The Nome Nugget

ILWU Charges Discrimination Against U. S. Firms

SEATTLE. (AP) The Seattle local of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's union charged Wednesday that the army had discriminated against U. S. manufacturers in a recent call for bids for 120,000 barrels of cement at Whittier, Alaska.

William Gettings, regional director for the union, said the local had wired a protest to the entire Washington Congressional delegation.

He said the Whittier call provided that all American contractors would be bound by rules of specifications but that foreign competitors would be exempt from certain clauses.

These, he said, provide a ban on convict labor, adherence to the eight-hour day, 40-hour week, and require the use of American raw materials.

Gettings said a Bellingham firm, manufacturing cement, recently closed down because of shipments of Japanese cement into Seattle. He added that 42,000 barrels of cement have been shipped from Japan to Whittier, Alaska.

Army sources here, however, said they were unaware of any call for bids to furnish cement at Whittier. They said, however, that such a bid call might have been issued by a post officer at the scene.

Occasional exemptions to the specification rules are permitted, they said, but only on the action of a high-ranking official.

A number of offers to furnish foreign made products, including prefabricated houses from Sweden, for Alaska have been rejected here, it was said.