British: workers restive over wage freeze policy By PHYLLIS ROSNER —LONDON. It is no exaggeration to say that the British government and the Trades Union Congress are “‘sitting ©n a volcano,”’ a “leading trade unionist described it recently to this correspondent. The workers, this union leader said, are being induced not to strike for higher wages only because of their deeply ingrained loyalty to Labor party ‘leaders. © understand Britain’s labor movement it is necessary .to grasp one important fact: rank-and-filers ' tegaird the government as “‘their baby,”’ composed of men who they firmly believe have their interests at heart. It is only after prolonged and bitter disappointments that some leaders have long since forgotten that they were elected to repre- Sent the workers. The workers are getting very Festless with the official policy of Wage-pegeing introduced two years 880. This policy has the support °f employers who guessed rightly that the corollary—that of keeping Profits down—would not be so rig- "idly applied. It is not only the dock stop- Page and the fact that 635,000 Tailwaymen, have decided to take &ction because their claims are not being met. Virtually all Workers—with the possible ex- ception of the miners—are de- Manding higher pay, a halt to he rise in prices, and cuts in _ Profits, Consider the case of the rail- Waymen. Four out of five receive & basic wage of less than $24 a Week. More than 130,000 take home less than $20 a week. Their de- mand last year fon a raise to °ttset an admitted rise of 8 per- Sent in the official cost of living Mdex was rejected by the heads f the nationalized railway indus- ‘ty and later by the Railway Staff National Tribunal. When the 1949 budget was an- Nounced, angry delegates of the ‘ 480,000-stronge National Union of ‘““ailwaymen met and, at the end ee unionists are realizing that many of April, submitted a new demand for an- across-the-board increase of $2. The men, infuriated with re- jection of their claim and the criti- cism directed at the unon for hav- ing “dared” to submit it, staged a series of “go slow” movements, Af- ter this they were offered increases ranging from 10c to 50c. This offer was rejected and the union has in- stituted a nationwide go-slow movement, under which overtime is banned, A campaign is now in progress to discredit the $2 demand on grounds that a raise for workers in a nationalized industrty hits. the public both as consumers and as “owners.” The railway workers are told that an increase can only be met by their increased efforts, and that they have a direct stake in higher production. In fact, however, over $128 mil- lion a year has been set aside for the former owners of the railroads who have received 20- year interest-carrying bonds at 100 percent of their interest in inflated-valued railroajds. Many unionists are insisting that an increase for the workers could be met by lowering this com- pensation to former private own- ers, The Railway Executive, which manages the nationalized roads, is oe Unions charge safety threat Se U.S. air safety inspectors look over the charred remains of the giant airliner which crashed near Chatsworth, California, kill- Mg 35 and injuring 14. Only a short time before the accident, AFL and CIO unions in the aviation industry joined in a charge that “cut-rate air carriers threaten the safety of the people and the economy of the industry.” Athens regime is bankrupt after year of Marshall ‘aid’ PRAGUE Fact that Greek monarcho-fas- ism is economically bankrupt and the regime gravely shaken by in- teasing strike struggles was forc- ‘Sly demonstrated last week. At the “Od of the first year of Marshall Blan “aid”, the deficit in the state budget surpassed 2,000,000,000,000 drachmas (£6,666,.666,666 sterling °n the Athens money market). During the past six months, liv- ing, costs have jumped 35 percent, provoking a series of strikes de- spite government repression. American and Athens speculat- ors and government racketeers are draining off the wealth of the country and smuggling their profits abroad. Consequently, the people of oc- cupied Greece look toward the Democratic army as the force that will free them from the new tyran- ny which has replaced the Nazis. understandably unsympathetic to this view since it is composed mainly of former directors. Its 12 members include only one union- ist. Other important groups of work- ers who are determined to fight through on wage demands are the one million strong Federation of Building Trade Operatives and the 820,000-member Amalgamated En- gineering Union. The AEU de mand for $4 a week was supported by union president Jack Tanner, an ardent government supporter and an even more ardent anti- Communist, though government of- ficials insist that Communsts- alone are pushing the wage issue to create dissension, A host of other union leaders have recently joined in criticisms of government wage policy. Pres- ident W. H. Marshall of the Na- tional Society of Metal Mechanics described the wage-freeze as hav- ing “reacted unfairly against the workers” while having “little or no effect on the reduction or con- trol of profits.” Other recent crit- ics were President F. G. Mulligan of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, and Presi- dent John Burns of the Fire Bri- gades Union. That the Trades Union Congress leadership is aware of the deep in- dustrial unrest is obvious, but what they intend to do remaing to be seen. More in sorrow than in an- ger, it appears, the TUC economic committee recently agreed to fur- ther talks with government of- ficials on prices and profits. By autumn, when the TUC annual conference will convene, the ec- onomic situation will undoubtedly be worse. Whether TUC leaders will be able to obtain another en- dorsement of wage-pegging is ques- tionable but it is also uncertain whether the rank-and-file will be strong enough to make its voice heard effectively. ia iii Longshoremen arrested Here are some of the 96 members of the Internationa] Long- shoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (CIO) arrested by Honolulu police in the long-drawn-out Hawaiian strike. ILWU President Harry Bridges has agreed to a U.S. Senate labor committee pro- posal to meet with federal mediator Cyrus Ching and a representa- tive of the Hawaiian monopolies involved for resumption of nego- tiations. Bridges to head new world union of sailors, President Harry Bridges of the Warehousemen’s Union (CIO) has Union of Seamen and Dockers, Federation of Trade Italian and Russian have been Soviet union sends Stewards greetings SAN FRANCISCO Delegates to the recent con- vention of the CLO Marine Cooks and Stewards here cheered a message of solidarity received from the Sea Transport Workers Union of the USSR. The wire, addressed to MCS Secretary Eddie Tangen, express- ed the “sincere and _ friendly feeling of the Soviet peoples to- ward working people of the Unit- ed States.” It advised that Soviet dock- workers “are sure the splitting action of the leaders of CIO and AFL will not destroy the friend- ship of Soviet and American workers and will not break inter- national, trade union unity.” Chiang seeks U.S. help to retain Formosa base By ARTHUR CLEGG British and U.S. governments are in almost daily ‘consultation about the situation in the Far East, one point under discussion being the future of the Island of Formosa, present refuge of Chiang Kai-shek. Here Chiang has accumulated all the Kuomintang gold reserve and the main part of his American-equipped air force. The island is studded with Japanese built air- fields. British foreign office circles are reported to be concerned lest the island should be liberated by the Chinese people’s army. They declare that this would mean that it could become a “springboard for Communism in South-east Asia.” In the U.S., opinion about For- mosa is divided. Vige-Admiral Badger, command- er of the U.S. naval forces in the in the west Pacific, stated recently in Hong Kong that “We don’t need Formosa” and that the U.S. navy would probably not accept Formo- Sa even if it were offered to them by Chiang. American army officials, however, are said to be anxious to gain’ Am- LONDON , erican support for Chiang’s hold on the Island. He and his Kuomintang officials are, enormously unpopular among the islanders. In February, 1947, the For- mosans rose against , Chiang’s governor and, since the rising was put down with great brutal- ity Chiang’s regime has become even more unpopular, especially since his own arrival there. Formosa is part of China, wrest- ed from her by the Japanese in 1895 and returned to China at the Cairo conference in 1943. But now: the British Labor gov- ernment is arguing that the island is still legally Japanese, since there has as yet been no peace treaty with Japan. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY dockers International Longshoremen’s and been elected president of the which has been set up by the World Unions at its recent meeting. An Australian, named as vice presidents and a a Chinese representative will also be appointed. WFTU leader Louis Saillant hail- ed the new group as “a powerful tool for peace.” For the first time, he said, “a true international union is created . . . On all oceans, in all ports of the world, 750,000 seamen and dockers are henceforth fight- ers for peace.” First official act of the IUSD was passage of a resolution aimed at bringing “immediate and effective aid” to striking Canadian seamen. By JANE GILBERT SAN FRANCISCO The CIO Marine Cooks and Stewards will affiliate with the new world-wide federation of maritime workers sponsored by the World Federation of Trade Unions. The 200 delegates to the conven- tion voted unanimously to join up with the new group after endors- ing a strong foreign policy state- ment condemning the Truman “cold war” policies the Marshall plan and the Atlantic pact. The foreign policy statement called for a doctrine based on “getting along with people” and urged the U.S. state department and Congress to review U.S. poli- cies with the aim of making them “once again the beacon of all peo- ples who, like the Americans, are searching diligently to find the common grounds to peaceful dis- cussion and negotiations.” The statement was a clear an- swer to national CIO’s ukase to go along with the Truman policies “or else.” In further amplification of the union’s foreign policy position, delegates voted unanimously for “friendly and peaceful relations with new China and for U.S. loans without any political strings to aid economic development in that country.” The resolution was presented after Israel Epstein, well-known authority and writer on China, had addressed the convention urging U.S. recognition of the new libera- tion government. Rep. Vito Marcantonio (ALP- N.Y.) spoke to the delegates by telephone congratulating the union and its leadership for its progres- sive role in U.S. political and econ- omic life. Delegates also heard Alvah Bes- sie, one of the “Hollywood 10” who refused to bow to the House un- American committee, appeal to them to keep up the fight for civil rights. 29, 1949—PAGE 3