amie cates tae { Mine - Mill’s smashing Trail victory ends hopes of CCF - CCL Steel raid By BERT WHYTE $ Shirt-sleeved Harvey Murphy sat behind his desk at Mine-Mill headquarters and rummaged through stacks of newspapers featuring results of the voting at Trail last week, where Steel raiders bit the dust. “Take a look at this,’’ he said, tossing me a copy of the Trail Times, opened at the editorial page. “For the sake of general labor relations as well as for the good of the community as a whole it is fortunate that the balloting pro- vided a decisive result,’’ said the editorial, in part. “Steel now has urged its supporters to’: become members of Mine-Mill and support the current bargaining. Labor’s hand is strengthened by this decisive result and the good of the community is served by the elimination, which it is hoped will result, of the constant bickering in the jurisdictional dispute which has flared in Trail for two years.” “What about C, H. Millard’s statement that the fight isn’t over and that he’s coming to Trail?” I asked Murphy. “Millard isn’t coming to Trail —Millardism has left Trail,’’ said Mine-Mill’s re gional director. “Workers have had enough of stinking red herrings. If Millard comes, Trail workers will give him the kind of welcome he de- serves, But I doubt if he’ll come after he meets Murray Cotterill, who just left,’ In front of Murphy a banner headline told of Mine-Mill’s vic- tory over Millard’s Steel raiders. The vote was prominently dis- played: Mine-Mill, 1949; Steel, 1669; neither union, 49; —— ballots, 13; mat “Before the vote was - ees ae Stee] showed 2,165 paid-up mem- bership cards,’’ commented Mur- phy. “We claimed that figure was phony, and the vote proved it.” Significance of the vote was outlined by Murphy in these words: “The Steel Workers, despite almost unanimous backing of the big Vancouver dailies, suf- fered a decisive defeat at Trail. It was a defeat that has shaken the whole CCL-CCF gang of opportunists. They centred on Trail with the objective of de- stroying the Trail local as a prelude to smashing up the Mine, Mill and Smelter Work- ers Union in Canada, ' “The vote was ordered by the Labor Relations Board before they would even investigate and hold hearings on Steel’s applica- tion, Stee] applied for part of the bargaining agency, for since Sep- agency had been established at Trail and Kimberley by that same Labor Relations Board. “Some 1,700 union men in Kim- berley were not allowed .to vote in this referendum, When the March 10 employee list was used it had approximately 3,975 vot- ers. Steel, in order to obtain a hearing from the LRB would have had to show 51 percent. They failed by more than 400. votes. A very gratifying result of the vote also was the fact that the third question on the ballot, which read, ‘Are you in favor of neither of the above union?’ was answer- ed in the affirmative by- only 49 vovers, vitption for future raiding by the TAFL on a craft basis. This vote followed by a couple of weeks a vote taken in another part of the CM&S where the workers at the Alberta Nitrogen decisively de- feated the AFL Chemical Work- ers. “The victory in Trail for hon- est trade unionism will have a tremendous effect in the whole of the labor movement in Brit- ish Columbia. It was a stinging ‘defeat for Harold) Winch, CCF provincial leader, who came in- to Trail a few days before the vote under a pretense of neu- trality and classified the raid as a - jurisdictional dispute. Every known leader of the raid was a ‘prominent CCF’er headed tember 15, 1950, the bargaining | tip by~ Cy Hy ~Miilai id, Ws. On “This queption: was & clear. in 15 minutes to alk workers and used the most vicious red- baiting, claiming that money paid as union dues was to sup- port LPP functionaries, claim- ing that Steel has organized in Canada more metal miners and smeltermen than any union, and pleading to the workers to support the war program, “Besides Millard, the following full-time officials of the Steel Workers were in Trail for some months: Murray Cotterill, Wil- liam Mahoney, Pen Baskin, Leo Behie, Herbert Gargrave, Don Dunphy, Shaky Robertson, with repeated visits by CCF Van- ‘eouver Centre candidate Jim This is Port Radium on Great Bear Lake, location‘ of Eldorado uranium mines. Trusts get uranium, iron U.S. grabbing Canadian ores Feverish operations are going and at Great Bear Lake and other points in the Northwest Territories with the aim of quadrupling Canada’s output of uranium by 1953. The federal government will spend over $10 million this year to increase its Port Radium-Eldorado uranium ore output by 75 percent _and set up a 500-ton daily capac- ity mill at Beaverlodge, Produc- tion of uranium from Northern! Saskatchewan is expected to ex- ceed considerably that of Port Radium, The government is affording all facilities for American and Cana- dian capital-to go into the uran- ium business, with the sole pro- OTTAWA on at Beaverlodge, Saskatchewan, viso that it buys all ore and fin- ished product for export to U.S. atomic energy cartel headed by DuPont, Westinghouse and Gen- eral BPlectric. Ceaselessly moving to corner . and control all Canada’s stra- tegic metal resources, U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel and the Jones and Laughlin trusts are’ prospecting, optioning and buy- ing’up Ontario iron ore deposits.- In recent weeks U.S. planes equipped with . magnetometers have surveyed the Simcoe area, It is reported that Bethlehem Steel and Jones and Laughlin are the parties that have optioned 5,000 acres of iron ore bearing land. in that district. Bethlehem Steel controls the rich Marmora, Ont., iron'ore de- posits; Jones and Laughlin those at Michipi¢oten and near Peter- borough and Kingston, the eve. of voting broadcast tor : A victory for honest unionism was scored in Trail last week when Mine-Mill routed Steel raiders in referendum vote, Bury, secrétary “of the BIG) Fed- eration of Labor, George Home, ete. “Money in the thousands of dollars poured into Trail by Steel in a most corrupt campaign, going to the extent of buying up all radio time, This campaign of Steel was overcome. by the rank and file workers in. Trail (and their wives in Auxiliary 131) who worked night and day distribut- ing leaflets and carrying sand- wich boards. “The fact that the company re- fused to make any wage offer in negotiations up to the present, forcing our union to opply for con- ciliation, was utilized by Steel in its campaign. The victory of the workers. in Trail made the Steel raiders so unpopular in town that within 24 hours after the vote re- sults were] announced| Cotterill. Mahoney, Robertson and the other Steel leaders departed. “Hundreds of former Steel members are |joining Mine-Mill, guarantecing preservation of the unity of Kimberley and‘ Trail, which will mean a tremendous in- crease in the power of the union to compel a favorable wage set- tlement with OM&s.” Murphy leaned back, lit'a cigar- ette and grinned. ‘“‘Wonder iif Steel has withdrawn its application for certification?” hé mused, tossing me a ‘Trail paper which quoted Herbert Giargrave.as saying the Stee] international board had re- commended dropping its applica- tion, now before the Labor Rela- tions Board. , “Millard is pretty hot about some of the statements his lieu- tenants made,” I said, “It may be that some of them are on the ‘way out.”’ Said Murphy. “They came in to take over on the red bogey, ex- pecting. to chase me out. But they couldn't chase me because I didn’t run, Our members weren't fool- ed by any red bogey. Everybody knows I’m a member of the Labor- Progressive party. That wasn’t the issue, The issue was honest trade unionism and militant leadership as opposed to union raiding and phoney leadership. Our victory was a victory for honest trade unionism.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 23, 1952 — PAG? : relationship “They're all on the way out,’’, ‘ond at the border Sunday Ww? One CCF leader who played honorable role and upheld I principle of joint certification (f which he was repudiated by provincia] leader, Harold wineb) was Leo T. Nimsick, COF MLA fof Cranbrook. In a letter to the bor Relations Board sent prior # the voting, Nimsick wrote: 3 “Tam writing this letter in @& cordance with. a request {rl Local 651 of the Kimberley Mi and Mill Workers Union. inform me that an attempt is } ing made to split the joint ¢ fication now in force betwé Local 480 of Trail and Local © of Kimberley, Although 0 certification only dates back abd two years, the two locals h@ been bargaining jointly with tB employer, the CM&S Compal since they were first certified. “When joint certification W first applied for, I supported application on the grounds th by granting the request’ you we only making a reality what W already being practiced, In ad tion I conténded that the int between the — locals is such that any disturba! in one place will automatically 4 fect the other, and TI have ™ changed my opinion since time, ag ‘'Pherefore the utmost coop! tion is necessary between the locals, and in my opinion j? certification is a factor that © tributes egreatly to this. end, I strongly recommend thaé move be made to divide the © locals.”’ The night after the yote sults were announced Mine-) smeltermen and their wives 2 friends jammed the K.P. hall Trail for a victory dance and cel bration, Prior to the dance ™ hall was filled to capacity for meeting in honor, of» Al Kin Local 480 president, King be presented with a gold watch appreciation of his work f0F. Le union, and his wife received bouquet. “We won two victories in 0” week,’ concluded arvey MU “The first was at Trail, the i C more than 25,000 Canadi# gathered at the Peace Arch hear Paul Robeson ‘sing U” the auspices of Mine-Mill.” |