Draftsmen on strike White-collar workers have needs too Five scabs in Hamilton have found themselves without any scabbing to do as a result of quick action by striking drafts- men at Otis Elevator Ltd. The strikers learned that a Toronto- based engineering company, Ian — Martin Associates, was hiring non-union draftsmen to do Otis drafting in their offices, and quickly set up a picket line in front of the Martin offices. In a leaflet distributed during the demonstration the draftsmen stated: “As skilled white collar workers (they call us semi-pro- fessionals) we have to have our daily needs, for ourselves and our families. We too desire some ’ security in return for our years of service. We also want some reasonable opportunity for ad- vancement. - “And we have our pride. “The owners of Otis Elevator Company in the United States do not seem to have much in- terest in their Canadian employ- ees. They care little for our needs, for our attitude as Cana- _dians, or for our future. “For years we have quietly tried to improve the situation, without much success. “Finally we have been forced to take the only course open to us. We have decided to stand up for our rights and our dignity as free Canadians. “Anybody taking Otis money to hurt us, is making our strug- gle, that much harder. Such strike - breaking activities puts them on the, side of the U.S. ab- sentee owners against the Cana- dian draftsmen.” It only took one day of picket- ing to make Ian Martin Associ- ates call the strike headquarters with the promise they would let the scabs go and refrain from doing any more scabbing for Otis. The striking draftsmen, mem- bers of the Federation of Tech- nical Engineers, have’ been on strike since Sept. 19. Their picket lines have been honored by the 18 unions affiliated with the Ha- milton Building Trades Council, however, the 650 hourly-rated plant employees have been or- dered by the leadership of their union, the United Steel Workers, to cross the lines. The draftsmen have managed to keep up the strike in spite of the fact that they have no finan- cial reserves in their local and receive no financial support from their International. They have been taking up plant collections and have received support from many unions in the city. Civic workers strike set In rejecting an appeal by their negotiating committee for a postponement of strike action, Toronto civic workers have set the stage for an immediate showdown with Metro Council. The angry workers have been in negotiations with the city and metro councils since January. A strike will involve 1,013 employees of Metro and 2,500 employees of the city and will effect all services in the Toronto area. The workers are demanding a wage increase of 20 cents an hour in each year of a proposed two year agreement, as well as im- provements in vacations and other contract changes. The last known offer of Metro was 14 cents for the first year and 17 cents in the second. The current labor rate is 90.40 per week. IMPORTANT FIRST STEP Needle trades unions plan joint educational program = For 25 years there has been talk of the need for a joint meet- ing of workers in the needle trades unions and finally one took place. On Oct. 22 an all day educa- tional conference was held in the King Edward Hotel in To- ronto arranged by a joint com- mittee of the following unions: Amalgamated Clothing Workers; International Ladies Garment Workers; Toronto Fur Workers _(AMC); Toronto Dressmakers GWU); Milliners, Hatters and Capmakers; Upholsterers; International Leather Goods and Plastics; and United Garment Workers. Representatives of the latter could not attend but indicated they would be present at future meetings. Representatives of the Cana- dian Labor Congress also took part. Highlights of the topics dis- cussed at the conference were: the importance of trade union education in the locals; the fight to have information on the trade union movement included in high school curriculums; the problem of educating new im- migrants about the history of trade union struggles in Canada; and the need to counteract the propaganda that suggests that the militant struggles of the trade unions are a threat to pros- perity. Speakers stressed the need to reach the rank and file in the plants. They called for nurseries and day care for working moth- ers in order to enable them to take a full part in the union work and attend meetings, The need to the organize the unorganized and the importance _of political action by the mem- bership were also brought out by speakers in the discussion. Kalman Kaplansky, director of the international affairs de- partment. of the CLC, brought out the old story about com- munism and fascism being twin: evils. He finished with the pro- position that the biggest prob- lem today is that of war and peace but without any proposed line that trade unionists should adopt. The conference unanimously adopted a four-point program presented by Lincoln Bishop, re- gional director of organization for the CLC, as follows: (1) that the joint education committee which had organized the conference become a perma- nent body; : (2) that the work in the unions be coordinated; (3) that the committee meet with the education representa- tives of the various unions; (4) that plans be worked out for future work. Delegates present felt that an important first step in coopera- tion had been made and hoped that it would lead to gréater co- operation in the future. lab = THE THREE Toronto newspapers have rejected an offer by the International Typographical Union and the Toronto Mailers Unio? to end the current 28-month strike. The offer of the unions, whic was forwarded to the publishers through the Ontario Labor Depa ment, called for pensions for some of the strikers, severance P for others and re-employment of some of the men. The union’s Pf posal accepted the idea that the strike would be called off and the picket lines abandoned without the signing of a collective bargal™ ing agreement. : * * x. WORKERS of Dominion Ayers at Lachute, Quebec, voted 10 return to work after a settlement of their three-month strike Wa% worked out with the deputy minister of labor. They won a 40-peh cent wage increase, gradual parity of wages between men an women.and improved working conditions. Support to the strike had come from all sections of Quebec’s labor movement. It wie, after a solidarity demonstration last week at the home of the plants owner, which ended with a number of workers injured, that the Quebec department of labor entered the scene, participating mn negotiations which resulted in this settlement. : * * * . UNEMPLOYMENT in British Columbia rose to 29,000 in S€P” tember, an increase of 2,000 over the previous month, B.C. 10™ has the second highest rate of unemployment in Canada -with four percent of the work-force registered as unemployed. The increas€ in jobless was attributed to large layoffs in the lumber industty — due to a slackening of the general export trade and a decline # house construction in Canada. * * * TRADE. UNION membership in Canada stands at an all-tim high, according to the federal department of labor. Union mem — | bership was 147,000 higher than in January 1965, a gain of 9.3 pela cent. Union members at present constitute 30.7 percent of all non agricultural paid workers and 24.5 percent of the total Canadial labor force. ; : * * * ; A NOTE on labor productivity. In 1956 in the United Stale 128,399 production and salaried workers were employed by Chrys ler and produced 961,000 vehicles. In 1965 with a work force ® _ about 126,000 Chrysler turned out 1,611,000 cars and trucks. with 2,400 less workers 649,000 more vehicles were produced. * * * % BY UNANIMOUS vote, Local 105 of the International Br? therhood of Electrical Workers in Hamilton adopted a resolute calling for “united mass picketing in the face of injunctions.” union also called on the Hamilton Labor Council to “advocate st a policy among all its affiliates, and to give a lead itself in unite mass picketing where strike-breaking injunctions are imposed this area, and to mobilize the fullest possible participation in SU activities, and to give full support to those victimized while engas ing.in such activities.” . : : * * * < ”WE HAVEN'T nailed anything down,” said George Burt, Ca¥ adian Sirector of the United Automobile Workers, after the. ft meeting between union and government officials concerning © auto-pact lay-offs. The union has been trying to press the govel® ment into taking steps which provide protection for the Canadial auto industry and workers. The union has proposed a form of pub: lic inquiry in cases where layoffs are contemplated as well as SP” cial assistance for laid-off workers. Pe. fee * * STATING that the refusal of Dosco to grant parity of wag with steelworkers of Ontario as the main reason for the strike 3 the company’s plant in Ville Emard in Quebec, the Communlt Party of Quebec is calling for full support to the strikers. In a !€@ let distributed to the strikers the party described the position © the company as “typical of the arrogant additude of this BrillS. owned company which thrives on the old imperial dictum: pivid and Rule. This is the same company which set out to destroy s} bec, the proposed steel complex planned for Quebec. First it est#” lished a rolling-mill at Contreocoeur, then announced that any effor to go ahead with Sidbec would give Quebec one steel plant many. o “Then in 1963 when the Lesage government timidly oftered ! buy out Dosco, the company said ‘No,’ because it needed its \~ trecoeur plant to provide a market for the Dosco-owned coal miné in Nova Scotia. But, lo and behold! as soon as it became eV! U2: that the newly-elected Johnson government had no intention. going ahead with Sidbec, Dosco announced its plan to close dow the coal: mines in Nova Scotia. Its callousness towards the workip people of Nova Scotia is only matched by its steady disregard ' the interests of the people of Quebec.” November 11, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page