News stories from Saturday March 4, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The miners' vote for the proposed coal contract was running heavily against ratification. Results from 204 of the 794 local unions showed that 7,544 votes were cast for approval and 16,746 for rejection. Nearly 160,000 members of the United Mine Workers Union are eligible to participate in the voting, which will be completed tomorrow.
The proposed coal settlement is regarded as little short of a disaster by President Carter's economic advisers, despite the administration's hope that the pact will be ratified this weekend. The administration economists fear the contract will be inflationary.
[New York Times] - Taxpayers are resisting the pay claims and increasing fringe benefits of public employees. "We've seen a growing animosity toward public employees over the last two years and it continues to grow," said William Lucy, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The number of public employees climbed from 9.9 million in 1966 to 13.1 million in 1976. Their compensation rose to $190 billion from $30 billion, adding to the strain on local revenue sources. [New York Times]
- A major Israeli-American dispute has arisen over the American view that United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 obligates Israel to withdraw occupation forces from at least part of the West Bank of the Jordan and from the Gaza Strip. The difference in views has caused a major behind-the-scene rift between the two countries, administration and Israel officials acknowledged. Resolution 242 followed the 1967 war in which Israel occupied Arab lands and since then has been the basis of most Middle East diplomatic efforts. The resolution specifically states that Israel must withdraw from the occupied lands. The Israelis contend that the resolution obligates them to withdraw from some occupied territory but does not state specifically that this must include the West Bank and Gaza. [New York Times]
- Bonn-Washington ties deteriorated in recent months, administration officials say, but they insist there is no crisis in relations with this country's strongest ally. West German officials agree, and attribute the coolness, as do the administration officials, principally to a lack of personal "chemistry" between President Carter and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. There are also serious policy differences. [New York Times]
- The Soviet Union's rising crime rate is troubling the government and the public. This is apparent despite a government policy that keeps almost all reports of unsolved crime out of newspapers and off radio and television, and violence out of movies and television shows. "If we wrote about crime in Moscow every day," said a staff member of the government newspaper Izvestia, "there would be as much fear as there is in New York." Teenagers are believed to be responsible for much of the murders, rapes, beatings, muggings and burglaries that occur with frequency. [New York Times]