43 Pickets Arrested By Naugatuck Police

**Date:** MAY 4, 1967
**Source:** THURSDAY EVENING, N.

NAUGATUCK- Forty-three union pickets were arrested on charges of breach of peace this morning, when police and strikers at the Footwear Plant of Uniroyal Inc., clashed for the second day.

The entire police force was called in, plus supernumeraries, to force their way through the 100-man picket line at the Maple St. gate, and provide a passage way for office and supervisory personnel. Office personnel eventually made their way in.

The first group, arrested about 6:45, had to be physically forced to the police station, across the street from the trouble spot. Only after Police Capt. Joseph Summa read the riot act in the state statutes over a bullhorn to the unruly crowd did the conditions begin to settle.

Women in the picket line and in the group trying to get into the plant began to cry as the tension mounted, and the evidence of possible physical violence rose. Police blocked off Maple St. to all traffic during the height of the scuffle.

The first conflict occurred when non-union personnel, as directed by the company Wednesday, reported for work for the 7 o’clock shift. The picketers, mostly male, refused to allow them to enter, and police formed a line to provide safety for the workers.

Although police did not use clubs or other devices to restrain the picketers, several minor injuries were reported. One striker, Nunzio Finieri, 52, Union City Rd., was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, Waterbury, where he was X-rayed, treated and discharged. According to hospital authorities, Finieri said he was knocked down in the scuffle, and complained of pains in his chest.

Several policemen and picketers were bruised in the clash, although there were no reports of medical treatment other than Finieri’s.

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