March 27, 1978 – CBS World News Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
March 27, 1978 – The 16-week old Coal Miners strike was looking to be at an end – for the most part. Most of the Soft Coal Miners went back to work, their nationwide walkout at an end after almost sixteen weeks. However, the continuing strike of Mine Construction Workers was in danger of tossing a wrench into the works. Negotiators for the Mine Construction Workers and the Association of Bituminous Mine Workers were hoping to reach a tentative agreement before the day was over. With the Coal Miners contract approved it intensified negotiations, running until past midnight the day before. Both sides were optimistic and barring any snags they were hoping to reach an agreement. In the meantime, the Association appealed to workers not to picket mines, because blocking workers from reporting back on the job would deny those miners a $100 back-to-work bonus. The appeal however, was being ignore by coal miners in several states who set up picket lines anyway. And on it went.
From Lebanon; Israel was emphasizing its ceasefire in Southern Lebanon was not open-ended. Defense Minister Weitzman told a gathering of Mayors in Northern Israel he would wait “just a couple of days more” to see if the Palestinian guerrillas would abide by the terms of the ceasefire. Weitzman warned if they don’t stop shooting, the Israeli Army would take action. The Mayors had gathered because many of their towns were still the daily the target of Palestinian artillery and rocket fire. Weitzman said he was hoping things would quiet down long enough for the UN Peacekeepers to take over and have the situation in hand. It was also reported that Weitzman was planning on flying to Cairo soon to be part of a three-pronged Israeli initiative to get Israeli-Egyptian peace talks rolling again.
And Japanese Police stormed the stronghold of groups opposing the new International Airport at Narita, 40 miles northeast of Tokyo. But the action came too late to prevent serious damage to the airport facilities. Groups ransacked the control tower at the heart of the airport, causing severe damage that spokespeople said would take months to repair. Also damaged was the political career of Prime Minister Fukoda. Government officials conceded that opening the airport as scheduled within days was impossible. The only debate was how long the opening would be postponed. Opponents claimed it was an overwhelming victory, and vowed to accept nothing less than permanent abandonment of the $2.5 billion airport – an airport that, so far has never been used.
And that’s just a little of what went on, this March 27, 1978 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
