**Date:** 5-4-67
**Source:** Unknown
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Naugatuck police arrested 43 men this morning after a near-riot in front of the Maple Street gate of the struck Uniroyal plant in Naugatuck.
Police Capt. Joseph Summa said the struggle began about 7 a.m. when 200 supervisory personnel sought to cross a picket line to go to work.
An escort of 20 policemen formed a wedge to conduct them through the picket line. The disturbance became so threatening that Summa three times read the “riot act.” To pickets in front of the gate he read sections of the statutes pertaining to rioting.
Cy Blanchard, vice president of Local 306, Chemical Workers of America, and Raymond Mengacci, vice president of Local 45, United Rubber Workers of America, were among the 3 arrested.
Three of those arrested were Seymour men: Henry Hook, 37, of 167 West Church St.; Donald Miles, 33, of 84 Grand St., and John Sharkey, 37, of 17 Martha St. All were charged with breach of the peace and released on their own recognizance. They are to appear June 8 in Waterbury Circuit Court.
No serious injuries were reported, but one picket was taken to St. Mary’s hospital in Waterbury in a police ambulance.
He was suffering from a possible heart attack. He is Nunzio Finteri, 51, of Naugatuck. After treatment at the hospital, Finteri was released.
Pickets also marched in front of City Hall. They taunted police with such charges as “wait until you want a raise,” how about “protecting us,” “we pay taxes too,” “strike breaker,” and “you favor management.”
When Mayor Joseph Raytwich arrived at City Hall, the strikers swarmed around his car. Police had to move in to protect him. The pickets were protesting the action of the police in arresting the pickets.
About 30 pickets were on duty in Beacon Falls. Although no police were in the vicinity of the Uniroyal plant, state troopers were out in force in the area.
Maple Street from Water to Church Streets has been closed by police to through traffic.
In Beacon Falls today there was no violence. Local Uniroyal plants in Naugatuck and Beacon Falls have been strikebound since April 21, as have plants in Waterville, Waterbury, Bristol and elsewhere. Locally, 5,000 workers are affected; the national total is about 50,000.
The union is seeking a wage increase, plus increased unemployment benefits and other fringe benefits.
The union stepped up its picketing yesterday at the local plants and elsewhere after the company announced that it would seek to resume the shipments of manufactured products today.
The company had not started shipping by noon today.
Naugatuck police said additional patrolmen brought in today to insure order among the 200 to 300 pickets swelled the number of police to 25.
Early today the pickets were warned to resume their orderly march, police said. But when some of them began pushing supervisory employes moving through the picket lines, the police moved in and arrested them.
In Washington, the administration has not yet become heavily involved in the two-week strike against Uniroyal (formerly U.S. Rubber), Firestone and B.F. Goodrich. The rubber stockpiles are plentiful and no shortage is imminent.