‘Millard’s ‘10c- plus’ plan opposed

by union leaders before House body

OTTAWA.—‘Tt’s @ sell-out.”
raged workers. Striking delegates j
Grst stunned, but soon seethed with anger, as

Stalment-plan in Ottawa, last
ot until December 1 would
the workers receive a 1515 cent
hourly increase according to Mil-
lard’s nefarious scheme. Eiven the
unsatisfactory 44-hour week was
mot to Start until April, 1947. for
30,000° steel workers this would
mean a cut of $332 million in
toss of overtime pay (difference
between a 40 and a 48-hour week.
it would add up to almost $1
million in the hand-out to steel
companies which the instalment
plan offers them. Tf Millard’s
scheme were to become a pat-
_ tern for 3 million industrial of
\ Hee and professional workers it
|) would easily add up to a $100
million gift to the monopolists.
_ One individual took upon him-
' self, without consulting his col-
leapues in the Wage Coordina-
ting) Commitee of the CCL, the
decision. to rob the Canadian
people of at least 100 million
gollars of purchasing power!

AS strikers came out of the
Reilway Committee room on that
fateful day of August i the
terrible facts began to emerge:

e Millard had Sabotaged
participation of rank and fle
steel workers in the Ottawa trek:

Ss Millard admitted under
questioning that he had reached

a tentative agreement last April
with the department of labor
'for a i10-cent increase in steel.
| This was obviously a behind-the-
,scehnes maneuver executed with-
out consulting with the Wage Co-
ordinating. Committee of the CCL,
or with his own rank and file;

' Millard had brushed aside
offers of help by Westinghouse
“and Firestone workers in Hamil-
ton to their brothers in Stelco
“(before the strike), at a time
when such support might have
darred the 2500 scabs from the
oiant; :
| @ Millard had turned
-lown cold the pleas of Pat Con-
“Oy, secretary of the CCL, and
»3t the majority of the other mem_
rs of the Wage Coordinating
Sommmittee, that Conroy, as chair-
-nan, take the stand for all mem-
+r unions before Steel made its
'wo proposals:

| @® Millard, in complete vio-
“ation and betrayal of agreements
eached by the Wage Coordinat-
og Committee last February,
“offer,” without con-

Millard
“10-cent now’’
ropesal, when the scabs in Stelco
vere getting the 10-cent increase,
hen “Hilton and other monop-
lists, as well as Mitchell and
toach had offered 10 cents be-
“ore the strike

These facts were forcibly
fought home by union leaders at
‘ne afternoon meeting held in
tose Hili -Park by the 600 dele
ates from auto, electrical, rub-
=r, Mine, mill and smelter unions.
‘eorge Burt of the UAW echoed
he sentiments of auto delegates

vhen he said: “The UAW will
"8t accept Millard’s instalment
roposals., Millard produced

is plan in spite of the earlier
sreement by his union that there
ould be complete discussion in
© Wage Coordinating Commit-
2@ before any offers were made.”
‘SOntinuinge to represent the de-
=[rmined Opposition of the rank
file delegates, Burt con-

want their mini-

By ROBERT M. LAXER
Tribyne Otte, Correspondent

Shame, shame!” “Speak

«6

week.

for yourself”’—shot from en-

n the Industrial Relations Committee Room were at
Millard proposed his

10 - cent - plus -in -

Cc. EH. MILLARD
Canadian Director, USA
“. . . his 10c-plus instalment plan
Cost the steel workers nearly 312-
million dollars.”

fight. We can win! We cau
demonstrate to the entire pub-
lic that a higher living stand-
ard can be won for the work
ing class and the population as
a whole.” u

C. P. Wayne of the Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers hit out
against a 10-cent settlement.

C. S. Jackson, United FElectri-
cal Workers, summed up the meet-
ing in fighting words: “We dc
not believe this offer represents
the sentiments of workers on the
Picket lines of U.H. plants. It is
Surprising that the director of
Steel made this offer without con-
sultation.” Giving a lead to the
battling unions, he lashed out at

the “bosses who chose ’Steleo as
the place to break the 50,000
strike front. The manufacturers

have agreed to starve the work-
ers, to smash our unions, so that
in two or three year§ they can
pile up enough profits to swim

through the depression which
their very policies bring closer
every day.” We warned against

any attempt by the government
to evade its responsibilities. ‘‘The
parliamentary committee hasn’t
got half the power of the zgov-
ernment.”

in a ringing voice which may

have been heard by 10-cent
Mitchell on Parliament Hill, he
concluded, “This fight must be

won. It will be won on the picket
lines!

Millard did not show his
face at this rank and file meet-
ing. For two weeks he has been
mixing freely with Tory and Lib-
eral MPs, with steel bosses with
Justice Roach and Humphrey
Mitchell. But he didn’t dare face
honest trade unignists who have
been pounding picket line pave-
ments for four to twelve weeks.

Terrifying as such a conclusion
was, the 600 rank and filers saw
that treachery had been ramp-
ant within their own ranks. The
Millard maneuver could ‘only be
a move to break the front of
fighting labor, so hard hitting
and victorious in recent months.
Why this sudden lowering of la-
bor’s “demands in an hour when

demands. The Congress
sadership must act together to
=¢ that this is achieved.”

Pat Conroy, CCE secretary,
caught the spirit of unity of
the thousands in the wage move-

ment. “It is unfortunate that
the Congress position for all
anions was not placed before
hat of Steel. However regard-

5 0f the good intentions of
he parliamentary committee
he issue Can and must be de-
“rmined by the rank and file
nm the picket lines. We must
“aintain” 2 hundred percent
inited fighting front. When you
0 home you have the solution
an your hands. Keep up the

ACTETGC- TRIBUNE — PAGE 3

the citadel of big business was
being stormed by labor legions
and decisive victory in the wage
battle appeared in sight? One
Chrysler striker walking out of
the parliament buildings gritted
his teeth as he said, “Judas did
it for thirty pieces. Millard sells
us for ten cents.”

Even Sinclair, (Zib., Yancou-
ver North), commented to Mil-
lard, “You are too modest in put-
ting your demands for 15 cents
and 44 hours off that far.”

The full meaning of this tech-
nique of sell-out perfected by
some “labor leaders’ may require
a little longer for all trade union-

ists to grasp. But learn we must,
if the fighting front is to be re-
stored, if a reliable general staff
is to be created to lead the
workers to future victories.

in the meantime the rumbling

and the echo which started in
the very room where Millard
spoke in Ottawa. must become

a deafening roar in the whole
country. This week negotiations
in Steel will resume in the capi-
tol. Workers in steel and their
fellow workers in other indus-
tries who have been their com-
rades-in-arms in Hamilton, Sid-
ney and the Sault, must let Mil-
lard and the government know
how they feel about the “instal-
ment plan.” Rank and file steel
didn’t get to Ottawa, but they
Can forestall a sell-out by join-
ing other workers in creating the
biggest stream of telegrams which
has ever flooded the capital.
The fighting front must be}
strengthened. The decision res
with the picket lines. ;

Decision to remove picket lines
wes made after operators had
accepted the union’s offer to re-
turn to work at wage rates in
force before the strike, with the
final wage award to be made
retroactive to the date work was
resumed, as outlined in 2 union
memorandum presénted to com-
mission hearings last Friday.

The memorandum stated that
the offer had been made possible
by the Regional War Labor
Board's cancellation of an earlier
award of 10 cents an hour on the
joint application of the AFL
Moulders’ Union and 13 operators.
at the same time as the board
rejected joint application of the
CCL Metal and Chemical Work-
ers Union and three operators
for 15 cents an hour.

The board’s cancellation of the
10-cent award, the CCl union’s
memorandum opined, had elimin-
ated the main source of friction
between the union and employers:

Harvey Murphy, western rep-

resentative for the International

their anti-union fight to smash

Openly defying the govern-
ment since the end of the strike
they have been continually vio-
lating the controllers orders. They
have violated the hiring clause in
our contract and are rehiring men
from the strikebreaker Cap. H.
N. McMaster. They are intimidat-

ing the seamen on board ship, ad-
vising them against joining the
Canadian Seamen’s Union. They
are violating the eight hour day
which was ordered by the Na-
tional War Labor Board. To date
the controller has failed to prose-
cute any of these companies for
their continued violations. of his
orders.

At the same time the operators
are continuing to order the arrest
of the leaders of the union on
charges under the obsolete Can-
ada Shipping Act. More than a
hundred of our memibers have
been arrested under this act. With
the aid of the Duplessis govern-

The striking workers on the Chr

tinguished visitor last week.

a placard on the picket line. He was Paul Robeson, fa
“Hello fellows, I will do what I can to help.

Shipping bosses defy
gov't, declares CSU

By HARRY DAVIS
President, Canadian Seamen’s Union
TORONTO.—Certain Great Lake shipowners are refus-
ing to negotiate in good faith with the union. They have
been using stalling tactics in order that they might continue

the Canadian Seamen’s Union.

ment, officers of the union are
being remanded in jail without
bail On the other hand when the
union has attempted to issue war-|
rants for the arrest of company
officials for violation of the
controller’s order, these warrants
have been denied.

These arrests are setting a dan-
gerous pattern and are a threat to
the entire labor movement. The
Canadian people have just fought
a long and hard war and have
made great sacrifices to defeat the
fascist enemies who would have
attempted to rob us of our Tights.
Our seamen are determined that

(Continued on Page 8)

| Operators accept offer
to end foundry strike

Picket lines were removed last weekend from 32 Van-
couver foundries and metal plants, strikebound for eleven
weeks, as Vancouver Metal and Chemical Workers Union
(CCL) implemented its decision to return to work and await
the Regional War Labor Board’s_ ruling on Commissioner
David Whiteside’s recommendations in the dispute.

Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter
Workers, of which the Metal and

Chemical Workers Wnion is an
affiliate, said he expected “the
Regional War Labor Board to

base itself on the commissioner’s
findings at the end of the hear-
ings.”

The B.C. Wartime Labor Rela-
tions Board is now being asked
by the CCL union to rule on 12
applications for certification which
have been held up since the strike
started.

Tribune
Apologizes
To Black

The Pacific Tribune
ceived from Buell, ENis
gent, solicitors for R. S.
Black, wholesale agent for the
Vancouver News-Herald, a de
mand for retraction of the follow-
ing statement, published ‘in its
August 2 issue:

“A leading figure in attempts
to intimidate newsvendors re-
fusing’ to handle the Province
is “Blackie” Black, wholesale
agent for the MNews-Herald.
Vendors have been told that
they will get no copies of the
News-Herald to sell unless
they agree to take the Prov_
ince. One vendor, at least, has
been threatened with loss of
his corner for having helped
to picket the Province.” ~
She ietter from Bluell, Edis
and Sargent, states that “there is
not a particle of truth in these
statements.”

In complying with this demand,
the editors’ of the Pacific Tribune
point out that the statement pro-
tested by Black was published in
good faith on the Strength of
information received from mnews-
vendors in the city. Since receiy-
ing the letter from Bell, Ellis
and Sargent, the editors have
checked upon this information
and can find no instance where
vendors have been told by Black
(Continued on Page 8)

bas re-
and Sar-
“Blackie”

ri

See CSU

See APOLOGY

continue to go on them until decent conditions are won.”
shook hands with all the pickets.

ysler picket line at Windsor, Ontario, had a most dis-
He not only sang a number of songs for them, but carried
med Negro baritone. Said Robeson,
Pve been on lots of picket lines and will

Before he left for Detroit he

ERIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1946