Strategic Strike

The International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers was smelted out of the C.I.O. last year for following the Communist Party line. This week the I.U.M.M.S.W. pulled 58,000 workers off the job in more than 50 mines, mills and other plants in 25 states, and slowed U.S. production of defense-vital copper to a trickle. Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson said the strike would "drastically curtail" production of tanks, guns and planes. Present wages of the union's men range from $1.31 to $1.62 an hour. Union demand: a general wage increase of 20-c- an hour, plus pension and other benefits that would add another 10-c- an hour. Last offer of the Kennecott Copper Corp. (see BUSINESS), on which the dispute centered, was an 11 1/2-c--an-hour increase in wages plus a pension plan to cost another 4 1/2-c-.

When the I.U.M.M.S.W. walked out, many members of A.F.L. craft unions who work in the same mines and plants refused to cross picket lines, bringing the total idled to 100,000. Production of strategic lead and zinc was cut along with copper. With 95% of the country's non-ferrous metal mining production shut down, the union appealed to President Truman to seize the industry. Instead, the President asked the workers to get back on the job while the Wage Stabilization Board investigates.

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