Surprise! Surprise!

The oldest major strike in the U.S. ended this week. It ended in a stinging defeat for the union. After 328 days of mental and physical violence, the tattered remnant of U.A.W. Local 248 returned to work at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. plant near Milwaukee, without having won any of its demands. Cried the local's president, Robert Buse: "The company expected us to hold out until hell froze over. This is a surprise move--a tactic they did not expect."

Just who was more surprised was not clear. In eleven bitter months the local lost almost half its membership to an independent union. A back-to-work movement had put 6,000 men at A-C's benches (more than half the normal strength) before the strike ended. Workers lost an estimated $20 million in wages. The company lost $65 million in production.* The union paid out more than $100,000 in strike benefits.

Underlying the economic issues (the union first demanded a 30-c--an-hour increase, maintenance of membership and more control over grievance machinery) was the question of Communist domination in Local 248.

Last week, the charge of Communism was just about clinched. Buse and the local's honorary president, Harold Christoffel, had their pasts examined by a subcommittee of the House labor committee, and the evidence that they had been Communists, despite sworn denials, set the committee studying a citation for perjury. On the strength of this, Allis-Chalmers had fired them both.

The march back to work would not mean peace at AC. The local was determined to recapture its lost members, win a new bargaining election. Said Buse: "Our fight must now be carried on inside the plant."

Said the company to the workers: "We will continue to fight . . . against those who try to undermine the relations between you and the company."

* Thanks to federal tax credits, the company was still able to show a small profit for 1946--$144,487 v. $7,090,467 in 1945.

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