Mt. Pleasant Daily Times (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 124, Ed. 1 Friday, September 7, 1956 Page: 4 of 8
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Until then—GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
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Until such time as all of our employees come back to work, we
are going to keep a part of the plant in operation as a protection to
our future.
And again, I repeat, the Company feels that if it is to respect the
right of employees to strike, it also must respect the wishes of those
who tvant to continue working.
In this respect—and IF it is the wilt of thermembers of our local
union—I say that these good people have every right to strike. Whe-
ther the issues involved are worth striking over is a matter for argu-
ment, but as for the democratic right to strike, there is no question but
what these people are well within both the moral law and the legal
Perhaps you have not realized the REAL condition Lone Star
faces as a strike looms within two or three hours from now. .
At the present, I do not contemplate any more special broad-
casts,, but I urge that you listen to our regular programs Saturday
night, on KLTV, Tyler at 7:00 p.m., on KCMC-TV, Texarkana, Sun-
day at 3:00 p.m., and KIMP, Mt.Pleasant, Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
Now, it is with a great deal of reluctance that I must advise you
that those of our employees who fail to report for work after Thurs-
day night will receive their final pay checks by mail immediately.
These final checks wil be prepared and mailed immediately to the
home addresses of our employees.
It is my keenest and most sincere desire that the time will not
be long until I shall again enjoy speaking to you as a member of our
great Lone Star family.
Now perhaps some of you are wondering under what conditions
the plant will be operated during this interim period of a strike. I think
it is only fair for the Company to advise you of what we have in mind.
All of you know that when we reline the blast furnace, we spend
several months accumulating materials. It’s a gigantic job in actual
working time, even when the best plans are carried out, relining the
furnace means the production of iron is shut off for well over a month,
and conceivably this might run into, several months. In a case where the
blast furnace lining is destroyed as the result of a quick shutdown,
and where no plans have been made for securing materials and the
services of experts to do the job, we might lose as much as six months
in getting the furnaceback into production. Virtually, the same condi-
tion exists in the coke oven department. The open hearth furnaces are
just as liable to damage, but their repair would not require as much
time as would be the case in rebuilding the blast furnace or coke ovens.
Thus, all employees who are inside the plant before midnight
will be permitted to stay.
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By the same token, we think that the laws of our great state are
fundamentally right, and that if a man has a right to strike, he also
has a right to work. Legally, and morally, he has the same right to work
on the one hand, that he has to refuse to work on the other.
We intend to protect both of those rights. We certainly have no
thought of reprisals of any sort foror employees who refuse to work
when our contract terminates tonight at midnight. No one will be cen-
sured for walking a picket line. No one will be abused by Company rep-
resentatives. Every man will be treated fairly.
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In closing this little talk, I want you to know that I personally
appreciate the fine cooperation you have given me back through the
years. I have always felt that I have enjoyed your confidence. I re-
gret that th is-strike indicates that some of our employees see fit to
place their confidence and loyalty elsewhere.
It is evident at this late hour that barring some sort of a miracle.
Lone Star Steel Company’s plant will be struck at midnight tonight.
As a result of this condition, it is also evident that the men who inter-
pret the desires of the big International Union have had their instruc-
tions from Pittsburgh, and that Lone Star is to be made something of
an example despite the fact our plant was only one of 64 basic steel
companies which did NOT go on strike with Big Steel on July 1.
However, for our employees who desire to continue working, the *
gates are open. We, intend to continue a portion of our operations,
simply because we feel that it is in the interest of all concerned to pro-
tect the plant’s facilities so that they will be in order when the strike
isover.
A STATEMENT by the president
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At this point, I want to clarify a statement I made the other day
about our termination date. I recall that I said we had never had a
termination date other than September 7. In our first two or three con-
tracts, way back when we were only a merchant iron operation, we
had several different dates, but when we became a fully integrated
steel mill, we were under the September 7 date, and have remained so.
This termination date of September 7, incidentally, has caused a
lot of talk. I can’t see why it is so important to the Union, especially
since it is a date that does not come up again for three years. And
three years, from now, after all benefits have been received even the
Lone Star is not like one of the big steel mills which has seven or
eight blast furnaces. If one goes down, there are others to keep up
the supply of iron. Lone Star doesn’t have several batteries of coke
-ovens. We have only one. Our open hearth furnaces aren’t lined up
like so many ducks on the pond. We have only four furnaces, and the
loss of just one of these seriously affects the level of operation and the
number of men on the job throughout the entire plant.
(Note: This statement was issued at 6 p.m. Wednesday
. a
ML rleasant, Texas, Daily Times, Friday Evening. September 7,1956
of LONE STAR STEEL COMPANY
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(Signed)
E. B. GERMANY
President
I want you to know that I appreciate the attention you have given ,
my radio talks and telecasts during the past few days. Your time is
valuable and I am grateful for your listening inf
——
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We recognize that there must be rules, regulations and under-
standings where sowmany people are concerned. We intend to give ef-
■ feet to the wage increase granted by the United States Steel Corpora-
tion to end the recent strike. This is to say that employees who remain
on the job will be paid the NEW Big Steel wage rates beginning at
< midnight tonight.
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Because so many employees requested that they be permitted to
remaiu in the plant after the strike starts, we have made provisions to
sleep and feed these loyal workers. We realize that it would be embar-
rassing to them if they had to cross a: picket line every day, so to pre-
vent this necessity of violating a picket line, we have moved in several
hundred beds, and have gotten on hand a heavy supply of provisions for
meals. In this manner, employees who feel that they should help pro-
tect the future of the Company will be able to remain inside the plant
for an indefinite period of time, and will not have to violate a picket
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Mt. Pleasant Daily Times (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 124, Ed. 1 Friday, September 7, 1956, newspaper, September 7, 1956; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1618945/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.