GIVE & TAKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 April 1941, Page 5

GIVE & TAKE

NEEDED IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S HOPE. FURTHER CLASHES REPORTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 1. President Roosevelt indicated to the Press his hope that Labour and Capital will compose their differences in a healthy atmosphere of give and take without slowing down arms production. He said the Administration would not sponsor any new labour . programme till the existing machinery for mediation was given a fair trial. Mr. Vinson, chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, has introduced a Bill authorising the Government to take over industrial plants engaged on defence work if a production breakdown occurs oi- threatens. He said he was acting on his own responsibility though it it suggested in some quarters that the Bill has Administration support. It is understood, however, that the President will discourage it, at least for the present. In Milwaukee a police armoured car again went into action against strikers outside the Allis Chalmers plant. Fifteen hundred pickets were dispersed by gas bombs and pressure hoses. In Harlan (Kentucky) bloodshed occurred in a mine strike when a union miner was shot and critically wounded in “Bloddy Harlan County, which does not observe' the April 1 holiday. The victim was endeavouring to enter an open-shop mine. Union members are picketing eight pitheads. The Labour Department said that approximately one million man-days of idleness were involved in 240 strikes in February, in which 20 more strikes were listed than in January, but the workers involved numbered 60,000 compared with 65,000 in January. SIT=DOWN STRIKE AT FORD COMPANY PLANT; NEW YORK, April 2. A sit-down strike by members of the United Automobile Workers, which is affiliated to the Congress of Industrial Organisations, has paralysed production in the Ford Company’s huge River Rouge plant. Local police have been rushed to the scene, but so far there has been no violence. The number of men on strike was stated to be 10,000, but a Ford Company spokesman said only 5000 workers were sitting down, the remainder having gone home. Mr. Michael F. Widman, director ol the C. 1.0. drive against Ford’s, said the cessation of operations was the result of “deliberate efforts by the company to bring about a showdown with the C. 1.0. before the issue could be decided by peaceful procedure under the National Relations Board. The company dismissed men who were acting with the recognition of the company as the men’s spokesmen. We require the reinstatement of these four men.” . The Governor sent a speoal mediation commission to attempt a settlement. „„ , „ Ford’s plants hold 154,000,000 dollars worth of defence orders. In Milwaukee the Governor. Mr. Julius Heil, advised President Roosevelt of the shutting down of the Allis Chalmers plant to avoid bloodshed and possible loss of life. At the same time he requested the presence of Federal troops. At least 25 men were injured, two seriously, in a melee which lasted an hour.