BIG MARITIME STRIKE IN WESTERN U.S.A. WILL TIE UP 550 SHIPS

Grey River Argus, 3 September 1948, Page 4

BIG MARITIME STRIKE IN WESTERN U.S.A. WILL TIE UP 550 SHIPS

Six Unions Involved (Rec 10.35) WASHINGTON, Sept 1. A tie-up of the shipping on the West Coast of the United States-, tomorrow morning has become a certainty tonight, when the chief of the C. 1.0. Longshoremen’s Union, Mr Harry Bridges, announced that negotiations for the settlement of the dispute had collapsed. The dispute is -one concerning wages, Sunday work and hiring of halls. The unions have been prevented from striking for the last eight days by a Court restraining order winch nad been issued unaer the Taft-Hartley Law. But the time limit of this order expires tomorrow. Some of the seamen walked out at midnight tonight. The walk-out is one which affects six unions. It will result in a tie-up up some 550 ships, 375 of which are carrrying the American flag. This will cause a loss in wages of about 10,000,000 dollars per month. The unions thta are scheduled to walk out are those of Longshoremen, Seamen, Firemen, Radio Operators, and Cooks and Stewards. It is feared that the supply lines to the Pacific mandate islands, Japan. Hawaii, and Alaska will be virtually paralysed. (Rec. 10.30 SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2 In lieu of the shipping tie-up, the National Labour Relations Board in Washington has indicated that it is sending a representative to San Francisco to ask the Federal Court to extend the restraining order.