INDUSTRIAL UNREST

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 41, 4 March 1937, Page 7

INDUSTRIAL UNREST

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Steel Unions Receive Their First Award M0RE MOTGR STRIKEs

(B# Telegsa»h—

P1TT0BUKC, March 3. Oarnegio (Illinois) hav© signed the, agreement with the uuion granting. recognition and a wage increase aud a forty-hour week besides other demands^ thus ending the possibillty of a generai' eteel strike in the spring which wa® previously freely predicted. The agreement is the first with aa i&dependent trade uuion in the history of the United States Steel Corporation. The news was received with rejoicing in WaShington by the Seeretary of! L&bour, Miss Prances Perkins, and Mr* Edison (Naval Seeretary). The latter announced that he would! immediately readvertise for bids fori 25,000,000 pounds of steel which is urgently needed for naval construction. He indicated that ofllcials feel that a' settlement of the steel troubleB is particularly timely dne to the announeement that Britain would have 25 capital ships in 1942 and it was the recognisedi XJnited States policy to keep paea withthe leader. United States Steel has been one of the bitterest foes of organised labour and the eonference resnlted in an. agreement for the first time in the past! fifty years.' The corporation was evenl willing to discuss negotiation with the unions, therefore the G.I.O. victory isi hailed by union leaders and the Administiratiou at Whshiugton as the forerunner of a widespread acceptance of the Walah-He&Iey Act, A minimum labour standard in other large Industries ie now believed probable. Some quarters consider President Boosevelt is ' delaying the presentation of his labour legislation programme in the hope that other industries will follow the lead of the steel and motor industries in Ontefing wage and hour agreements through bargaining. Meanwhile five new strikes have. begun at Detroit bringing the total to nine. The Motor Product Company and the Murray Gorporation which manufacture bodles and parts for motors have been been closed through a strike of 7000 employees. The Zenith Car- 1 j burfittor Company has also been closed ! I througb a strike of 750 workera. Two iargo ic&taurants have closed through a sit-down strike of waitresaes: nnd kiteheu oirtployecs. The strikes continuc iu two other mdustrial plants and two. Woolworthj j s torOa, j j '' I