Tension & Action

As the second week of the General Motors strike wore away, feelings grew more bitter. The C.I.O.'s United Automobile Workers set up an outdoor soup kitchen in Detroit to keep its pickets warm. In Saginaw, someone threw bricks through the windows of a company officer's house; the union called it an attempt to smear the union.

Back in Detroit, on the 15th floor of the General Motors Building, G.M.'s grey, aloof President Charles E. Wilson held a 90-minute press conference in which he took some of the play--and the headlines --away from U.A.W. and Strike Tactician Walter Reuther. He made it unmistakably clear that G.M. had no intention of backing down.

"The whole atmosphere is wrong," said Motorman Wilson. "This is a most unreasonable strike. I see no reason why we should be singled out for this blockade. Should anyone else attempt such a procedure . . . they would immediately be charged with a conspiracy."

To Wilson's charge of blockade, Tactician Walter Reuther shouted: "Unbelievable arrogance." But it took more than invective to ruffle G.M. Over the weekend the company scored another point in the battle of wits, and seriously disrupted union unity.

U.A.W. President R. J. Thomas, clinging to the union's "divide & conquer" strategy, had talked long & loud about going back to work on G.M.'s products for other motor manufacturers, but he predicted that G.M. would refuse such an offer. Next day he had such a proposal from Charlie Wilson himself. Taken by surprise. Thomas accepted by letter, only to back down a day later in the face of a rank & file revolt.

Intervention. That was the situation this week when President Truman suddenly moved into the picture. With no advance notice, he sent a message to Congress proposing a plan to settle future strikes. He said he would apply it immediately--without the benefit of any law from Congress--to the General Motors strike.

The President's plan was based on the Railway Labor Disputes Act, which has worked successfully to stave off labor trouble on the railroads for 19 years. It called for the establishment of a fact-finding commission--probably three members--who would investigate any major strike on the President's orders. The commission would have power to subpoena all books and records; it would report directly to the President.

For a 30-day cooling-off period, no strike could be called. The commission's findings would not be legally binding on the company or the union, the President said, but he hoped that public opinion would force both parties to accept them.

Putting his idea to work immediately. Harry Truman called on the General Motors strikers to go back to work, promised to follow up with appointment of some fact-finders.

Whatever the merits of the President's proposal, it was no sure cureall. Labor would not like the strike limitation; industry would balk at inspection of its books by Government agents. The A.F. of L.'s Bill Green promptly snorted a loud "No." The U.A.W., wary and suspicious, decided to think it over and take a vote.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.