"Phony Beef "

Like many another labor dispute, the row on the California docks started over a seemingly small matter. At issue were the bargaining rights of nine "walking bosses" (stevedore foremen) of the Luckenbach Steamship Co., oldest U.S. shipping line and second largest intercoastal carrier. But as seven ships tied up at San Francisco docks and two in Los Angeles, the crews walked off. Luckenbach's California service, which carries some 90,000 tons of cargo a month, was paralyzed.

The Luckenbach line decided on drastic action. It announced that intercoastal service would be suspended, Luckenbach's coastal fleet would join its tramp steamers in the international trade. Said the line's acting Pacific Coast manager, Vincent P. McMurdo : "Until we can operate ships on this coast without interference in management by the longshore union, we're pulling out. We're fed up."

Showdown. Behind Luckenbach stood the formidable Waterfront Employers' Association of California; backing up the walking bosses was Harry Bridges' Redlined International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (C.I.O.). Both wanted a showdown.

The Employers' Association, which bargained for Luckenbach, maintained that under the Taft-Hartley law, it did not have to bargain with foremen; the union contended that a decision by the National Labor Relations Board, before the Taft-Hartley act became law, had designated it as bargaining agent for walking bosses.

The Los Angeles employers decided to break the deadlock. Last week they closed down the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors until the Luckenbach strike was called off. By week's end, as 15 ships lay idle and 3,000 longshoremen were out of work, the employers received some unexpected encouragement.

Aces for Shippers. In Washington, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Taft-Hartley law superseded all previous NLRB decisions on foremen; no employer was now required to bargain with them. Bolstering this was a dockside opinion from Harry Lundeberg, boss of the A.F.L. sailors' union on the Pacific, and an enemy of Bridges. Said Lundeberg: "This is a phony beef."

He told his men to ignore the C.I.O. pickets, and promised to supply crews to four struck Luckenbach ships. Some C.I.O. unionists apparently thought it was a phony beef also. When the Matson Navigation Co. rerouted its Matsonia from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Bridges tried to stop her from sailing to Honolulu. But members of the C.I.O. stewards' union loaded the passengers' baggage and the Matsonia, manned by Lundeberg's unionists, put out to sea.

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