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Show STRIKE IDLES WORKERS AT 3 USSR&MPLANTS Three plants of the United States Smelting Refining & Mining Min-ing Co. ceased operations early Saturday morning, July 1 when a strike of the United Steel Workers of America became effective. ef-fective. The strike idled about 1200 workers at the Midvale smelter and Lark and Bingham mines of the company. The plant shutdown means a loss of payroll pay-roll of $12,000 daily. On Thursday, June 29, USW voted 700 to 238 in favor of a strike after negotiations between the company and union had broken down. USSR&M Co. has offered to negotiate pensions in lieu or all other economic issues while the union asked for a general gen-eral wage increase. In 1940, the USSR&M was strike-bound for five months, when the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, CIO, predecessor of the present United Steel Workers as representative repre-sentative of union locals, struck for a general wage increase. Other developments on the local labor scene: Kennecott Copper Corp. and the AFL electricians union reached a tentative agreement which was submitted late Wednesday Wed-nesday to labor membership. A walkout of electricians was a-verted a-verted at the Magna meeting, and L. F. Anderson, international internation-al representative, announced there will be no strike. Details are to be ironed out Thursday with company officials. A walkout of the electricians would have closed the Kennecott operation, which already is being be-ing hampered by the railroad switchmen's strike against the Denver and Rio Grande Western West-ern railroad. A meeting of the Garfield smelter workers was scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday in New-house New-house hotel. Purpose of the session, ses-sion, according to Steelworkers union officials, is to discuss the situation created at the AS&R smelter by the strike of the Switchmen's union. The smelter workers have been idle since the railroad strike started because of their unwillingness to cross the picket line. Mr. Johnson and Dan Edwards mediator for the state labor relations re-lations board, called upon the Steelworkers union and U. S. Smelting Refining and Mining Co. to resume negotiations and tentatively scheduled a meeting for Monday at 2 p.m. The Mid-vale Mid-vale smelter and the Lark and Bingham mining properties of the company have been closed since Saturday by strike action. The shutdown of the AS&R smelter is resulting in a loss of 1,600,000 pounds of copper daily, according to Robert D. Bradford general manager of the company. Kennecott presently is storing the mill concentrates but cannot continue doing this indefinitely because of storage problems. |