Communists analyze General Strike

‘Solidarity wins for labor—every time

The Labor Committee of the B.C. Communist Party has met several times to analyze
the historic developments in the trade union movement in our province, centred around the
strike of the Oilworkers. As a result of thorough and complete discussion of the issues
involved, the Committee drew up the following collective statement:

The Oil, Chemical and Atomic

‘Workers Union has won a major

victory. That victory was made
possible by the solidarity of the
trade union movement in British
Columbia, The international oil
cartel, which has brought about
the downfall of many govern-
ments, was forced to capitulate
by the threat of a general strike,

The gossip peddlers of the
daily press and some ofthe more
obnoxious radio commentators
did their best to confuse and dis-
tort the true picture, They also
attempted to discredit the B.C,

' Federation of Labor and those
independent unions which called
for a 48-hour work stoppage in
order to bring the oil strike to a
successful conclusion, But as
the old saying goes: “The dogs
bark, but the wagons roll on!”

Tommy Douglas, national lead-
er of the New Democratic Party,
made no bones about his support
for the Oil Workers andthe posi-
tion of the B.C, Federation of
Labor, Robert Strachan, provin-
cial leader, on the other hand,
went out of his way to make the
point that the N.D.P. was not
the initiator of the proposed gen-
eral strike.

When the settlement was ar-
rived at, Strachan minimized the _
important victory by stating the
main issue was one of national-
izing the oil industry, In short,
he denied the importance of this
vital trade union struggle and
downgraded the victory.

The Financial Post, one of
the most influential organs of big
business in Canada, is under no
illusion, The following quotations
are from a feature article which
appeared in the issue of Decem-
ber 4;

* Labor appears to have opened
the management-rights door
wider—with the help of the B.C.
government, Industry can expect —
to have to» sit down more fre-
quently and plan out moves af-
fecting their workers because of
automation.

* This is a right the rater
movement as a whole has been
seeking strongly in recent years,

* They are now, they feel, in
a stronger position to insist on
advance notice of technical
change and compensation (like
generous severance pay) to em-
ployees who are displaced.

~* Job security had become, in
labor’s view, the major issue of
the strike against B-A,

Premier showed
shrewd timing

If Premier Bennett appears to

have emerged as the greatfriend .

of organized labor, it should be
recalled that he did not make
his dramatic entrance to centre
stage until the decisive sections
of organized labor were just a
few hours away from a sym-
pathy strike,

It is clear that big business~
was split on how to cope with this
situation, The powerful Canadian
Manufacturers’ Association, for
example, adopted a tough line,
Its members were issuing letters
to employees, threatening dire
penalties if they joined in the
strike.

But Bennett was more flexible
“than some of the top brass of the
C.M,A. He also demonstrated his
superiority as apolitical spokes-
man for the monopolies when he

publicly dissociated himself
from the insulting, public state-
ments of Labor Minister Peter=
son and Attorney-General
Bonner,

But those who may be dazzled
by the halo placed around his
head should remember that since
he first took office in 1952, his
government has passed a major
series of anti-labor amendments
to existing legislation, If such
amendments had not been en-
acted, it could have been pos-
sible, through secondary picket-
ing, to endthe strike much sooner
and without a call for a general
strike.

Union strategy
had weakness

The national strike against the
B-A Oil Company began on Sep-
tember 14, in line with thenation=
al strategy of the Oil Workers
Union, The union did not strike
Imperial Oil, Shell Canada Ltd.,
Standard Oil and Home Oil, It
chose B-A for strike action, for
two reasons, Firstly, because it
was the best organized, Second-
ly, because they wanted to save
the public the inconvenience of a
general shutdown.

It soon became obvious that
this strategy was not sufficient
to defeat the entrenched power
and the arrogance of the oil
cartel, The union, in one sweep,
demanded a big wage increase,
extensive: improvements in
fringe benefits, and protection
for workers against the introduc-
tion of automation, :

Two weeks before the Novem-
ber 15 conference called by the
B.C, Federation, where the de-
cision was made to callageneral
strike, the executive of the B.C,
Federation of Labour concluded

that the oil strike was in danger, -

Later, almost on the eve ofthe ;

November 15 conference, a
meeting of unions was held,
largely on the initiative of pro-
gressive forces in the labor
movement, At this meeting, the
question of saving the Oil Work-
‘ers’ Union was discussed, in the
face of large scale scabbery and
wholesale injunctions,

It was at this gathering that
the proposal for a general strike
was brought forward, as a des-
perate attempt to save a de-
teriorating situation, The left
spokesmen pressed for a wider,
all-embracing conference for the
projection of the idea of ageneral
strike, and were successful,

On November 15, under the.

auspices of the B,C, Federation,
a conference of more than 300
trade union representatives from
all over the province was held in
Vancouver. In attendance were
spokesmen from B,C, Fed, af-
filiates, Canadian Labor Con-
gress unions not affiliated with
the BCFL, and independent
unions such as the Teamsters,
Mine-Mill, Fishermen and Van-
couver Civic Employees Union.

At this meeting, the Strike
Co-ordinationg Committee, with
the backing of the B.C, Fed.
Executive, wisely proposed a
postponement of a general strike
by the Oil Workers to midnight,
November 24, in place of mid-
night that day. (By November 15,
workers at Imperial Oil in B.C,
had already been forced to go on
strike, because of mass suspen-
sions by the company.)

The November 15 conference
also made the following proposal:
“All unions are asked to dis-
continue use of petroleum pro-
jects for a period of 48 hours
from midnight, November 24,
Unions not directly involved in
the use of petroleum products
are asked to withdraw their serv-
ice for the same 48 hours as a
token of support and solidarity
for the strike.”

A bad incident
mars meeting

The November 15 meeting was
marred by an unfortunate inci-
dent. When a representative of
the independent Mine-Mili Union
rose to speak, he was informed
that only affiliates of the B.C,
Fed, would be permitted to have
voice, The assembly erupted into
a spontaneous barrage’ of vocal
protest,

Among the prominent spokes-
men who rose to protest were
Art O’Keefe of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers,, Local 213 and Syd Thomp-
son of the International Wood-
workers of America 1-217, The
executive of the Federation held
a hasty conference and reversed
its ruling,

However, a bloc of delegates ©

from the Teamsters and the
Building Trades walked out in
protest, Bill Black of the Hospi-~
tal Employees, Local 180, and
Ed Sims of the Brewery Workers
and Grain Workers International
Union, both of them vice presi-
dents of the Canadian Labour
Congress, went to the micro-
phone to strongly protest the ac-
tion of the executive. Sims boldly
called for an end to the split in
the trade union movement, for

the uniting of all organized labor
in one congress,

Influential spokesmen were
sent out {o contact the delegates
who had walked out and anunder=
standing was reached, The Co-
ordinating Committee was
broadened to include Teamsters,
Mine Mill and the Fishermen,

However, the Liberal Party
machine, which is powerful inthe
Building Trades and the Team-
sters, went to work to discredit
the idea of a general strike. The
key Building Trades Council vot~
ed to support the general strike,
but the business agents’ (with
some honorable exceptions) held
a later meeting and decided
against strike, constituting
themselves as a veto committee,
But the powerful Electrical
Workers Local 213 and the Car-
penters Local 452 negated the
veto by voting for strike.

Among the other unions that
were prepared to take strike
action were the International
Woodworkers, the Pulp and Sul-
phite Workers, Mine-Mill, Fish-
ermen, International Longshore-
men, Marine and Boilermakers
Union, Amalgamated Transit
Union, Vancouver Civic Employ-
ees and many others, Almost
every labor coucil in the prov-
ince voted for strike action,

Press distorted
Teamster stand

The final position ofthe Team-
sters, adopted by the Joint Coun-
cil representing 11,000
members, has been grossly mis-
interpreted and exaggerated, The
Council refused to support what
it termed an “illegal stoppage,”
but stated it would respect picket
lines and refuse to haul scab
cargo. Reliable reports indicate
that there was a serious division
in the Teamsters’ leadership,

-The pundits of the-press and
big business latched onto the
Teamsters’ decision to project it
as a legal form of effective re-
sistance, as compared with the
“illegal strike” proposed by the
B.C. Federation of Labor, This

-was a gross distortion, because

the bulk of the drivers hauling
gasoline and oil for the big oil
companies were. unorganized;
and because under B.C, law it is
equally unlawful to refuse to
handle hot products or to take
part in a general strike,

A mass refusal to handle hot

; products would have resulted in

wholesale injunctions, In that
case, labor would have been faced
with the alternatives of defying

‘court injunctions or capitulating.

Despite the shortcomings of
the Teamsters’ position as pub-
licly expressed by Joint Council
secretary Ed Lawson, it was a
position in support of the Oil
Workers, reflecting the desires
of the more progressive leaders
and rank and file Teamsters,

No analysis of the victory is
complete without recognizing
that this was the second time
that big business inB.C, suffered
a major defeat because it was
unable to use reactionary labor
laws and court injunctions to de-

feat labor. The first occasion.
‘was the strike of office employ=

ees in Port Alberni, in 1964,
when thousands of woodworkers, _
pulp workers and tradesmen re-
spected the office workers

we lines, despite threats of
lawsuits against their unions and —
stiff penalties against individual —
officers,

What began as a defensive ©
move to Save a union from going 4
down the drain was transformed _
into an offensive move that saved _
the union and established a vital ©

precedent for organized labor. |

This victory reinforces andgives —
substance to the demand of labor
that no worker should suffer be- —
cause of the introduction of auto-"
mation — that unions must be —
consulted and have a decisive
voice before major technological
change is introduced—that man-
agement has a social responsi-
“bility to its work force and to ©
the community,

The fact that the provincial
government, in consultation with —
the federal government, assisted —
in arriving at the settlement, —
enhances the importance of the
precedent,

The recent report of Mr, Jus-
tice Freedman on working condi-
tions. in the Canadian National
Railway system further
strengthens the position of or-
ganized labor, He stated as fol-
lows in his report: “The present
situation which permits manage-
ment to make unilateral changes
in working conditions during the
contract period is a manifest
inequity which. clamors for at-
tention and correction,”

It is a tribute to the sound |

instinct of the workers in B.C,~
that there was such a wide re= —
sponse to the call for a general. —
strike, despite the fact that auto-
-mation is in its infancy and in a
period of relative prosperity; and
despite the fact that there was
such a barrage of anti-strike
propaganda and some division in
the labor movement,

The unity that emerged should
find its reflection in the 1966
convention of the Canadian Labor
Congress, in a demand for the
admittance of all unions now out-
Side the Congress, It should also
be reactivated if the provincial
government should attempt to
introduce more anti-labor legis-
lation.

Lessons learned
will benefit all

It is to be hoped that organized
labor will recognize the key
weaknesses of this struggle and
take steps to guarantee they will
‘be corrected. For example, the
Oil Workers and theB.C, Feder-

ation could have done a much

better job of publicity and pre-
paring the labor movement for
a general strike,

Should any future situation of
similar dimensions arise, there
must be more thoroughgoing co-
ordination, with due recognition
of the important role of unions
not. affiliated to the B.C, Feder~
ation of Labor.

All in all, the leadership of
the B.C, Federation is to be con-
gratulated for the initiative it
displayed, Without the interven-
tion of the Federation the strike
‘could have been lost.

An important battle has been
won, but many more lie ahead
before automation is harnessed
to produce the greatest good for
society as a whole, This victory
points the way to greater vic-
tories in the future!

a December 24, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 12