Strike Three

Said an editorial in the Middle East edition (Cairo) of the U.S. Army paper Stars & Stripes:

"A soldier in the Middle East drew a cartoon for the Stars & Stripes. We will tell you what the cartoon portrayed. John L. Lewis, in miner's dress, was throwing dirt with a coal shovel upon the freshly marked grave of some kid in North Africa. . . . God knows it expressed the attitude of the overwhelming majority of soldiers in this and any other theater. . . .

"We believe the activities of John L. Lewis have entered the realm of treason. Nor is John Lewis a traitor to his Government alone. He has betrayed by his excesses the cause of union labor. . . . He has betrayed the spirit of democracy. . . . He has betrayed the belief of the American soldier that this would be a war in which individuals' interests would be sublimated to the common purpose.

"Speaking for the American soldier: John L. Lewis, damn your coal-black soul."

U.S. civilians were at no less a fever pitch than U.S. soldiers. Coal Strikes I & II had already cost the country ten million tons of coal production; they had meant the loss of 16,000 tons of pig iron and 20,000 tons of steel IL the western Pennsylvania steel district alone. That iron, thought the citizens, would have killed a lot of Japs and Germans.

Now came Strike III. With it came the daily loss of two million more tons of coal for the steel mills, the plane factories, the arms plants. The effects:

>Republic Steel Corp. announced that its Alabama coke production would be cut 50%.

>At the Pittsburgh plant of Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp. workmen banked the huge beehive coke ovens; coke production would be cut by 75% in a few days.

Custodian Ickes. The nation, lathered into a rage, waited, not very patiently, for action from Washington. Bluff Harold Ickes, Solid Fuels Coordinator, custodian of all the mines, now John Lewis' last hope, stuck to his desk, plotting his course. His orders were to get coal mined, and he didn't much care how. On Franklin Roosevelt's desk still lay the Connally-Smith-Harness anti-strike bill (he had until June 25 to act on it).

Tension climbed like the U.S. thermometers. The U.S. watched Mr. Ickes and Mr. Roosevelt.

Lewis Objectives. Behind the outbreak of Strike III were 107 days of turmoil, negotiations, bickering and dickerings. When John Lewis began his war of nerves on the U.S. people and the U.S. Government he had two objectives in mind: 1) to get a raise for his miners--$2 a day if possible; 2) to blast the War Labor Board to smithereens.

WLB's Answer. John Lewis' opening gun had been a plea: his miners were hungry. Midway in the battle he shifted tactics, demanded the raise on the basis of "portal-to-portal" pay, i.e., money for time spent going to & from work.

Last week WLB struck hard at John Lewis' picture of starving miners:

>Once the most exploited workers (1933 weekly average: $14), miners are now among the best-paid laborers in the U.S. Their minimum wage is 73.6-c- an hour; an able-bodied miner gets 85.7-c-.

>Since Jan. 1, 1941, miners had received an 18.2-c- increase in straight-time hourly earnings; their average weekly take-home pay in March 1943 was $42.97 for a work-week of 38 hours, an increase of 65% over January 1941.

>If the present 38-hour week continues through this year, the miner's average annual income will be $2,150 -- 23% greater than 1942, 77% greater than 1940.

WLB concluded: the miners do not get a substandard wage.

Forthwith WLB turned down any wage rise for the miners, curtly told John Lewis that the portal-to-portal issue must be settled through a lawsuit.

In his battle against WLB, John Lewis has used a double-barreled barrage: insult the board (especially Chairman William H. Davis); ignore its decisions.

Congress' Answer. The anti-strike bill would give WLB legal status and the authority to subpoena witnesses. It would also crunch labor generally, in a manner inconceivable a few months ago. All last week the pressure on the President was terrific. Many New Deal advisers and most of Capitol Hill, out to crack down John Lewis once & for all, urged him to sign the bill. Labor, furious at being penalized for Lewis' tactics, ganged up solidly against it. The bill itself was a poor one, but it was a potent club to hold over John Lewis.

Federalization? Twelve hours before Strike Ill's deadline. John Lewis had broken off all negotiations with the mine operators. The operators made the break final with the flat, decisive statement: "No possibility of agreement exists." John Lewis had won neither of his objectives.

Again he shifted tactics. He denounced WLB and the mine operators for the umpteenth time, announced, with an appropriate patriotic flourish, that his miners would be glad to work for the Government. But he did not keep his miners at work.

John Lewis well knew that the last thing the mine operators want is actual Government operation of the mines. Having failed in his first two objectives, he would settle for federalization of the mines. This week he began conferences with Harold Ickes. Best guess: the miners would return to work without a contract (Harold Ickes can be tough, too), leave to the courts the question of a pay rise via portal-to-portal pay.

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