Statement by the President on the Longshoremen's Strike.

ON JANUARY 11 the International Longshoremen's Association struck all Atlantic and Gulf ports. They have been closed ever since.

The injury to the economy resulting from this shutdown has reached staggering proportions.

Continuation of this strike is totally unjustified in the North Atlantic and East Gulf ports where agreement has already been reached.

Its only purpose there is to bring pressure to bear on settlements not yet reached in the South Atlantic and West Gulf ports.

I believe in free collective bargaining. But this is not collective bargaining in any legitimate sense.

The West Gulf and South Atlantic disputes have been narrowed down to one or two key issues. These have been the subject of exhaustive Government study, as requested by the parties, and of protracted bargaining. Time is being used now only for pressure, not for reason.

I am directing the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Commerce to meet with these parties immediately, and have requested Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon to join with them in recommending to the parties a fair and equitable disposition of these issues or a procedure for finally resolving them without further interference with the Nation's business and injury to its welfare.

They will report to me by 12 noon on Friday whether their recommendations have been accepted.