_. S€cret for a month.

THE NATION

Dirty politics in

GreatLakes battle |

* By TIM BUCK.

THE struggle of the Canadian Seamen’s Union
_. against the union-smashing drive of the
Canada Steamship Lines and a smaller company
18 approaching the end of its third month.
Legally and morally, the seamen and their
union are in an extremely strong position. Their
union is the established bargaining agency. It
has contracts with every company except the
two that launched this attempt to smash the
union, as well as with all the deep sea navigat-
ing companies, Relationships between the CSU
and the companies with which it has contracts
are excellent. The Trades and Labor Congress
and the Canadian Congress of Labor are both
Supporting it in this struggle. On top of the
Oregoing, the legal and moral position of the
seamen was made practically unassailable by
the report of the two commissioners appointed
y the government to investigate the dispute.
The commissioners, J. D. McNish and L. W.
Brockingon, reported that the actions of Canada
Steamship Lines are “contrary to accepted prac-
tices and the law as it has heretofore been
followed.” .

_. Thus, the Canadian Seamen’s Union is in the
tight according to recognized practice and the
law. The House of Commons-enacted a new law
during the recent session to regulate union-
Management relations in industries under Do-
Minion jurisdiction. If the law were enforced,

Canada Steamship Lines would be compelled to «|

deal with the CSU. ae
Why is it that CSL has been able to flout
the law and defy the labor movement for so
long? The reasons are political rather than
€conomic. CSL has set up a company union,
Scoured the country for scabs, and brought some
of the scoutjngs to its ships regardless of ‘cost.
But it couldn't have kept its vessels sailing with-
Out the connivance of the government.
Its vessels are sailing undermanned,
trar law. ;
‘bhe RCMP is in the service of CSL as
though it were a company police force.
Pickets are arrested and hel cas
bail in a planned effort to cripple the union fin-
ancially. A ship’s engineer fired upon ‘ ;
five of them, one seriousiy.

ickets, wounding s
r : arrested, and wounded
he men he shot were ; a Ceaacet

‘as they’ were, thrown into jail.
Was ditjwred to remain on board the Nar
ned ship'to get it up to Port Arthur. Public as h-
Orities can’t inconvenience Canada Steams ip
ines because of a mere matter of attempte
Murder, : eee
The decisive factor in the cynical and ‘ent
ess union-smashing scheme of the CSL has ae
and remains, the Dominion department of . or
—the minister of labor, Humphrey Mitche a
When the CSL launched its drive to a
the CSU, Humphrey Mitchell refused to en ce
the law; he protected the union-smashing © re
© the members of the House of Commons he
Misrepresented the issue, telling them is et
Jurisdictional dispute,” concealing the tac Rags
ullivan’s organization is purely and simp y a
Company - sponsored organization for un
Smashing, :
When his pretense, of a dispute between

; : : 3 fused
two bona-fide unions wore thin, Mitchell baaice.”

" ‘“c 1S. su
to act, on the plea that “the case 18 d by the

hen the two commissioners appointe

Sovernment reported in favor of the

Phrey Mitchell kept the contents of their report

-con-

Labor must act! Public opinion must cae
_ Pel the King government-to reverse ane ate We
Pursued by its ministry of labor. Canada : pe
ship Lines must be forced to conform. with oe
tablished practice, or the Dominion Saseene
Must be compelled to take gover. iis: Messels an

~SPerate them in conformity with the law.

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Control of American economy by a small group
, of powerful trusts is illustrated by this diagram
which appears in the July issue of Economic Out-
look, monthly CIO publication. The issue is devoted
to a study of monopoly. An expanded treatment of |
‘the subject is given in a new CIO pamphlet, How
Big Is Big Business? :
The tie-up between American and Canadian mon-
opoly and the extent to which Canada has become a
satellite of Wall Street is revealed in an article by
Stanley Ryersor written for the June ssue of

National Affairs. He shows that American capital
in Canada increased from $4.2 billion in 1939 to $4.9
billion in 1945, while British capital decreased from
$2.5 billion in 1939 to $1.7 billion in 1945.

\

Carsiiti sends arms
to bolster Chaing

_ —OTTAWA.

murder from the skies of defenseless Chinese

° THE
peasants or the shooting down of protesting students

CSU Hum- |

was warmly approved recently by Canada’s minister of
trade and commerce, C. D. Howe. Howe revealed at a
press conference that Canada was sending, in addition
to the 150 fighter planes already supplied, 100,000,000
rounds of ammunition. He explained that this was not
being done to keep Canadian munitions plants going.

“We are trying to stop the Commies,” he declared.
“Stopping the Commies”, translated, means» support-
ing the corrupt fascist regime of Chiang Kai-shek
against the majority of the people of China who are
fighting for rice, life and land. - ag
Hitler broughi death to 20,000,000 with exactly the

' game hideous purpose, ,

\

LABOR FOCUS

Wage results
point labor's road

By BRUCE MICKLEBURGH

| Desens is being tested by a big business
oifensive expressed in soaring prices, repres-
sive labor laws, violence, and attempts to tie
Canadian unions to the drive for aggression
against workers in other lands. Current wage
settlements give the workers a good yardstick
by which to measure up the type of leadership
needed to meet this test.

Take the 17-cent rail settlement. The over-
whelniing strike vote won this much in place of
the original 7-cent offer, but the unions had
already shown that at least 2344 cents was need-
ed to compensate for price boosts since the 1946
settlement, let alone make up for losses in real
wages prior to 1946.

The union had also shown that since 1939
rail wages rose 31.8 percent less than the aver-
age for all industries. Frank Hall, spokesman
for the 17 international brotherhoods, and the
type of conservative leadership he typifies, must
bear the main blame for letting down their own
membership and the whole struggle of the Can-
adian working class for higher wages.

An ominous note was sounded by Mackenzie
King in commenting on the rail settlement when
he said a strike might have have had a bad ef-
fect on the serious international situation. This
was an indication of government consideration
of moves to ‘block wage action as prejudicial to
the Marshall Plan. Even more ominous was the
echo of this design that came from J. E. Mc-
Guire, naticnal secretary of the CBRE, sole CCL
union involved. McGuire is quoted in the CCF
News as stating, “We still contend that we are en-
titled to a great deal more than the increase
agreed upon, but again we have taken into ac-
count the grave international situation and the
effect it has on our national economy.”

_. Contrast the 17-cent rail setlement with the
13 cents won by the United Electrical and Radio
Workers (CCIL.-CIO), from General Elec-
tric in Ontario. UE head C. S. Jackson an-
nounced that this brings total gains for GE, work-
ers to 40 cents since 1946. Compare 40 cents
with 17 cents and you can measure the difference
between the Hall, and Jackson type of leader-
ship at 23 cents.

x

British Columbia’s own IWA has already
won 27% cents since 1946, as well as the 40-hour
week, which offers convincing reason why boss
lumbermen have vainly hoped for Fadling-sup-
porter J. Stuart Alsbury to replace Ernie Dals-
kog as district president.

A special tactic by which the boss hopes to
prepare actual wage cuts is the escalator clause
which allows for reduction:of pay checks under
certain conditicns. It is tragic that the historic
General Motors local of the United Auto Work-
ers at Oshawa should have accepted such a
settlement. Other UAW locals are rejecting this
type of settlement, recognizing tha labor’s inter-
ests are not served by the type of agreement that
smothers attempts to raise real wages.

Now a section of conservative trade union lead-
ership in the Building Trades Council in Vancou-
ver is trying to gut over a similar proposal ad-
vanced by the Builders’ Exchange. . This deal
offers 10 cents hourly bonus for a year only, with
a 5-cent hourly adustment for each 5-point rise
or fall in the CCL index, adjusted every six
months. 3

Meanwhile shipyard workers have rejected
12% cents across the board and a 25-cent weekly
boost for every point rise in the CCL index.
They are insisting on 20 cents an hour plus a
40-cent weekly boost for every point rise and
will take the dispute to conciliation. ue

Five thousand Fruit and Vegetable Workers

» in the Okanagan may have to strike for even the

12% cents recommended by a conciliation board

. in place of the original 25 percent demand.

Pressure of rising prices is compelling the
workers to strike out for wages in spite of re-
pressive legislation and disruption in the house
of labor. The IWA’s fight for 40,000 woodwork-
ers may yet be joined by major ‘groupings in —
B.C. industry.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 30, 1948—Page 9