Rail strike still looms as threat
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Government mediators met separately Tuesday with union and management negotiators but reported no progress toward the long-sought voluntary contract agreement that would cancel the threat of a nationwide rail shutdown next week.
Assistant Labor Secretary William J. Usery and his aides talked in closed sessions first
with representatives of the four shopcraft unions involved in the dispute and then with John P. Hiltz Jr., head of the railroad negotiating team.
A Labor Department official conceded that "the picture is not good."
Separate talks recessed late Tuesday afternoon with no progress reported. They were set to
resume today, but no time was scheduled.
William W. Winpisinger, chief union negotiator, said he could not report "any measurable progress" in union talks with Usery. He said he expected to return to joint bargaining, but "the point now is to come up with a germaine idea to make joint talks useful."
The major obstacle blocking
The International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) said returns from 16 of its 77 locals including Louisville, Ky.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Pitfield, Mass., and Fort Wayne, Ind., were 28,762 in favor of the contract and 4,956 against. The IUE represents 90,000 GE workers nationwide.
NEW VORK (UPI)—Early returns Tuesday from rank-and-file balloting on the tentative settlement in the 100-day-old General Electric strike indicated that the new contract will be accepted despite pockets of strong opposition.
Returns indicate settlement near in nationwide GE strike
The biggest setback in IUE voting came when members of Local 301 in Schenectady turned down the pact by a 4 to 1 margin on a show of hands. The local
represents about half the 25,000 member work force at GE's oldest and largest plant.
Results of the balloting by members of the United Electrical Workers (UE), which represents 20,000 GE workers, were slower in coming in, but several of the smaller locals among the UE's 28 GE locals had approved the pact by mid-afternoon.
Jury seeks reporter's information
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI)—A federal grand jury has served a New York Times correspondent with a subpoena demanding that he furnish the material he has gathered since Jan. 1 concerning Black Panthers.
DANISH CRACKDOWN
day to ratify or turn down what AFL-CIO President George Meany hailed as a "great collective bargaining victory."
THE HAGUE (UPI)—Applications by Dutch married couples for adoption of a child totaled 1,263 in 1968, compared with 796 in 1967. The Ministry of Justice said one reason for the rise was a change in an adoption rule. The courts last year managed to deal with 923 applications, of which 898 were granted.
"We're very optimistic," an IUE spokesman said. "We have every reason to feel that before the day is out we'll pass the majority point."
$3.60 to $4.28 an hour over two years.
Caldwell, who is based in San Francisco, said Tuesday he was served with a subpoena, dated Jan. 30, by a deputy U.S. marshal.
The Times correspondent, Earl Caldwell, a Negro, has developed extensive sources of information in the course of reporting numerous stories about activities of black militants.
The demand was similar to those made upon CBS television officials last month. They also were asked to make available information concerning the Panthers, including an interview with exiled Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver last month.
Hillard is accused in a federal indictment of threatening the life of the President during a speech at a Nov. 15 moratorium rally. He told an audience of nearly 100,000 in Golden Gate Park, "We will kill Richard Nixon."
The document demanded that Caldwell bring to a grand jury session Wednesday "notes and tape recordings of interviews, covering the period from Jan. 1, 1969, to date" concerning aims and activities of the Black Panther Party.
But he added, "The Times intends to use all its resources to make sure that no judicial action violates the constitutional guarantee of free press and the rights of newspapermen to carry on their work freely without coercion."
Caldwell was specifically asked for material obtained in interviews with Raymond "Masai" Hewitt, the Panther minister of education, and David Hilliard, the party chief of staff.
"All citizens, including newspaperm, have a duty to respect proper judicial process," Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, publisher of the Times said in New York.
The apparent failure to make any headway so far raised anew the prospect of government intervention, particularly because Congress is scheduled to begin its annual Lincoln Day recess on Feb. 10. That is the expiration date for two federal court orders currently forbidding any strike action and carrier retaliation in the form of a lockout that would paralyze U.S. rail service.
The locals had until 1 p.m. to-
Feb. 4
1970 KANSAN 15
agreement is a proposed change in work rules so that members of one union could do jobs normally performed by members of another in small craft shops. A tentative settlement including a provision changing the work rules was reached last December and ratified by three unions—the Machinists, the Electrical Workers and the Boilermakers. But the fourth union, the Sheet Metal Workers, rejected it out of fear the change would leave some of its members without jobs.
NEW GRILLE IN TOWN:
If the Nixon administration does not propose legislation before Congress recesses and if there is no extension of the present temporary restraining orders or issuance of a preliminary injunction, the unions would be free to strike and the nation might be thrust into a transportation crisis.
The Captain's Table is proud of its grille menu. Ace is creating a variety of hamburgers, steaks,and sandwiches for you.
The labor negotiators agreed at the start of bargaining that they would not approve any contract that is not acceptable to all four unions. The railroad negotiators insist that any agreement without a change in work rules will force them to reduce their offer of an 18 per cent pay hike from
Grand Funk! The Grand Funk Railroad!
Their second fantastic album. Includes Mr. Limousine Driver; Please Don't Worry; Got This Thing On The Move; and more.
reg. $4.98
$399
KIEF'S
Records & Stereo
M- 'Is Shopping Ctr.