The Navy Gets Tough

At bustling San Diego, mile after mile of waterfront and countryside has been a-clatter with the building of a Marine base, a naval training station, a dock, barracks, other construction which the Navy needs posthaste. Last week the clatter was stilled. Some 3,500 members of A.F. of L. building-trades unions had walked off the job leaving more than $23,000,000 worth of contracts tied up.

The strike was called because the unions wanted $1-a-day wage boosts. But to the Navy there was only one real issue. In a stabilization agreement with the Office of Production Management last July, the building trades had promised that there would be no strikes on defense work. The pledge had been broken. The Navy got tough, pronto.

Rear Admiral Charles A. Blakely, Commandant of the district, issued an ultimatum: either the strikers would go back to work or the Navy would take over, hire its own men, put them under Civil Service, guard them with Marines. Roared Admiral Blakely: "Open revolt against the United States Government. ... I fully intend to see that certain San Diego labor leaders do not bludgeon the United States Navy."

His sharp words got quick results. The building trades' national organization disowned the strike. The San Diego unions hastily about-faced. Two days later the men were back at work. The question of wages was left to be settled by mediation.

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