STRIKE CONTINUES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1943, Page 3

STRIKE CONTINUES

IN AMERICAN COAL MINING INDUSTRY ALL PITS TAKEN OVER BY GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESIDENTIAL ORDER. WORKERS REITERATE DEMANDS. RUGBY, May 1. (British Official Wireless.) President Roosevelt has directed the Secretary for the Interior, Mr Ickes, to take immediate possession of all coal mines where strikes are in progress or threatened, provide protection for all employees resuming work and use the army to provide protection. Mr Ickes, in his capacity as Solid Fuels Administrator, takes over the mines immediately and makes employment available as well as governing the sale and distribution of coal. President Roosevelt appealed to the miners to return immediately, saying the national interest was in grave peril because, except in a few mines, production of coal had virtually ceased. He again urged the United Mine Workers to place their wage demand before the War Labour Board, and promised a I prompt and fair decision. Production of coal must and would continue. The stoppage was a direct interference with the prosecution of the war. An earlier message said that President Roosevelt’s order had not stopped the strike. The men have told the President that they want to work, but that they want their wage claims settled by collective bargaining and not by the War Labour Board, which they declare is not properly organised to judge their case, and therefore cannot give them a fair deal. 515,000 MEN OUT CONSERVATION OF COAL SUPPLIES. (By Telegraph—-Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, May 2. President Roosevelt’s ultimatum to the miners expired with the workers following the instruction of the president of the United Mine Workers (Mr J. L. Lewis), “not to trespass” on mine property. The United Mine Workers’ Association spokesman estimated that 515,000 miners are striking, and another 15,000 westward of the Mississippi are operating temporarily under a five-day notification clause in their agreement. The newspapers point out that the dispute has finally crystalised into a personal struggle between President Roosevelt and Mr Lewis. President Roosevelt’s executive order taking over the mines was issued 85 minutes after the expiry of his ultimatum to the United Mine Workers’ Association. Mr Roosevelt assured the strikers that an investigation of living costs was going on, and that the Government would insist on prices being held at limits fixed by his recent executive order, and violations prosecuted. He added that whenever- the miners submitted their case to the War LabourBoard, it would be determined promptly and fairly, and any adjustment of wages would be retrospective. Mr Ickes has instructed the pits taken over to fly the Stars and Stripes “as an indication that they are working exclusively for Uncle Sam.” Mr Ickes ordered the elimination of all unessential railroad travel for the duration of the strike; also a 25 per cent reduction in the passenger train mileage in order to conserve available coal stocks. Immediate repercussions in the Capitol indicated that Congressmen, except a few, support Mr Roosevelt in the controversy. NEW DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY OF INTERIORVISITED BY MINERS’ LEADERS. LONDON, May 2. There is a new development in the United States coal crisis. The president of the United Mine Workers, Mr John L. Lewis, has been to see the Secretary of the Interior (Mr Ickes) at Washington. Three other miners’ leaders were associated with Mr Lewis. The meeting lasted more than two hours and the leaders are now on their way to New York, where they will meet the policy committee. The mines are to be reopened by the Government tomorrow. President Roosevelt is to broadcast a message to ■ the miners.