? MASS STAND WINS WAGE INCREASE City boatyard operators wanted workers at meet so they got 300 of them A wage boost of 15 cents an hour, retroactive to November bers of Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union last week, following lengthy negotiations with 18 wooden boatyard firms which culminated in a conciliation board hearing conducted in an entirely new and novel manner. Ever hear of an_ conciliation board embracing 300 participants? Here’s how it all happened. In 1949 the union signed a two- year contract with the companies. But the operators affixed their signatures to the agreement bare- ly 10 minutes before the strike deadline. The two-year pact contained an open end wage clause. Soaring living costs caused the union to reopen wage negotiations in 1950 and seek a 15-cent hourly hike. Several companies were prepared to sign, but “Available Jones” D. B. MacLeod, of the In- dustrial Research Bureau (off- shoot of Stuart Research), acting as negotiator for the operators, began stalling tactics. After several fruitless attempts to reach an amicable _ solution, Labor Relations Board appointed 2 conciliation board. MacLeod immediately demanded that a “committee of working men repre- sent: the. employees” along with the union bargaining committee. - The inference was that the men would be more amenable to “rea- son” if they could themselves hear his arguments® on behalf of the bosses. “Okay!” said union leaders, and at a mass meeting of nearly 300 boatyard workers in Pender Audi- torium on December 27, they put the proposition before the men. “Fine,” said the workers, “we'll, constitute ourselves a committee as a whole and all attend the conciliation board hearing.” : At ,10: a.m. December 28, some: 300 workers knocked off work, left their jobs and flocked to the court house. They found the board room and crammed it. to the doors. -A smell of tar and okum trom their work clothes seeped through the building. (“Cleanest smell this court. house has ever experienced,” commented a file clerk). The boatyard workers paid scant attention to protocol. “Speak up, there, I can’t hear you,” bellowed 1, was wen by 500 mem- one worker from the back of the room, as proceedings opened. “Available Jones’ MacLeod was verv upset at the turn of events and on behalf of the employers refused to continue the hearing, babbling. that the workers were on “an illegal strike.” “We only acceded to your re- quest,” he was told. It was suggested that the hear- ing adjourn to a large hall, and the union offered Pender Audi- torium. Conciliation board chair- man