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Show U; S. to Wait, See In Coal Squabble Ching Sets 2-Day Leeway as Lewis Invites Immediate Pact Parleys Combined AP sad UP Reports A White House conference on the coal labor dispute' waff held Monday, but the only -decision was to pursue a policy of watchful waiting for at least another 24 or 48 hours. Cyrus Ching, head of the federal mediation service, "talked ever the situation with John R. Steelman, presidential assistant I ; - vX l i 'i Cyras Ching Hves John L. Lewts one of Ms swaasedMae. who specialises in labor matters. Ching told reporters afterward that there would be no action taken for the next day or two. He IrMicated that the government govern-ment win mark time while walt-1 walt-1 trig to see Whether anything comes out of the latest offer by John L. Lewis to sit down and talk eon-tract eon-tract terms with the coal operators. opera-tors. Ns preseat Plaas Ching said ha has no present plans to try to get Lewis and the operators together in a federal-sponsored federal-sponsored conference. . ' ' Lewis pulled another Surprise switch Monday, asking that mine owners meet arith him immediately immedi-ately to head off another coal strike Nov. JO, ss steel mills began working full blast is an attempt to retrieve production lost during the steel walkout. Ths United Mine Workers' president pres-ident letdt be known that he would be "at his desk in Washington" Monday morning "awaiting the convenience of the coal operators" whom hs accused of "stubborn refusal" to bargain. FailsteShew Ching had called a meeting for last Thursday and Lewis failed to show up, claiming he wss too busy getting the miners back Into the pits after their 63-day strike. Ching angrily canceled all further plana for mine meetings. Leas than 30,000 men were still on strike In the steel Industry and most of those were expected to return to work ia a matter of days. -- The latest firm to mste peace with the CIO Steelwork era was ths Wheeling Steel Corp. which signed Sunday on ths basis of the Bethlehem Steel Corp. agreement which set ths pattern for ths Industry. In-dustry. Wheeling's 60,000 employes returned to work Monday. Allegheny-Lodlum Steel Co.. with 13,000 workers, was expected to sign Monday. Pittsburgh Steel, employing 8000, wss expected to reach an agreement by Thursday. Negotiations were expected to resume re-sume with the big Aluminum Seepage t. Column 1 U.S.!oTakh' In Cc:l Roy '""rCaaed from Pag Oa Corporation of America, employ, lng 30,000 workers, oa Wednesday. Crnclbl Holds Oat ' '. But Crucible Steel Co, Indicated Indicat-ed It would hold out for a special-type special-type contract on grounds that It could sot pay th cost of ths 3100 monthly pension plan and lnsur-' lnsur-' ane benefite laid down la the Bethlehem agreement Th stseiwotkers strike cost th nation 8.500,000 net ton of Ingot, enough to build 8.000,000 automobiles. Th finished steel lost during th period would have been valued at $700,000,000. The workers lost $178,000,000 in wages and they will have to work two full years to maka them up In the social security benefit they won. However, the Increased benefits: bene-fits: will accrue to futur workers. |