Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1943, Algiers, Algiers                                Saturday june 19, 1943the stars and stripes weekly Page 3more opinions on the Coal strike Swastika for Lewis dear  we Are members of the ump mid our lathers before us were member of Thi. Union. Therefore we Lee qualified to have our say about the Coal strike Back in the states everybody Jeems to blame the individual Miner for causing these strike but they Are really started by a Bunch of legalized gangsters under the leadership of John l. Lewis who  poisoning the minds of the mint is and trying to run the country. Our army and Navy Are giving an Quot i to the companies hitting out Titia Good work. Hitler should Ive a Silver Swastika to tile Lewis organization for its wok on his behalf. Whit Are the people waiting for if they Don t Stop Lewis and his gang now. Maybe Hitler will pin that decoration on John l. Lewis personally in Washington d. C. We want to belong to the United mine work is of american not the United mine Quot workers of John l. Lewis we would appreciate not having our n lines published because we would be blackballed by Lewis and his i Nachmen it a every one of tile Many industries tinder their direct or indirect control. A three miners cavalry milk shed of which i was also an organizer. I we a to emphasize most strongly that labor As a whole is opined to Lewis and his tactics. Responsible labor leaders have emphatically and repeatedly denounced him. I want to Point out also that All Large and responsible labor unions have Given their a a no strike pledge to the president. In these other unions strikes have been kept to a minimum with the inevitable exception of a few wildcats. Lewis likes to have himself referred to As the greatest labor Leader the world has Ever seen but by his actions he is turning the Public against All labor. He is the Man who is making it much Harriet to work out any postwar plan because of the animosity he has created by his actions. A pfc. Emery Pesko outlaw strikes dear editor s Tike three and we Are out. If demo racy permits in Safe at Home enjoying the love and  of their wives and children and All the comforts of America to strike while soldiers Are fighting and dying in far off land to save that America then Milf it wed better find a new form of government. But i state that True democracy is nor based on such a principle. Our political leaders elected to Reive in the interests of the iconic. Should immediately net to our in ant quell such unforgivable strikes so that America May con mime to increase the flow of Trinks. Guns. Ships and planes necessary to us and our allies. A Dill Barry a. Sullivan Lewis mobsters dear editor i wish to add my deep resentment to that of Many of our fighting men who have already voiced their opinions of John l. Lewus and his mobsters. Jet the army take Over these imperialistic leaders of feudalism it his taken Over other industries. Why let a character like Lewis aet As a dictator during our present crisis and. Hinder future plans for a progressive form of government lot go. America use some Force a pfc. Emil Borlik creases to 15 percent Over the Price Levels of january. 1941. Substantiating Thi it was a report by Secretary of labor Frances Perkins which revealed that prices had risen 23 percent since the base period and another l l percent since april a the slurs and stripes also quoted Secretary ekes As declaring that an investigation disclosed that prices to miners in company operated stores were  we cannot win this War without vital Industrial production and tin is no time for operators or anyone else to hold out for prewar or higher profits. The answer to this important problem is. I believe 1. Adopt immediately the Ickes plan. 2. If tile Gyratory refuse then Battle front write to their it eople not to strike but help us to win 20 hours a Day and on sunday. So lets have everyone on the for the War but John l. Lewis and his men have the miners hands tied i think if the govern would fix a Price limit on and enforce it tile miners live without needing a its not the miners fault has been called. The should have stopped ment goods could raise. The strike government Lewis Long ago. If we lose this War by men striking and refusing to work we will All be working for about a tenth of the wages being paid now. We need the materials for War and those at Home must Back us up. Even if they have to work the fight and get Back Home so this is the mine that this than pay wants action i Star editor on rite question of Conish do ? or any other strikes mum r tile Rill out Effort in War we to this Side offer More a few dollars difference in Long hours and the sacrifice of living a Ond finns w c d like to have we even offer our very lives to the cause Evi l voile knows is right. So Sliv can Tive get the coolie ration of those few a it Etty tyrants who a Emir v Are protecting tile working Man Alt of us boil at the fact that the Day might come when we May need certain equipment on the spot my s a Meone has through sinking delayed it in route. Let willing to Swap let let editor a a member of our nation s armed forces. I want to express my personal feelings and thoughts toward the United mine workers of America and especially John l Lewis concerning their Coal strike. The strike itself is evidence that Thev not Only desire but Are succeeding in hindering our nations War program and Effort. They not on in Are prolonging the War and victors but Are furnishing the Axis >.111 excellent and timely propaganda. In my opinion. Lewis is tit instigator and perpetrator of a crime against our country and has forfeited his rights to the priv Ilene and blessings of a free country we would gladly and willingly work Iii my place and do any kind of a to furnish the Emi piment we know May mean the difference Between life and death for the Soldier a pvt. Clarence e. Almand oust Lewis dear Fiji Tor in answer to pfc. John Adkins. Quoted in Hie Quot opinion on the Coal s Rake Quot Annie in the stars and s Rijs i agree that Quot this is War til use iconic bark Home must Back up Fie men Here with the Quot tins but Quot those people include the operators a Well As the miners. I believe that nothing whatsoever strikes included should be allowed n interfere with the War of a Iii. We must squabbling and go soldiers have and to work. Tori everyone tin by i also believe that once worker has relinquished his in ii All is Well again a set. N. G. Nichols Union member dear editor i would like to add my protest to it he recent Coal strikes. Firs i wish to make it Clear thai i am a firm believer in unionism and a member of the Farmers Union of the new York right to strike. It becomes the sworn duty of his government to i meet his rights and maintain the Standard he has fought so hard to gain for the past 50 years. In the very same Issue of stars and Striae it is pointed out that a the miners base their wage de mods on the fact that prices had gone to and were out of line with the or labor boards Little steel formula of restricting wage in the government must take Over i he mine and operate them for tile duration of the War. 3. Oust John l. Lewis who represents All that is bad in labor leaders. Who was an isolationist anti and in Mist rat Ion anti British and Power crazy before Pearl Harbor. And who Lias never chanced his color it sgt. I. J. Kimberg write Home dear editor being from the Hazard. Ky., Coal Field r think i can give a Little Light on the Coal strike situation Titis Field is known As District 30 and has some 20.000 worker.?. Tie miners themselves do not w ant to Shrike and i know a vote would show that 95 percent want to work. These miners Are All american and want to go All out that we can live a pvt. Ernest Jyh Are Abl again p. Yer i luos wants Lewis Here dear editor it is discouraging and sorrowful to hear of the Coal crisis Back in tile states at a time like this and to linear til at defense planks May have to shut Down because they Lack the fuel that creates weapons for Victory. I wish those Coal miners and especially or. Lewis were Over Here. I would like to show them around. I would show them the Many Flanders Fields where our buddies lie in the sleep of eternal each. I would show Vliem Hie rows of Beds in the hospitals where the men lie with broken hearts and bodies. You want an increase in pay perhaps the Cost of living is High Back Home. But you still can see the sidewalks of new York the statue of Liberty the mountains and Hills and Fields of Virginia and Georgia and Maryland and the Green forests of Vermont and Maine. You can hear the Roar of subways swim in sparkling lakes go to a movie when you please. We left All that behind to drive ambulances jeeps and trucks Pilot planes and sweat out shells and bullets. We smashed them at thu. Guadalcanal new Guinea Tunis and Bizerte. Now we re preparing for the final blow. Many More of us will never see Home again but Well die smiling because we know that America it one and will stay free. Or. Lewis and you miners you have sons and Brothers and friends sleeping in the ground Here their bodies facing toward Home. You never saw them when they clenched their hands in pain and agony and proved to god to relieve their suffering. You never saw the doctors and nurses helplessly trying to mend broken bodies we did. Everyone of you Back Home no St help us. I Pray to god you will. A i pm. Ii Akles m. Kreusch h what Little Small even judge business liable too dear editor since everybody else is using it id like to put in my two cents Worth about the Coal strike. First of All. I d like to make it Clear that in a just As sore at the miners As everybody else for letting themselves let a fooled a it a John l. But How come nobody looks at the other Side of the picture at the Way some sections of Industry Are doing exactly the same tiling. Just to give you an idea of i mean your palier carried a item during the week so in a sure very few Fellows noticed it. It said a Federal fined tile Anaconda Cooper company 10.000 dollars for making false tests on wire for War Mir poses Cornea by director and Plant manager wore sentenced to prison officially but actually they were placed on probation. Rotten Copper wire can be just As disastrous As no Coal. But do we hear a Hullabaloo raised about that0 hell no does and body introduce a Dill in Congress to penalize All Industry because a couple of Crooks were found in one company hell. No. But when Coal miners strike right away Congress passes a Bill restricting All labor. If it goes for labor who not Industry after All. Miners have More reason to complain than Industrial executives. Miners were bewildered about the rising Cost of living could think of no of her was to make the Coal companies cough up some of the huge profits they re making. Blit the Anaconda boys were making plenty of Money anyway but it Wasny to enough for them. And Thev wanted More. My Point is this lets shoot John a. Ieti a see that the Coal miners Are paid enough to maintain a decent Standard of living. But lets not lose our Heads and pigs Laws crippling All labor after All most of us Sorters were workers be Ole the War. Writ i be workers a a a n after the War. These by it will Hurt us As Mil h As anyone else. A Soldier work Ermine head Lewis faces toughest Choice of life continued from Page i Lucre they ire entitled to under tile to vermin i Jas plan to Avert loft i to they Nave had the 15 permit t Rise of the Little steel forum a one Rea n for not grunting us Vav a dem rid for a two Dollar t a increase originally is that such a raise would completely Knock out the Little steel formula and shot of the Barrier to inflation Lull of Hole. Thousands of application for advances which pm plovers Are willing to give have by ii refused by the Board for that reason. Apparently one answer to the problem is the Portal to Portal Issue a it on which it appears the Illume operators and the ump Bove already reached an agreeing the miners contend if they Coni i get paid for the time they Coli the mines and have the pay end when they leave the mines. Instead of the pay Starling Alten they begin work in the pits Aud ending when the productive work i finished the raise could be made wit or our upsetting the Little steel formula. Tile ii a rat ors answer to this until now to that the time a Miner it Mari from entering the mine to leaving is figured in the resell wage among other grievances submit 1 by the miners is that they Bear certain expenses such As buying equipment which they contend make a Dent in their weekly income and the High prices charged in company operated stores. Ail the a demands have been duly considered and investigated a tact finding panels of the Board which a Aas been favourably Disi it used to offering a number of compromises on these issues. Overshadowing ail the Argufo a ? and the one no one has the answer to yet. Is the rising spiral in i lie to to of living since the Little steel formula was instituted. According to the Secretary of labor. Prances Perkins the prices have Ruen approximately 24 precut since january 1941. The Date of the Little steel formula. On tin eve of the first strike the ump policy committee sent a letter to i Perkins charging that the web wields the headman a against tile workers of the country and that a a it has breached its agreement with labor i when it publicly substituted Politi Cal exit Ediew by for equity in the j settlement of the  the letter continued Quot we have1 advised Chi prior occasions that the commercial of orators represented j in the wage conferences were dominated by Coal tonnage controlled by the United states steel corporation and other associated steel interests. Under the unit Rule of j the conference these companies j veto and constructive affirmative action. These steel companies Are. Among the fattest of the nations cast Pius War  the letter also  red the miners Quot were hungry As Well Aspa Trio tic. They Are asking for bread and Are being contemptuously treated As Pawn by designing  since then there has been a running verbal fight Between Lewis and the Board Lewis has refused to show up for meetings ordered by the Board and instead attempted to continue negotiations with tile Coal operators. The Board charged Lewis a with flouting the sovereignty of the american government and repudiating the no strike no lockout  but aside from the agreement with the Illinois operators Lewis has made Little headway with the owners the Pennsylvania operators who broke away with the joint appalachian conference to Deal with Lewis announced at the end of the week that the negotiations Wuh Lewis and the ump had broken. The five Day walkout which began june i c a St the 450.000 Coal miners 2,250,000 dollars in fines. The miners will be liable to further fines at the rate of a Dollar a Day if they leave tile pits sunday night. They also face the Prospect of president Roosevelt so work or fight order becoming applicable immediately. Unfortunately for the entire situation Lewis does not Bluff. In 1940, he said he would resign the presidency of tile Cio if Wendell Winkle was Defeated. Willkie was and Lewis resigned subsequently Bolt ing the organization he founded. Lewis is also stubborn. He stands alone today without any Aid Comfort or support from any other labor leaders or organization. He has the full and bitter opposition of the entire country against him. Yet he Sheds criticism like a Duck Sheds water. On past performances Lewi is not a Man to Budge. But at the Crossroads the signs Are Clear. It is up to him to read them