6—Waterbury Republican, Tuesday, May 9, 1967
8 Trucks Pass Through Uniroyal Amid Jeers
NAUGATUCK—A barrage of 19 trucks approached the Uniroyal warehouse gate on Elm St. during a three-and-one-half hour period Monday afternoon. Although 11 drivers turned away without entering, four trucks from private firms and four U. S. mail trucks passed through the lines of striking United Rubber Workers without incident, although catcalls could be heard.
Picket teams of approximately 13 people stood in front of the gate to halt the passage of the trucks, but quietly made way for those wishing to go in or out.
The relative quiet which pervaded the scene Monday afternoon may well affect the outcome of an injunction hearing scheduled for today in Waterbury.
Four freight cars, shoved into the warehouse Friday afternoon without stopping, are still in the warehouse, and according to sources are due to be shipped out, loaded, today.
During the period in which the trucks approached the gate Monday afternoon from about 1:30 to 5 p.m., negotiations were reportedly continuing in Cincinnati, although the negotiators could not be reached for comment Monday night.
The first truck to approach the gates, and the first to enter, was from Darcey, a Waterbury trucking firm. The second truck to enter was from a New Haven firm, the Wilson Freight Co. The Elliott Bros. Trucking Co. firm Waterbury and the Lombard Bros., who rented a truck from a local dealer, also entered the gates.
Most of those who turned away from large firms engaged in interstate commerce. When a truck from one of these outfits left, one of the pickets chortled, “There goes a good Teamster.”
Fur police patrols were at the gate at the time, under the leadership of Capt. Joseph Summa.
The scene Monday afternoon at the gate was in marked contrast to the clashes with police which marked the early morning hours of three days last week when pickets attempted to prevent white collar personnel from entering the Footwear plants on Maple St.
Following those three days of clashes, during which 71 pickets were arrested on charges of breach of peace, a hearing for the purpose of preventing mass picketing was held in Waterbury.
At that time, Judge Leo V. Gaffney issued a warning to pickets to stop mass picketing. Since that time picket teams have been small in number and management personnel has been allowed to enter the plants without incident.