5-10-67
Uniroyal Plea Stayed
NAUGATUCKâUniroyal officials agreed Tuesday to continue for two weeks their Superior Court petition for an injunction against the United Rubber Workers Union to restrain mass picketing at the strike-bound footwear plant here.
The company accepted the agreement suggested by Judge Leo V. Gaffney “with the understanding that there will be no interference whatsoever with the (company’s) operations,” company attorney Dwight F. Fanton of Bridgeport said.
While Judge Gaffney spoke in Waterbury, picket teams at the borough remained quiet and small in number.
A repeat of Monday’s performance was staged again Tuesday when trucks were allowed to enter the warehouse on Elm St. without incident. Although the exact number of trucks approaching the gate were not known, it was learned that many drivers turned away, while some went through after contacting their dispatchers.
Five freight cars, shoved into the warehouse Friday, were still in the warehouse Tuesday, and it has not been learned when they are due to leave, although some thought they would be pulled out Tuesday.
Before giving court sanction to the continuance, Judge Gaffney warned the union that “In the event of any interference with the normal business of this company or any violence which would force the plaintiff into court to seek a restraining order…upon a showing of the evidence, I will issue such an order.”
The judge said that based on information he received during negotiations in chambers with company and union lawyers, “There is no doubt in my mind a case would have been established” supporting the issuance of an injunction.
He said he was “willing to go along” with the continuance in the hope that “good relations” which existed between the company and the union prior to the current strike “can be restored.”
The judge cautioned, however, that he will be available at any time, including Saturdays and Mondays when the court is not normally in session, to hear the case should the union violate terms of the agreement. “I will come from wherever I am and open court” he said.
He told the union that if it restricts the picket line “to a reasonable number of pickets, spaced properly, and there is no name calling, we won’t have any trouble here.”
He also warned that it is “incumbent upon the union to keep the…three or four agitators who are stirring up trouble…away from the picket line.” He said the names of the “agitators” are known to him and to union officials.
Although the Naugatuck operations have decided to continue their court petition, it was learned that injunctions have been granted to Uniroyal operations in Mishawaka, Ind., where there are 3,700 employes in one local. Injunctions have also been granted to two Uniroyal operations in Ohio and Alabama.
The injunction against Local 65 in Mishawaka was granted Friday when the company charged that pickets were interfering with office workers. Rumors that the National Guard had been called out in that town of 35,000 were denied by a local newspaper.
The injunction petition in Naugatuck was initiated by the company Friday after three days of clashes last week between pickets and police when