Industrial Strife

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 72, 12 April 1937, Page 7

Industrial Strife

-Preii Aiib

UNIONS IN CONFLIC? . i ■ ■■ Mr Ford Refuses To . Negotiate EMPLOYERS' QUANDARY

(By Telearaph-

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(Received 12, 8.45 a.m.) PITTSBURG, April 11. The American Federation of Labwur has abandoned thd traditional craft unionism and adopted the CQmmittee/ of [ndnstrial Organisation's industrial union plan. In an open battlq against the latter body's electrical union, tha Federation has tarted an intenteive drive to enroll all employees, ineluding elerical, in the Westinghouse and two other electrical companies. The Committee of Industrial Organistiaon retaliated with a statement giving the Westinghouse Corporation a week to sign a contract to Teplace the oral agreement reached several weeks ago. ; t Mr. Henry Ford has issued anothor statement saying that labour unions are the worst thlng that ever struck this earth and promised his company would soon demonstrate wages, production and competition such as had never been seen before. Ho reiterated he wo.uld never recognise the American Workers' Union ot any other union for collective bargaining. He declined to confirm xumours that he intends to increase' the. minimum wago to ten dollars a day, which would exceed the union rates. „ The C.I.O. in New York announees that it has begun a campaign to organise 270,000 employees of the American Telephone and Telegraph^ Company, the nation 's largest corporation. A vein of whimtey ran through the New Jersey strike situation when the estranged wife of an industrialist joined a picket line of his employees, f . . ^ .

•carrying a banner reading "Unfair to Workers." It is reported that her 'divorce suit has just been filed charging that her husband lived extravagantly and asking 1000 dollars a week alimony. She induced the workers to • demand a higher wage. The grave-diggers ' strike was settled. When it appeared that the cemetery superintendent would lose his job, the diggers xeturned to work without a wage increase. At Columbus (Ohio) deputy sheriffs armed with clubs ejected 75 men and women after a two-day sit-down strike in • the office of the Governor, Mr. Davey. They demanded a 50,000, 000-dollar relief appropriation. Five were gaoled. Two suffering from cuts on the head are in hospital. The conferences to settle the Oshawa strike collapsed. Mr. M. Hephurn, Premier of Ontario, refused to" deai with a delegation ineluding Mr. Thompson, of the American Workers' Union, "or any other paid foreign C.I.O. agitator." Mr. Martin arrived for the union consultations and Mr. Hepburn declared he was similarly unacceptable and insisted that General Motors had made '•concessions which would fassure the settlement of the strike "except for John Lewis and his paad organisers. " Pickets permitted the penetrafion of the lines to parts of the factory. It is reported that General Motors are prepared to recognise the A.W.U., but not as an affiliate of the C.I.O. The General Motors plant at Gshawa has decided tb resume partial operations to-morrow. k Mr Hepburn reiterated that he would afford protection, but said ,.he was hopeful a settlement would be reached to-morrow night. The leaders. of tho committee of industrial organisation condemn Mr. Hepburn 's partiality. They said his utterances were provocative and the responsibility for anything which happens rests with him.