LABOUR DISPUTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 March 1941, Page 9

LABOUR DISPUTES

IN THE UNITED STATES MR. STIMSON’S WARNING. AGAINST FIFTH COLUMN ACTIVITY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, March 27. Workers under the Congress ol Industrial Organisations at Milwaukee have agreed to consider an appeal from the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company to resume work immediately. The union has called a mass meeting for 6.30 a.m. tomorrow Seventy maintenance men entered the plant to prepare for resumption oi work. The Secretary of the Navy, Colone. Knox, and the Co-Director of the Office of Production, Mr. Knudsen , sent a telegram to the president of the Allis-Chalmers Company stating: “Notify your entire force to report for work, and start operations immediately. Public interests demands that the national defence programme be not handicapped by unnecessary strikes.” The Allis-Chalmers strike concerns 7500 employees and has been in progress for 10 weeks. The company has 40,000,000 dollars’ worth of defence! orders. A Pittsburg messags states that the United States Steel Corporation and the C. 1.0. Steelworkers’ Organising Committee, have agreed to extend by one week the deadline for a new agreement, thus avoiding the suspension of steel production on April 1 Contracts affecting 261,000 employee; expire on March 31. The men made nine demands, including improved wages and conditions. The Secretary for War, Mr. Stimson, today urged the States to speed up the formation of Home Guard units, which would be available for use in the event of serious labour disturbances or any other civil condition that might retard the defence programme.

Mr. Stimson said: “One possibility which we have to confront is 'Fifth Column' activity by outside sources which have gained world-wide recognition and may be our potential enemies." The army is considering mass formation flights over defence plants in which there are strikes to "attract public attention and also to show the strikers what they are delaying." The idea was successfully tried earlier during Californian aircraft strikes. The Bethlehem Steel Workers' Organising Committee announced that the company had agreed to meet their representatives tomorrow in an effort to settle the dispute.