John Dempsey

Strike Settlement Hopes “Wilting”

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Strike Settlement Hopes “Wilting”

6-15-67

Governor John Dempsey acknowledged the letter received from the borough seeking his intervention in the UniRoyal strike affecting three borough plants. He said in a letter to Mayor Joseph C. Raytkwich, that State Labor Commissioner Renato E. Ricciuti is maintaining close contact with the progress of the negotiations, and that Ricciuti will continue to keep him informed of the situation.

The Governor however, did not commit himself to positive action as had been requested by a vote of the Borough Board in a motion by Burgess Edward McGrath, (R), Third Ward.

Word from Ohio this morning simply states that negotiations are continuing with neither the union or the companies commenting on the progress.

Last week’s hopes for a settlement on the new company offer, appear to be wilting. The basic problems seem to remain the same.

According to sources, the heaviest negotiation is between Goodrich and Firestone and the Union. Progress depends on the outcome of these sessions.

Management has challenged the claim of the Union that its proposal will cost only 73 cents. Union negotiators, taken by surprise, said that management was using weighted wage figures and accused them of inflating the cost of the economic package in the Union’s counterproposal.

Management, according to sources, is including the costs of over-time and machine downtime.

A Union spokesman said yesterday that this item was no longer a major obstacle and hinted that the Union may be reconsidering the apparent cost of its package offer.

The efficiency rating system used at one of the plants seems now to be a bone of contention. A person who works at a particular job is expected to turn out a certain number of articles before he is entitled to full pay. Assuming no breakdowns on the machine, if an employe does not meet his efficiency rating he will not receive full pay.

The Union contends that the older person cannot always produce what a younger employe can and some of the ratings are therefore too high, according to a spokesman.

Union funds are dwindling as the strike continues. Here in Naugatuck, where 5,500 workers are out on strike, benefit checks, even though they have been cut, amount to approximately $577,500.

Strikers are resorting to the purchase of food stamps to supplement their $15 weekly benefit checks as their personal funds are depleated.

The question of the Uni-Royal annual shut-down vacation period in August is a topic of conversation in the borough. Many workers were hoping to be back to work well in advance of this time. Vacation plans are being altered.

No Break In 76-Day-Old Rubber Industry Strike

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No Break In 76-Day-Old Rubber Industry Strike

No Break In 76-Day-Old Rubber Industry Strike

7-6-67 [handwritten]

The five major rubber companies and the United Rubber Workers union resumed talks yesterday in Ohio. Representatives of the borough’s three Locals and UniRoyal representatives met again in Cincinnati with other talks being conducted in three other Ohio cities.

No indications of a break in the 76-day-old strike were forthcoming, according to sources.

The offer of Akron Mayor John S. Ballard to assist in negotiations of the four Akron based firms of Goodyear, Goodrich, Firestone and General and his appeal for around the clock negotiations was not eagerly accepted by all concerned.

Goodrich and Firestone, among the companies and the union, replied to the request, citing their willingness to conduct negotiations continuously. Doubt was expressed, however, that third-party participation for a single community would be helpful, since talks embrace company plants in numerous cities.

According to sources many local issues have bogged down the negotiations.

Third Ward Republican Burgess Edward McGrath had appealed to Gov. John Dempsey to help in the negotiations; however, the Borough Board was informed that he was watching the situation. No concrete action in mediation was mentioned in his communication.

Locally, picketing remains quiet at all gates of the three UniRoyal plants in the borough with strikers taking their turns on the picket line as matter of course.

The financial drain on the strikers is becoming more evident with each passing week. The $15 a week union benefit check is far from sufficient to maintain a family. An increasing number of borough residents are finding it difficult to maintain their installment payments, although local banking institutes have been most understanding of the situation.

Striking UniRoyal workers are looking forward to receiving vacation pays to give them a temporary financial lift.

AKRON, Ohio (UPI) — The president of the B. F. Goodrich Tire & Rubber Co. said today if the record-long strike against the rubber industry continues much longer the firm’s operations here will be reduced.

“We will not leave Akron but the operation will become smaller,” said J. W. Keener. “The longer the strike goes on the less certain we are to maintain customers.” Goodrich employes about 5,000 workers here.

Keener said reduced operations would result “because of the inability to stay in some businesses by becoming non-competitive.”

The strike, in its 77th day, was called against Goodrich, UniRoyal Inc., and the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. when United Rubber Workers (URW) contracts expired April 20.

General Tire & Rubber Co. was struck June 21. Work has continued at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. on a day-to-day basis.

“With the offer that we made to this union our costs are increased to a degree greater than the small companies with

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Rubber Strike Negotiations Continue In Ohio Cities

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Rubber Strike

6-6-67

Negotiations Continue In Ohio Cities

Negotiators representing the United Rubber Workers Union and UniRoyal met yesterday in Cincinnati for the first time since the Memorial Day recess. Reliable sources report the meeting lasted until well after 10 o’clock last night.

Although federal mediators are in Cincinnati it has been said that they are not present at the negotiating table. Another meeting has been scheduled for this morning.

Although picketing remains quiet in the borough, nerves are on edge and rumors of impending riots are being spread throughout the borough. Locals 45, 218 and 308 are continuing to distribute weekly union benefit checks today. The strike, now in its 45th day, is taking its financial toll in the borough.

Third Ward Republican Burgess Edward McGrath announced last night that he plans to ask the Borough Board at its meeting tonight to “bring Gov. John Dempsey into the picture.”

“It’s high time the Governor took action,” he said, adding

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Governor’s Aid Urged In Uniroyal Dispute

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Governor's Aid Urged In Uniroyal Dispute

Governor’s Aid Urged In Uniroyal Dispute

6-6-67 [handwritten]

NAUGATUCK — The Board of Mayor and Burgesses may take action today to seek Gov. John Dempsey’s aid in settling the master contract negotiations between Uniroyal and the United Rubber Workers.

Third Ward Republican Burgess Edward McGrath said Monday night he plans to make a motion during tonight’s borough board meeting to “bring the governor into the picture ”

“It’s high time the governor took action,” said McGrath, adding that “the economy of the whole valley is affected by the strike.”

An attempt to reach Governor Dempsey for a comment Monday night failed.

Although the governor cannot take coercive action, McGrath felt that persuasion from the highest office in the state might have some effect in bringing about a settlement in the six-week-old strike.

“This is too important a situation to just sit back,” said the burgess. To date, he added, no one has taken any official action to help bring about a settlement.

If Goverior Dempsey and his advisors cannot weild the necessary influence, McGrath said he would consider seeking federal action, possibly through President Johnson.

Although Uniroyal’s negotiations are on a national scale, noted McGrath, the immediate situation is local, and warrants the governor’s attention.

Negotiators for Uniroyal and the URW met face to face Monday for the first time since May 26. Following a Memorial Day weekend recess, the groups did not convene as scheduled last Wednesday.

It was claimed that the meetings did not take place at that time because both groups “had some things to discuss.”

Management negotiators contacted Monday night said that both groups met during the day, but declined to state whether any signs of progress could be seen. They are scheduled to meet again this morning.

Although federal mediators are present in Cincinnati, where the negotiations are taking place, it has been reported that they are not at the negotiating table.

Borough Will Request Aid In Ending Strike

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Borough Will Request Aid In Ending Strike

6-7-67

NAUGATUCK— Mayor Joseph C. Raytkwich has been empowered to seek the aid of Gov. John Dempsey in bringing about a settlement in the Uniroyal-United Rubber Workers negotiations.

The board, during its Tuesday meeting, unanimously passed Third Ward Burgess Edward McGrath’s motion seeking the governor’s aid.

The Republican burgess cited the “potentially permanent and serious effect” the seven-week strike could have on the economy of the borough if it continued any longer.

Following passage of the motion, Mayor Raytkwich said that he would contact Gov. Dempsey “as soon as possible.”

Although the governor c about a settlement, it is possible that he could persuade the two groups to settle.

Amid scattered rumors that a settlement could be effected Thursday, press services reported Tuesday that negotiations with three maor tire producers, including Uniroyal, were in recess until Thursday with the union considering a three-year contract offer.

Attempts to contact union negotiators failed Tuesday. An unidentified person answering one negotiator’s telephone late Tuesday night reported that the negotiator was in a meeting and would be there “for several hours.”

A management negotiator contacted at the same time said that talks were recessed until Thursday, but not because the union was considering a management offer.

He claimed that the URW’s legal counsel died Monday, and that many of the union members planned to attend the funeral.

Press services reported that management’s offer of a three-year contract was made Monday by Firestone, Goodyear and Uniroyal. B. F. Goodrich made a similar offer Tuesday. General Tire and Rubber was expected to make its offer later this week.

United Rubber Workers negotiators said the proposed new contract would give tire plant workers, who now average $3.30 to $3.60 an hour, a 38-cent hourly raise in three yearly steps— 16 cents in the first year and 11 cents in each of the last two years.

Nontire plant workers would get 13-9-9, for a total of 31 cents.

Company officials said their offer added up to 60 to 73.5 cents an hour, including fringe benefits such as pensions and insurance.

The union has separate agreements on pensions and insurance that do not expire until Sept. 15. The companies reportedly offered to increase their monthly payments into the pension fund from $3.25 to $5.25 per employe, with commensurate increases in amounts paid retired workers.

Uniroyal 6-8-67 Continued From Page 1

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UniRoyal 6-8-67

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benefit checks to $15 starting next week in order to “continue giving financial assistance to our brothers and sisters on strike for a longer period of time…”

Negotiations were not held yesterday at official headquarters because the union was considering a proposed three-year contract offer, and because many of the negotiators attended the funeral of the union’s legal counsel.

In the borough, many believe the strike will be settled within a week; while others still cling to the thought that settlement is a long time off.

Mayor Joseph C. Raytkwich, acting upon a motion made at the Borough Board meeting Tuesday, has written to Governor John Dempsey. Borough officials are hoping that Dempsey’s influence will have some weight in effecting a speedy strike settlement.

The Naugatuck Police Department has spent a total of 1,496 overtime hours at the UniRoyal Plant since the calling of the strike.

To June 2, these overtime hours have cost the borough $4,673.24. The Police Department is keeping detailed financial reports for periodic presentation to the Board of Finance.

Waterbury’s Welfare Department estimated yesterday that the UniRoyal strike may cost the city $20,000 in gross benefits.

Of 140 striking families that have applied there for welfare, only 10 are presently receiving aid. Others were denied because they have other income or assets.

The Waterbury Welfare Superintendent said that if the strike is prolonged for any length of time, the number of people eligible for welfare assistance could reach 1,000 in the city.

Union Told To Stop Blocking Operations

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Union Told To Stop Blocking Operations

Dr. Bingham Resigns Post

Dr. Harold J. Bingham, who hired a landscape architect firm to do a study on state college needs which left Waterbury’s high priority out of the picture, resigned Friday as executive secretary to the Board of Trustees of State Colleges.

Dr. Bingham, who was stripped of his powers of fiscal independence after the Waterbury newspapers disclosed he had hired landscape architects to do a statewide survey of education needs, fired a blast at the trustees as he departed his post, charging them with trying to buy his resignation.

Proclaiming he is “not for sale,” Dr. Bingham charged that he’d been offered “a deal at a cost of $6,000 to the taxpayers of Connecticut.”

The deal, he said at a news conference in Hartford Friday, consisted of reassignment as a state college history professor at top salary for the job; leave of absence with pay, “I repeat, with pay,” until Sept. 1; and $500 travel expense.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Connecticut,” said Dr. Bingham, “Gov. John Dempsey, members of your administration and members of the board of trustees. I am not for sale.”

assigned to studying the state’s educational needs.

Early in February, investigation by the newspapers disclosed the firm which conducted the survey which Dr. Bingham said he couldn’t make public, was listed in the Boston phone directory as “landscape architects.”

It was disclosed also: That the Chamber of Commerce of Cambridge, Mass., had never heard of the firm; that the recommending agency, Educational Facilities Laboratories of New York City, knew the firm as “experts in campus planning”, but knew of no work done by the firm in the field of educational development; and that the day

(Cont’d On Page 2 —Bingham)

Rado Not Resigning From Post

NAUGATUCK—William C. Rado isn’t resigning after all as a member of the Board of Education, he said Friday night.

Rado had told a reporter ear-

NAUGATUCK— The United Rubber Workers Union has been warned to refrain from any violence or from interfering in any way with operations of Uniroyal’s footwear plant here pending a court hearing Tuesday on an injunction petition against mass picketing.

The warning was issued in stern tones by Superior Court Judge Leo V. Gaffney Friday after three hours of fruitless negotiations with company and union representatives in an attempt to reach an out-of-court agreement to limit picketing at the strike-bound plant.

The warning from Judge Gaffney followed in the wake of three days of clashes between police and strikers, during which 71 pickets were arrested on charges of breach of peace.

Only hours after the injunction hearing, a group consisting of Mayor Joseph C. Raytkwich, Chief of Police Frank J. Mariano, Police Commissioners Henry Marlor and William Simmons and representatives of the union gathered in the mayor’s office.

Following the session, which lasted almost two hours, during which loud voices could be heard from behind the closed

Exactly how many signed up for compensation could not be learned, but strikers contacted later in the day noted that the lines were long and double.

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Exactly how many signed up
for compensation could not be
learned, but strikers contacted
later in the day noted that the
lines were long and double.

During the last session of the
General Assembly, legislation
was introduced to make com-
pensation available to people on
strike, but the legislation failed.
A bill recently signed by Gov.
John Dempsey did not include
striking workers.

In the past strikers have been
refused unemployment compen-
sation. Normally only those out
of work due to a mass shut
or temporary layoffs, or those
those who quit work for various
reasons are eligible.

Labor Commissioner Renato
Ricciuti, contacted Friday night,
said he had no idea why the
strikers were suddenly applying
for the compensation. Although
anyone out of work and with
wage credits can apply, said the
commissioner, strikers cannot
collect.

As to why the strikers were
told to wait another week, Ric-
ciuti was also uncertain about
that, but thought perhaps the
staff at the bureau did not want
to flaly refuse the people.

A request from Footwear
Plant management to Local 45
seeking oilers to work on the
machines did not receive action
Friday, according to Local 45
Vice Pres. Raymond Mengacci.
He said that the matter would
be discussed today.

Reuther Calls Rubber Offer “Miserly”

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Reuther Calls Rubber Offer "Miserly"

Reuther Calls Rubber Offer “Miserly”

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AKRON, Ohio (UPI)—The head of the United Auto Workers Union said Friday a wage offer to striking United Rubber Workers (URW) by major tire producers was “miserly.”

Walter Reuther, who has taken up the cause of the striking rubber workers by pumping more than $1 million into the URW’s strike fund, said a wage increase offer of 43 cents per hour by the “big five” tire producers was “miserable, inadequate and unacceptable.”

The 43-cent wage offer, which would boost the hourly pay of rubber workers to $4.11, was made by General Tire & Rubber Co., which was struck last week.

The 10-week-old walkout, longest in industry history, has idled 54,000 workers across the nation.

General also offered an 80 per cent supplemental unemployment payment plan.

Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., B. F. Goodrich, UniRoyal Inc., and Goodyear have offered to raise hourly pay by 40 cents, plus 75 per cent supplemental payments.

Goodyear, where work is continuing on a day-to-day basis, was the only one of the “big five” still operating. Firestone, Goodrich and UniRoyal were struck April 20.

No progress was reported in negotiations Friday.

Talks between bargainers for Goodyear and UniRoyal and the union were recessed until Wednesday while Goodrich and Firestone were to meet with union representatives again today.

Besides the wage issue, talks have deadlocked over union demands that the wage differential between tire and non-tire workers be eliminated.

Average pay for non-tire workers under the old contract was $2.69 per hour, 99-cents less than tire workers earned.

While talks continued, the 54,000 strikers were faced with an increasing financial burden.

The URW’s depleted strike fund can now pay only $15 per week to many of the union members in strike benefits. Union officials said the auto worker’s loan would only enable the union to continue benefit payments at that level, not increase them.

County welfare officials report many of the striking rubber workers have joined the welfare rolls, with more being added every day.

Few of the strikers have been able to find temporary jobs in an area dominated by the rubber industry.

Rumors yesterday in downtown Naugatuck to the effect that the strike had ended once again raised the hopes of many families feeling the pinch of the 71-day old United Rubber Workers strike against UniRoyal.

The fact that the company had asked permission of Local 45 to allow oilers to work in the plant, added to the knowledge that George Froehlich, president of Local 45 and Joseph Rzeszutek, president of Local 218, were returning to the borough for the long holiday weekend, was like adding fuel to the fire.

A second story circulating the borough yesterday sent many strikers to the Unemployment

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Reuther Calls Rubber
Continued From Page 1

7-1

Office in Waterbury seeking compensation.

Gov. John Dempsey signed into law yesterday a more liberal compensation act; however, the portion of that bill covering strikers receiving compensation was stricken from the bill before it was passed in the General Assembly.

Local 45 had not come to a decision yesterday as to whether it would permit oilers to work in the plant but, according to Vice President Raymond Mengacci, it would be discussed further today. He was unavailable for comment this morning.