President Reagan said today he will veto a defense spending bill if it is approved, as expected, by the House. Speaking to a private group in Washington today, the President said he was concerned about provisions in the bill that would ban nuclear testing and cut funding for his Star Wars defense system. The President also charged that the Soviet-backed ban on nuclear testing is "a backdoor to a nuclear freeze." And he accused the Soviets of a major propaganda campaign on the testing issue.


Israeli warplanes bombed suspected Palestinian guerrilla bases in Southeast Beirut today. Police said the bomb set at least four targets on fire. There are reports that two people were wounded in the attacks.


At a news conference in Pretoria today, South African Foreign Minister Pic Botha called international sanctions against his country "a mad perverse action" that will put many blacks out of work. But Botha said the South African government "accepts the challenge to overcome the effect of sanctions."


White House spokesman Larry Speakes said today President Reagan will veto on Friday a sanctions bill passed by Congress, but he admitted it will be tough to sustain the veto.


On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up four and a half points, closing at 1797.81. Trading was moderate, one hundred thirty-two million shares.


Israeli warplanes today bombed four suspected Palestinian guerrilla bases in Lebanon. Reports from Beirut say at least two people were wounded and a number of fires started in the four villages. From Jerusalem, Jerry Cheslow filed this report which was subject to censorship by Israeli authorities.
According to the Israeli army spokesman, the targets were bases belonging to two pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla organizations. Israeli military sources say one of the targets was a staging base for raids against northern Israel. Lebanese radio stations reported that at least two people were wounded in the attack south of Beirut and that Beirut International Airport was closed for half an hour. Israeli military sources stress that the air raid had nothing to do with this week's tensions along Israel's border with Lebanon. They were between the Shi'ite Muslim Hizbullah (Party of God) Militia and the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army Militia. Over the past two weeks, large Hizbullah forces stormed dozens of South Lebanese Army positions. Israeli military sources say that at least fifteen South Lebanese Army men and some fifty members of Hizbullah were killed. According to the sources the attacks also badly damaged the morale of the South Lebanese Army, and this led Israel to deploy a large force along its border with Lebanon. The force included troops, armor and artillery, and according to knowledgeable observers it was equipped for offensive action against Hizbullah. Senior Israeli defense sources say that Hizbullah was trying to take over all of southern Lebanon. Hizbullah has also been attacking Unifil, the UN force in Southern Lebanon. Over the past six weeks, four French Unifil troops were killed by Hizbullah, and just this morning a French UN base was rocketed in Southern Lebanon. There were no casualty, but some of its soldiers were blown off their seats. And the sources said that Hizbullah's domination of Southern Lebanon would be a direct threat to Israel. Some of its men who were killed were wearing kerchiefs with the words "Onward to Jerusalem" printed on them. But since the Israeli troops deployed along the border three days ago, there have been no Hizbullah attacks on the South Lebanese Army. By nightfall here in the Middle East, the Israeli troops had returned to their bases. For National Public Radio, I'm Jerry Cheslow in Jerusalem.


This week, Californian wine workers vote on a contract proposal from winery owners. The workers have now been on strike for six weeks. The contract proposal calls for cuts in wages and cuts in benefits. The prospects for rank and file approval seem slim. A central issue of the strike is the economic well-being of the California wine industry. William Drummond reports.
A gondola containing tons of freshly picked Chardenay grapes is dumped into a hopper as the process begins for bottling the 1986 vintage. The harvest has continued despite the fact that more than two thousand winery workers have struck twelve of the biggest wineries in Northern and Central California. Relying on automated plants and non-union labor, members of the Winery Owners' Association have succeeded in carrying on what looks like business is usual. But out on the picket line, union worker Pat Scoley is anything but pleased.
"I guess they're doing all right. If they aren't, they want us to think they are. I hope to hell they aren't, between you and me."
The union contract expired at the end of July, which is the beginning of the harvest, the time when wine makers usually need all the help they can get. But many plants are like the Charles Krug Winery, which has been completely automated. Owner Peter Mondaby says the strike has no effect on producing the product.
"We feel that we can go on indefinitely, because there's a lot of people who want to work. And it's only a question of training these people and, of course, with the system that we have, very well computerized, that they can fit in with a reasonable amount of training, that they can fit in. So, I mean, we're not concerned about it."
Actually, the heavy rainfall several days ago in the Napa Valley seemed to disturb the owners more than the strike. Mondaby produces around a million cases a year, super premium brands under the Charles Krug label, mid-range premium wines and jug wines. Mondaby says the industry took a beating during the last several years because of cheap wine imports from Europe. Even though Americans today are drinking more wine chiefly in the form of wine coolers, wine makers say there's not that much profit in the coolers, and they're still in a financial pinch.
"I feel that the industry has hit its low point and now in on the uptrend. Of course, it's not an uptrend that you will see overnight, but it is a healthy uptrend in a gradual growth manner now. But I wouldn't necessarily say a greater profitability because the profit is very, very marginal. The volume is there, it's true, but the profit is very, very marginal.
Mondaby's marginal profit argument does not win much support among striking workers, like Hannah Stockton, who works in the bottling plant at Christian Brothers.
"I don't believe it, 'because I read the paper every day, and I listen to the news. I mean, there has been increase in sale. I mean, ... I believe three or four years back, we had a slump in the industry. But wine is coming back. Now they are coming out with wine coolers; they are making money. We don't want a raise; we just want to keep what we've got."
Wages for workers in the winery industry range from around eight dollars to fifteen dollars an hour. The union was willing to give up a slight reduction in wages, but refused to accept cuts in the pension and health benefits. The employers reportedly want a twenty percent reduction in the wages and benefits package. Winery owners say the union has to recognize that overall costs have increased.
"Not only is your gross down; the competition has forced us to increase marketing and advertising, which is further eroding whatever margin was there."
David Spualding is general manager of a winery in Calistoga. Spaulding Vineyards is tiny compared to Charles Krug and Gallo, and Spaulding Vineyards is not on strike, but David Spaulding says he faces the same market forces as the big guys.
"I think the big problem is the same problem that faces agriculture all over this country; and that is surplus. You know we are producing more and producing it more efficiently, and we have a production that exceeds the demand in the market."
Spaulding says wine coolers have taken up some of the over-production, but not all of it. As for the union leaders, they don't think it's good idea to give back wages and benefits when the demand for the product is on the increase. Winery workers are voting all this week on the wages and benefits cuts proposed by management. Jerry Davis is an official of the union.
"From the people I talked to today and what the negotiating committee is stating, we ask a NO vote on this proposal."
The results are expected to be known by Thursday. For National Public Radio, I'm William Drummond reporting.