FRAUD ALLEGED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1941, Page 5

FRAUD ALLEGED

STRIKE VOTE IN UNITED STATES STATEMENT BY MR. KNUDSEN. l PROGRESS IN REARMAMENT PROGRAMME. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) NEW YORK, April 6. The production chief of the Defence Commission, Mr Knudsen, in an address, denounced labour stoppages. He said that major stoppages were purely for speeding up union organisalion in particular plants. Mr. Knudsen also said that it had been proved that the original vote on the strike issue in the Allis-Chalmers plant was fraudulent and that the strike was called without the consent of union members. Mr. Knudsen recommended that strike votes should be taken under the supervision of the Labour Department and that before a strike a cooling-off period should be mandatory. Summing up the progress in the rearmament programme, Mr. Knudsen said that of 784 defence factories, 60 per cent, had been completed. Powder and T.N.T. plants were entering upon production on schedule and small arms were ahead of schedule. Army and navy construction was “better than half behind us.” TENTATIVE SETTLEMENT MOTOR INDUSTRY DISPUTE. WASHINGTON, April 7. The Mediation Board announced that it had reached a tentative agreement for a settlement of the Allis-Chalmers dispute, subject to approval by the membership of the Auto Workers’ Union. HOLD=UP AVERTED EXTENSION OF NEGOTIATION PERIOD. (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) PITTSBURG. April 7. The United States Steel and Steel Workers’ Organising Committee and the C. 1.0. agreed today to a second extension of wage contract negotiations until April 15, thereby averting a strike of 250,000 employees, which previously had been threatened to begin on Tuesday at midnight. SEEING BOTH SIDES MRS ROOSEVELT ON STRIKE POSITION. FAIR CONSIDERATION ADVOCATED. (Received This Day. 10.10 a.m.) WASHINGTON, April 7. Mrs Roosevelt told a Press conference that she had received numerous letters from mothers of soldiers, sailors and trainees, demanding prohibition against strikes in defence industries. Her answer was that people shouldn’t make snap or one-sided judgments. Hope for Democracy was pretty slim if groups could not be found who were able to see both sides of a situation. When asked if she felt that strikes were caused by general antagonism to Labour, she replied: “I suppose there is a general feeling that defence must not be held up. The question is not one-sided and it must be cleared up so that defence production is not delayed. The question is: What is Labour's fair share of the increased income? This should be the subject of mediation, with the entire situation considered. It is not entirely true that all the corporation's defence profits will be paid out in taxes."