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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1955)
MIDFdRD (OMOOIT) MAIL TUtBVXS THRXX Ford, Union Open 11th Hour Negotiations on Hew Proposal by Company Wednesday, Jun 1, 195S Company-Wide Strike Scheduled For Midnight Detroit (U.K Ford Motor Company and the CIO United Auto Workers union called an 11th hour negotiation session to day on a new company offer it was hoped would avert the first company-wide strike in history at midnight tonight. The new offer, reported by union sources to have relaxed the company's strong opposition to the guaranteed annual wage demand, raised hopes a peaceful settlement could be reached or at least enough progress made to put off the strike. The union alerted 140,500 workers to be ready to leave their jobs unless there is a break in the negotiations deadlock. Some 48,000 members of Ford Local 600, the world's biggest local, were scheduled for a prac tice walkout at mid-afternoon at the huge Rouge plant in sub urban Dearborn. They were to participate in a mass demonstra tion and hear the latest report on negotiations. Silence Pledge A silence pledge by both sides against any public statements for 24 hours ending at noon to day surrounded the talks. Both aides were tight-lipped, refusing to give any indication whether talks were making headway or were headed for a stalemate. The stumbling block in the talks was the union demand for an unprecedented guaranteed annual w a e e. Demands for higher pensions, higher pay naid hosDitalization insurance and other benefits were put aside until the annual wage hurdle could be cleared. The union said it wants the annual wage to protect workers against periodic layoffs. Strong Company Stand The company has taken a strong stand against the annual wace. which union President Walter Reuther said is a goal his union will strike to get if neces sary. Ford, in its first offer last week, ignored the demand and offered a stock-sharing plan instead. But union sources said the company had eased its stand in the surprise offer Tuesday. While thee sources said the offer "still .wasn't adequate," they described it as a "hopeful sign." Nothing New in (Guaranteed Annual Wage Demand Detroit U.R) The guaran teed annual wage demand which threatens to touch off a company-wide strike against Ford Motor Co. tonight isn't anything new. It has been kicking around for 60 years. . More than 190-odd plans have been concocted. Many still are in operation in this country. But none ever has been drawn up and put into operation which Coon Given Life Sentence in Prison Klamath Falls (U.R) Flor in (Curley) Coon, 52-year-old barber, yesterday was sentenced to life imprisonment for second degree murder in connection with beating to death of his wife last October. Coon was convicted last Fri day. Circuit Judge David R. Van denberg, who pronounced sen tence, denied an attempt by Coon's defense attorneys to de lay sentence after they produc ed a telegram from a person who claimed to have evidence that would clear Coon. The at torneys refused to make public contents of the telegram or name of the sender. The judge said if there was new evidence, judg ment could be set aside and a new trial ordered. Public Lands Racket Revealed by Nevadan Washington (U.R) Rep. Cliff Young (R-Nev.) charged yester day that "a new breed of con fidence man" is bilking Ameri cans of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a phony public lands racket. He demanded a congressional investigation with hearings in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, "two focal points on land racketeering activity." Young said the racket works this way: The confidence man attracts his customers through mislead ing advertising about "cheap fed eral land available in desirable locations." The customer is charged $100 and up for the filing of his ap plication with the Bureau of Land Management under the homestead law, the small tract act, or other federal law. Actual ly, the fee is $25 and the con fidence man pockets a S75 profit. Food handlers Again Urged to Arrange For Chest X-Rays Foodhandlers those employ ed in restaurants, bakeries, dair ies, meat markets, grocery stores and allied trades were again urged this week by the Jackson County Public Health associa tion and the health department to have chest x-rays. Clinics for the x-rays are pro vided at the Community hospit al on Wednesdays, 3 to 6 p.m. and at the Sacred Heart on Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m. The county health officer, Dr. A. E. Merkel, pointed out that there are estimated to be over 100 unknown cases of tubercu losis in the county and a chest x-ray is the best known method of protecting the public and other employees from the unde-! tected germ. A number of sus pected cases have already been discovered since opening of the clinics. Firms Cooperate Tuberculosis statistics show that a number of cases have developed in the food service industry and an effort is, there fore, now being made to x-ray all empoyees of this trade. Firms who have aready complied with the request include Fluhrer's bakery, the Groceteria, Big Y Market, Quality Market, the Top Notch, Franklin's Town House and the Crater cafe. There is no law requiring physical examinations for food handlers, Dr. Merkel stated, and it is hoped empoyers and employees will comply with the lequest on a voluntary basis. "It is a protection to the in- dividual as well as the public," Dr. Merkel stated. "By discov ering tuberculosis, lung cancer and other chest disorders eary before symtoms deveop,- the in dividual may be saving himself long hospitalization and even death," he added. Honor Demanded For Leif Ericson Washington (U.R) Colum bus "didn't discover America," and it's about time the govern ment honored the man who did, Sen. Warren G. Magnuson (D Wash.), feels. Magnuson told the Senate yes terday that Leif Ericson, the Viking voyager, landed in New England in 1002 A.D., 490 years ahead of Columbus. Magnuson said his Scandinav ian constituents are disturbed when they come to Washington and glimpse a massive memorial to Columbus in Union Station Plaza but see no statue of Erie son. Magnuson said he and 11 oth er senators are sponsoring a res olution to appropriate $53,000 for a site and pedestal or an Ericson statue which already be longs to the government but is in storage somewhere. "We aren't mad at Chris, but he didn't discover America," the senator said. affect so many workers or have such a strong guarantee. The automobile workers, who have been hit by seasonal lay off." throughout the industry his tory, want the automobile com panies to guarantee them that wage checks will keep coming for as long as 52 weeks, despite layoffs. The union first demanded that the companies add enough to the unemployment compensation checks to give workers the same take-home pay during periods of lay-offs as they would receive Reuther offered Sunday to scale this down even further. Nothing quite like that, in a huge industry where production fluctuates so much, ever has been tried before. Other Plans The closest approach to that was the "fixed weekly wage plan" tried by the Decatur, 111., plant of General Electric in the late 1930s. The plan had achiev ed a pretty stable production pattern, and a plan was set up to give the employees a guaranteed fixed wage" for six months, if they were working. The union : based on production estimates. later reduced this so that work ers would get only enough to give them 80 per cent of their gross pay, before taxes. Walter In 1936 and 1937, sales ran far ahead of estimates. But sudden ly they slumped in 1938, inven tories mounted rapidly and the SALUTE WAR DEAD Vice President Richard Nixon places President Eisenhower's wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery to high light the nation's observance of Memorial Day. plan was discarded. Some of the most widely-publicized plans have been the Nunn-Bush plan, the Procter and Gamble plan, and the Hormel plan. The Nunn-Bush plan guaran tees 52 weekly pay checks a year to some 600 employees. But the "guarantee" varies accord ing to sales, and the employes actually are guranteed merely 52 paycheck a year. Size isn't guaranteed. The Procter 'and Gamble plan "guarantees" 48 weeks of work each year. It has been in effect since 1923. But the company has retained the right to termi nate the guarantee at any time, or reduce the number of hours in the work week. Hormel Plan Under the Hormel plan, in ef fect since the late 1930s, most workers are guaranteed 38 hours a week for 52 weeks a year. But overtime worked in some weeks, instead of going to the employee at premium rates, is saved and meted out to him during slack periods. Most of the guarantee plans in effect also are limited to the calendar year also. As the year runs out, the employee's guaran tee runs out. Near the end of the year, there is little guaran tee left. The United Auto Workers plan, with a definite guarantee and no provision for offsetting short weeks with overtime pay in other weeks, also would ig nore the calendar year. A work er would have 52 weeks of pay guaranteed from any date of the year when he was laid off. The idea of the guaranteed annual wage isn't something new. But the United Auto Work ers plan is in scope, size and method. 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