Problem of provoked strike
demands attention from unions

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

One of the many problems the trade union movement needs to give increasing
attention to is the provoked strike. A number of strikes in the recent period were of that
character. The employers, having huge surpluses of goods on hand—nickel in Sudbury
and steel in the U.S.A. are two good examples—then put the heat on the unions and the
workers during negotiations, offering them nothing or threatening to take away con-
ditions which the workers rightly consider important and for which they are prepared

to fight.

The provoked strike is the
result.

For the corporations a pro-
voked strike is often prefer-
able to mass lay-offs affecting
thousands and perhaps hund-
reds of thousands of workers.
Such lay-offs would result in
considerable. indignation, not
to. speak of hostility towards
the companies and the capital-

Mine-Mill urges
‘Rights’ Charter

A call for a Charter of
Labor’s Rights to guarantee
full employment at good
‘wages and security in old age
Was issued from the 11th An-
nual Convention of the Inter-
national Union of Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers, which
opened Sept. 14 in Toronto.
The charter proposed was in-
cluded in officer’s report, read
to the convention by national
président Nels Thibault.

Another highlight of the re-
port was the demand on the
federal government to require
pehsion vesting rights in pen-
sion plans. It proposed that a
delegation from the conven-
tion go to Ottawa to urge im-
mediate government action on
pension vesting.

The report urged that a
royal commission be sét” up to
investigate the metal mining
industry in Canada and to
make proposals for the use of
our metals in the best interest
of the nation. -

The report expressed a de-
sire of the Mine Mill union to
affiliate with the Canadian
Labor Congress on the basis
of. a six-to-one referendum
vote by the membership held
July. 21: -

“We make this undertaking
to be bound by the constitution
ef the Canadian Labor Con-
gress. We are prepared to as-
sume the same obligations as
another union affiliated to the
congress; that is what our
membership voted for. In turn,
eur membership expects to en-

joy. the same rights and priv-|

ileges as any other congress
affiliate. :

“We ask no more. We wiil
accept no less.” .

The report pointed to the
attacks against labour, partic-
ularly in British Columbia and
Newfoundland, and warned
that labor across Canada must
unite to defeat them.

ist system which breeds crises.
Public opinion would side with
the workers against the com-
panies. These companies
would truly be on the spot.

In a provoked strike the sit-
uation stands somewhat differ-
ently. Huge stockpiles in the
form of surpluses are elimin-
ated and conditions created for
bringing about an artificial
scarcity under cover of which
these corporations can raise
prices and increase their al-
ready swollen profits. The pro-
voked strike enables these

companies to place: the burden |_

of the crisis on the backs of
their employees. In effect the
workers suffer a form of lay-
off but are unable to get the
limited benefits of unemploy-
ment insurance.

Moreover, the corporations
hope the workers will exhaust
themselves in long strikes, be-
come dissatisfied with their
unions and union leaders and
thus become easy prey to com-
pany propaganda.- They hope,
too, that a prolonged strike
will empty union treasuries
and weaken the unions, mak-
ing it more. difficult for them
to stand up and fight at a later
stage when circumstances re-
quire it.

Not least, these socppations
having provoked the strikes
in the first place, then use the
situation they created to try to:
build -up -a_ hostile - public
opinion. against the workers
and: the -trade union. move-

ment. This last period, both in}

the USA and in. Canada, has

seen an intensive. big business |-:

campaigh directed. at making

the trade unions-scapegoats for| —.
and -° provoked}. :

price rises: ”
strikes. Unfortunately . ; their.
efforts have resulted. in’ some
temporary successes.

In this: period, when over-
production: is likely to become
a common feature in many in-
dustries, the provoked strike,

too, may become a common}|:-

characteristic; posing -new

problems for the workers to} -

solve:

It is not See. easy se the |

workers and their’ unions ‘to

sit tight in such a situation and} -

wait for a move favorable op-
portunity -to “develop.- Their

freedom of: action is limited be-| -

cause of- various government
controls and regulations. Giv-
en-freedom of action, unions
could decide to take action at
a time most advantageous to
them. But labor codes are not

‘ployers needs to be met by

aimed at giving freedom of ac-
tion to the workers. Rather
they are directed at limiting
such action and- giving the
maximum of advantage to the
employers.

Furthermore some _ union

leaders are fearful ‘of losing
the check-off, were they to
bide their time. Such an atti-
tude ‘shows that these _ so-
called leaders do not place too
much confidence in the work-
ers and their preparedness to
back the union to the hilt in
case of need. .
In some right-wing quarters
the solution is easy, at least
for them. Their advice would
be for the workers to give up
the fight and go along with
the employers. Were the work-
ers to accept this kind of ad-
vice they would lose their
shirts. The solution obviously
doesn’t lie there.

The workers who have had
to develop various forms of
struggle to meet the offensive
of employers at different
times, now need to devise ef-
fective forms of action to meet
this type of situation.

- Apart from anything else
the provoked strike of the em-

stronger forms of unity-on the
part of all unions; by coordin-
ation of efforts at every level
of the trade union movement
and-by- the-maximum of -soli-
darity, so that no group of
workers is compelled to fight

Continued from Page 6

men not to handle hot cargo
can no longer be enforced in
court. At the other end, work-
ers in a factory who receive
hot cargo are forbidden to re-
fuse to touch it.

With almost 80 percent of
our union members in Canada
holding cards in American
unions, this law should heat up
the debate on Canadian auto-
nomy.

If a Canadian member feels
aggrieved, can-he apply to a
U.S. court or the U.S. Secre-
tary of Labor for redress? If
not, does that mean. the new

law cannot be applied in any |

way in Canada? If the sections
dealing with internal proce-
dures are appended to, or in-
corporated in, the constitution
of an international union, does
that give them validity in
Canada? Would a Canadian
court so hold if a case was
brought before it? Obviously,
these questions will prove
most embarrassing to those
who seek to defend ‘the status
quo of the Canadian trade
union movement for all times.

Canadian workers who be-
long to American unions will
give ,warm, fraternal assist-
ance to their American broth-
ers in fighting this killer bill.
At the same time, they must
make it clear that we want no
such laws and no such prac-
tices in this country!

alone without the moral and
financial backing of the rest of
the trade union movement. It
requires, too, a high degree of
consciousness on the part of
the workers- and with it ad-
vance on the political arena so
as to change the situation in
favor of the working class.

The provoked strike needs to
be met by united action on the
economic and political field to
curb the power of the mon-
opolies.

End Wa

Continued from Page

clique on Formosa. US spo
men begrudgingly declared
“we will go as far tow
controlled disarmament as any
other country.” ae

Western diplomats feel thet ;
the plan will have strong DOP" —
ular appeal. One of its most
objectionable provisions they ~
claim, is the calling for a com ~
plete liquidation of all foreign”
bases, which would primarily
affect the US by the complete —
withdrawal of US forces from
Europe, including Britain
France.

Typical of the reaction o
many influential newspapers
was the editorial in the Va
couver Sun which stated “The
common people of all cou
tries will take no excuse from

Khrushchev plan with the ut:
most seriousness and examine
it truthfully and thoroughly:
Here’s something that cannot
be pigeon-holed.”

Get registered

Only’ two weeks remail,
September 30 being the dead
line, in which all citizens and
particularly tenants and resi-
dents are eligible to register
for the coming civic elections.
This applies only to municipal
ities outside Vancouver.

In a press release this week
the North Vancouver Civic Le
bor Elections Committee an-
nounced that _ registrations
booths will be available at the”
following places; 17th and
Lonsdale (outside Super-Valu);
16th and Lonsdale, (Isaacs
Pharmacy), and Super-Valu,
Westlynn Shopping Centre,
These registration booths wail
be open from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

———e

The Chinese people will celebrate October 1 the tenth anniversary of their National
Liberation Day and the founding of the Republic of China. This year’s celebrations will

be marked by tremendous socialist advances in all fields of endeavour.

It will also be

marked by renewed determination to unite the captive peoples of Formosa with their

Motherland,

September 25, 1959—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 8

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statesmen who fail to take the —

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