ALL CLOSING DOWN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1941, Page 5

ALL CLOSING DOWN

FORD ASSEMBLY PLANTS ON ACCOUNT OF PARALYSIS AT RIVER ROUGE. SABOTAGE CHARGES DENIED BY C. 1.0. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright' NEW YORK, April 5. Ford officials announced that the company’s 34 assembly branches and branch manufacturing plants will be shut down as a result of the paralysis al the River Rouge plant. This means that a total of 120.000 Ford .workers will be idle in Detroit and elsewhere.

The company has cancelled outstanding orders to suppliers, who normally do a business of 11,000,000 dollars a week with Ford.

Governor Van Wagoner said tonight that the progress of the negotiations has encouraged hopes of a settlement. Grave charges of sabotage of aeroplane tools and dies by strikers at River Rouge have been made by company officials, who assert that strikers forcibly seized the tool and die department and deliberately smashed tool and die parts that are vital to aircraft production, resulting in damage exceeding 100,000 dollars. The Congress of Industrial Organisations denies the charges and declares that the company is not really interested in defence work except for its use as a propaganda instrument against the strikers. It also asserted that the company has obstructed the union in its desire to carry on the defence projects at River Rouge while the strike is being mediated.