BUT op ee SE ty ERE MS Wil BAAR ST. LOUIS, MO. — McDonnell Douglas workers fight freezing weather and stubborn management as they picket the company’s headquarters in St. Louis, Mo. The 20,C00 members of the International Association of Machinists at installations in California, Cape Canaveral and St. Louis struck the giant aerospace firm Feb. 10. The union's previous contract expired last October and IAM members rejected a substandard offer from the company last month, charging that it was particularly deficient in the areas of wages and pension benefits. : LABOR SCENE BY BRUCE MAGNUSON Was it really a coincidence? Or was it a part of that “prize- fight strategy” in labor manage- ment relations that the Toronto Star editorialized upon a couple of days after the event? In any case the Trudeau government and Parliament legislated West Coast longshoremen: back to work exactly 12 minutes before midnight on March 24, the very _ same day that the Canadian La- bor Congress presented its an- nual brief to the Federal Cabinet. In less than five hours the bill went through Parliament and Senate and received royal assent. Oh, for a parliament that would act with such efficiency, speed and unanimity to curb the power of the corporate sector, the bankers, the land speculators and similar parasites who fleece the people of our country every minute of every day, 365 days of the year, and year after year. All the parties agreed that it was an emergency to get the grain moving. Labor Minister John Munro told the Commons . that although he personally finds back-to-work legislation repug- nant “we had reached the stage in this dispute where there is no alternative.” Tory MP John Fra- ser (Vancouver South) who as the main spokesman in the Con- servative campaign for strike- breaking legislation had pushed the bill for two weeks running, hypocritically reviewed this law - with “deep regret.” Mr. Broad- bent said that his party endorsed the bill with “great reluctance” because of the NDP’s general support for collective bargaining. Without Contrast | Thus the two capitalist parties came through as one could ex- pect, and voted 84 to 1] against a New Democratic Party amend- ment to have included in the bill a guaranteed minimum increase for the longshoremen. However, the failure of the NDP to oppose the principal issue, which was ta ~ a Sees Parliament acts as monopoly’s rubber stamp deprive the workers of their legal right to strike, was tanta- mount to a stab in the back for these workers that was hard to take from a party basing itself of labor support. Undoubtedly the NDP was pre- occupied with the movement of grain and the concern of the farmers with respect to this mat- ter. But then it is also necessary to view all the problems that have a bearing on this, and not only the temporary delay as a result of the workers exercising their right to strike. After all, the dockers had been working without a contract since Decem- ber 31, and the International Longshoremen and Warehouse- men’s Union had only begun its strike on March 2. But what about the railways and the transportation issue which has been in a rather per- manent mess for a long time? What steps has the government taken to correct that situation? Certainly it has not taken that situation very seriously-to do anything about it, much less to handle it like an emergency in - the way it is always ready to do when working people are involv- ed. Could it be that the govern- ment is afraid to step on corpor- ate toes, such as the powerful CPR for instance? Want CP Nationalized It is in place to point out here that The Canadian Railway Labor Association made some sweeping proposals for action on this matter in its brief submitted to the federal Cabinet also on March 24. It called for the na- tionalization of the CPR and the creation of a federal transport- equipment corporation. This is the first time that the rail unions representing over 100,000 work- ers have mentioned nationaliza- tion of CP Rail. It will be interesting to see how quickly the government and the Commons get around to do- ing something about this propo- sal. Similarly with respect to PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL. 4, 1975—Page 4 unemployment and the economy. February, 1975, was the fourth consecutive month in which there was a definite downturn in new orders, production levels and inventories in Canadian manufacturing and processing industries. This according to a survey by the Purchasing Man- agement Association of Canada. Demand Action Now At the same time, the corpor- ate structure is engaged in large- scale experimentation with tem- porary layoffs and indefinite lay- offs. In the transportation equip- “ment industry including auto- mobile these layoffs have result- ed in a close to 30% cut in the workforce while production has declined by 14%. This way of adjusting inventories to market demand, while increasing speed- up to get more production out of ever-fewer workers, is the mono- polies’ way of passing the cost of economic crisis unto the backs of working people. The same method of cutting the work force and pushing for more output is being tried also in the public services of this country. The time has come for organ- ized workers and all democratic people to demand action now by federal and provincial govern- - ments to put an end to layoffs, to guarantee jobs for everyone who seeks a job. The time has come to deal with inflation by curbing monopoly . price-fixing and profiteering, and seeing to it that enough real purchasing power is put into the hands of people in need who can take up the slack in the domestic econ- omy. The time is long overdue to end the shameful housing crisis, by'a building program of public housing at prices people can afford. Let us see if the House of Commons can move as fast on these urgent and emergency is- sues as it has shown its ability to do in the case of forcing strik- ing workers back to their jobs and depriving them of their de- mocratic right to strike. ASBESTOS WORKERS EXPECT LONG STRIKE THETFORD MINES, Que. —. About 3,500 asbestos .mine and mill workers went on strike last week, and union leaders in this community 130 miles east of Montreal say they expect a pro- longed conflict. Some 5,000 persons, or 60% of the. employable residents of this community of 22,000, are currently without work. The striking asbestos workers, whose contract expired last Dec. 31, are deadlocked with man-' agement on wage and health is- sues. About 2,500 strikers are affiliated with the Confederation of National Trade Unions, while another 1,000 belong to the United Steelworkers of America. UAW TO CONCENTRATE ON FRINGE BENEFITS MEMPHIS, Tenn. — United Auto Workers in the U.S. will concentrate on fringe. benefits rather than wages in contract talks next year, a UAW Official said last week. “There are no plans to seek an across-the-board wage in- crease,” said ~Thurman Payne, president of the UAW foundry council, at a meeting of the UAW’s international spring conference. The conference meets to prepare resolutions for bargaining. Payne said this is the first time since 1958 the union will not seek a wage increase. CNR PLANS: NEW LAYOFFS MONTREAL — Canadian Na- tional Railways , (CNR) plans cutbacks soon in staff and equip- ment because of stagnating eco- nomic conditions, president Ro- bert Bandeen said last week. The company will be ready to launch its “belt-tightening” measures in a week, he said. Cutbacks will include a staff reduction of less than 10 per cent through attrition, elimina- tion of new hirings and layoffs, he said. Less freight-moving equip- ment will be in service due to a decline in transportation de- mand. - ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO ORGANIZE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — The Newspaper Guild said in Ottawa that it has applied to the Canada Labor Re- lations Board for certification to represent employees of The Can- adian Press, Broadcast News Ltd. and Press News Ltd. A library workers. LABOR .Cashin said. ‘a March 18 company offer 0) ~ company laid off 181 employ’ OSHAWA — Pickets, members of the Canadian Union. of P Employees, Local 960, staged the first strike by library work Oshawa. CUPE spokesman, Doug Lindsay, said meetings have © set up with other labor groups in the city to ask for support f »BRIEF a “oul guild spokesman said a stantial majority” of employe had joined the union. The adian Press, the national ne agency co-operative, maintal? eight major news bureaus | staff correspondents in six ott cities in its Canadian operati( FISHERMEN WIN NEW CONTRACT IN NEWFOUNDLAND ST. JOHN’S, Nfid. — A uf fishermen have voted 9 favor of a new contract that enable each man to earn ? tween $12,000 and $15,000 nually. _ But one of six major fish © panies affected by a traw men’s strike that began Jai. ’ has rejected the agreement. Richard Cashin, president the Newfoundland Fisher Food and Allied Workers’ Ut said the new agreement giv each member of a trawler’s ¢ a guaranteed daily income © $20 while at sea. 3 Various fish price ' ott applied to normal catches “| about 100,000 pounds a 10-0) — trip and the guaranteed ¢ ily wage will mean between $12, and $15,000 a year for m® aboard modern stern trawl —_—_———_ MEDIATOR APPOINTED | IN UAW STRIKE TORONTO — A mediator 4 been appointed by the Ontal ministry of labor to try to set the six-week strike by 700 &) ployees of Standard Tube Cané da Ltd. of Woodstock, Ont. The workers, members of United Auto Workers, reject’ e would have brought averae wages to $5.85 an hour from ©) current average of $5.25. Before the strike began, PSAC VOTES ON AGREEMENT OTTAWA — Federal blue“ lar workers narrowly ratifie tentative contract settle last week. The tentative agree® would give the workers, wh? clude postal and airport ™ tenance men and grain welg™ and samplers, pay raises 29.25% over a 26-month pe and a lump-sum payment $600. Average hourly pay to workers was $4.42 under the contract which terminated November.