ministers whose de'partments are affected by the strike attended a Cabinet meeting tudav.

All leave has been stopped for the City of London police. The men on strike on the Merseyside have decided to remain out at least until Tuesday. The Transport and General Workers' Union executive will meet to consider the reaction of the strikers to the address from the secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union (Mr. Arthur Deakin) . Only the strike delegates were to attend the meeting, but hundreds of men turned up and with cheers and shouts endorsed the delegates' refusal of Mr. Deakin's proposal that work should be resumed. The Times, discussing the possible spread of the strike, says that the provinces are at present waiting a lead from London. The transport workers at Bristol, Cambridge and Melksham in Wiltshire have joined the strike. Other places involved are Oxford, Ipswich, Liverpool, Leeds, Norwich and Southampton. Reuter reports and newspaper comments show London anxiety that sympathetic action by members of other unions may lead to widespread stoppages. Londoners saw military preparations for moving food. One convoy of 100 Navy vehicles entered London from the south. On Clapham Common, where the crews established their headquarters with kitchens and sleeping quarters, Army transport jfficers worked out a plan for traffic operation in the market areas.