10 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER DECEMBER 1976 — JANUARY 1977 MEMBERS OF LOCAL 1-423 IWA, employed at Crown Zellerbachs Kelowna Lumber Division, are shown relaxing at their Annual Fishing Derby at Beaver Lake. Gentleman wiping his hands on right is Des Hickey, Plant Chairman. i q —s By KAREN SANFORD Member of the Legislative Assembly for Comox Despite the failure of the so- called “right to work’’ resolu- tion at the last Social Credit convention, the movement to break labour unions through this sort of legislation is alive and well — not only in the right-wing fringes of that party, but also in the cabinet itself. Much attention was paid to the debate at the convention. The resolution called on the government to bring in a law that would allow non-union workers to hold jobs in shops with union contracts, enjoying the benefits of a collective agreement without making any contribution to the union. In effect, it would do away with the union shop, undo the finan- cial and moral strength of the union. The arch-conservative ex- tremists who promote such legislation called it the “‘right to work’’, but a more apt des- cription would be the right to freeload. What the Social Crediters planned for B.C. is modelled on laws in the southern United States, places like Arkansas and Mississippi where union- busting is a basic part of reac- tionary and corrupt regimes. Certainly, if ever enacted in this province, it would en- danger the very existence of one of the most powerful and hard-won instruments in the hands of labour — the integrity of the union shop. But Premier Bennett and his Labour Minister Allan’ Williams would not support the resolution. With much drama — and the television crews advised in advance — they spoke out against the proposal and even praised the labour movement. In the end the reso- lution was defeated by a voice vote. Whether or not Bennett and company are really champions of labour, we’ll leave, not to imagination, but to the memory of those who can recall the errantly anti-labour history of the Social Credit Party. This is of course the party that prohibited union members from making political donations through their unions while Social Credit, then as now, operated on millions of dollars donated by management. This is the party that denied government employees collective bargain- ing rights of any kind. Nonetheless, the younger Bennett spoke out against the “right to work” resolution. I think it is clear that the real reason was not that he cared much about keeping unions strong, but rather that he is anxious to clean up the ex- tremist image of his govern- ment. But the right to freeload spectre is still here. The failure of the resolution by a voice vote does not do away with the fact that the resolution did get to the floor of the convention and that it was endorsed by hun- dreds. of Social Credit delegates. It also does not do away with the fact that members of the cabinet ac- tually lobbied for the resolution at that convention. With this kind of influence on the present government, one wonders how long it will be before such a bill, or similar anti-labour legislation, is rolled through the Legislature with the endorsement of the Social Credit majority whose hatred of organized labour is already a matter of record. No there won’t be a right to free- load bill this year. But what about next year? | GOV'T. ENDING INDEXING _OF FAMILY ALLOWANCE Ed Broadbent, federal leader of the NDP, has learned that the federal government is now considering putting an end to all future indexing of family allowance payments, a move he says that would adversely effect low and middle-income families. In a statement delivered while on tour in Manitoba, Broadbent pointed out that the government cancelled this year’s indexing of payments last December ‘for one year only”, but says plans are now underway to make the change permanent. The elimination of indexing family allowance for inflation cost Canadian families $230 million this year, and ‘‘the fact that they are now moving toward the total elimination of indexing is another clear example of just who is being asked to bear the brunt of the government’s so-called war against inflation,’ he said. Not only is it unfair to low income families ‘‘who are already getting less of the nation’s total income than a few years ago” but it is also “bad economics”’, the federal NDP leader charged. “As the department of finance pointed out just prior to this year’s budget, it was the payment of family allowances, old age pensions and other government transfers that helped strengthen the economy in 1975. Without them, we would have experienced as severe a recession as in the United States.” Cutting family allowances “will not reduce inflation,” he said, “but it will reduce pur- chasing power and the creation of new jobs in the economy required to reduce the present level of 750 thousand Can- adians who are unemployed.” IWA DID FINE JOB ON PROTEST DAY — For those in the media across the country who could not see past the numbers game the October 14 National Day of Protest was a failure. But the inability of the media to see anything the labour movement does as successful should surprise no one. For those who missed it, the purpose of October 14 was not to see how big a parade the labour movement could mount but rather it was a protest against an unjust law by with- holding our labour for a day. There were over one million people who did not show up for work in this country on October 14. In those terms the Day of Protest was a resounding success. The media didn’t take into consideration that in some cases the public transit systems were down so workers wanting to take part in demon- strations could not make it. Not all working people own cars. For others the Day of Protest was a chance to rest from their gruelling labour in the middle of the week, something they don’t very often get the oppor- tunity to do. Another point the media con- veniently missed was the fact that for the first time in the history of North America, organized labour rallied its strength to shut down an entire nation. It was not a strike but purely a political act against the government motivated by the political expediency of that government. Although the government doesn’t like to admit and the employers don’t like to admit it, October 14 National Day of Protest was a success and the fact we did not have all those 1.2 million workers in the streets makes it no less suc- cessful. As far as the IWA’s partici- pation in the Day of Protest it was shining example to all trade unionists and workers. Throughout Western Canada our members stayed off the job and joined in solidarity with the rest of the labour move- ment to make the day a suc- cess. The IWA membership need not take a back seat to anyone when it comes to fighting for our rights and the way of life we have earned through our labour. LABOUR GAZETTE RAPS LABOUR NEWS News coverage of unions has come in for strong criticism in The Labour Gazette, the monthly publication of the federal department of labour. Newspapers and broadcast outlets are rapped for hiring too few labour specialists and for not leaving them on the beat long enough to learn how to do their job properly. “Those of us covering the labour relations field are spread too thinly,’’ writes Wilf List, a 25-year veteran of the labour beat for The Globe and Mail. List makes the comment in one of four articles on media coverage in. The Labour Gazette’s current issue which carries the usual disclaimer that the opinions don’t neces- sarily reflect the department’s views. In another article, Ed Finn, information director for the Canadian Brotherhood of Rail, Transit and General Workers, and a columnist for The Toronto Star, suggests it will take to five years for a reporter to “assimilate the knowledge to turn out consistently fair, full and factual stories on labour issues.’ But few reporters ‘either choose, or -are allowed,” to remain on the beat for even as long as two years, Finn adds. Two other articles, written by Roy LaBerge, are based mainly on interviews with union leaders and labour reporters. LaBerge, a former editor of Canadian Labour, official journal of the Canadian Labour Congress, now teaches social sciences at Algonquin College in Ottawa. He says this concensus emerged from his interviews: “The worst way to understand the labour movement may be to accept unquestionably the image of labour presented by the news media, particularly in smaller communities.” He quotes L. H. Lorrain, president of the Canadian Paperworkers Union: ‘‘People get a picture from the news media of a labour movement but not of our labour move- ment.” Other quotations from the interviews show why it is hard for news readers, viewers and listeners to know what is happening in _ industrial relations: Terry Meagher, secretary- treasurer, Ontario Federation of Labour: ‘‘I’m always on my guard when I get a phone call from a reporter I don’t know.” Arthur MacDonald, manag- ing editor, The Canadian Rail- wayman: ‘‘Even when you get knowledgeable writers, you get the problem of brokendown reporters on the news desk pencilling an expert reporters’ copy and writing misleading headlines.” Rosemary Spiers, Toronto Star labour reporter: “It is most difficult to condense most labour situations into news stories.” SESS ey LIGHTER SIDE Sally was only the strip teaser’s daughter, but she had her own acts to grind. % % % Pouce Coupe Pet reports that the army now only wants single men there’s not enough fight left in the married ones!