Railworkers Fight
For Just Demands

By W. C. ROSS
INCE 1950 Canada’s non-
S operating workers - have
taken five strike ballots: have

goods employees increased by
three times that amount in the
same period.

From September, 1952 to

gone out on a nation-wide Jan. 1, 1956 — a period of 40] The beviiian: scents
strike for nine days ea 195% > ss ee sae there Bios No! brought round after round of |
ae oe neen qeBHved See a pe eS oS applause from his audience
their right to strike and forced senteties cau which remained at as he cut through the fog of
to submit to compulsory ar-| the average hourly rate of the-eoldewar andaaid Garces
piration ance? spt legisla-| oe : excuses behind which the ene-
tion brought in by the previous Non-ops fell behind the

in| workers in other industries not
only in respect to wages but
in fringe benefits,
with pay, health and welfare

provisions, pension plans, etc.

St.
1954.
During most of this 1C-year |
period they have been tied up
in almost continuous contract : : :
negotiations with the com-| Not until 1956 did Canada’s
panies and in protracted con-| railway workers win their
ciliation board procedure. | seven paid statutory holidays.
All of which reflects. the) !t was only in 1958 that a
bitter and never-ceasing strug-| health and welfare plan went
gles of these workers in one of | mio effect. on the railways
Canada’s key industries to win| With the companies and the
a fair wage and improved/| employees sharing the costs
working conditions. |of the basic plan but with the
The current dispute which, 0Ptional services carried en-
has been brought to the verge! tirely by the workers. The pen-

of another strike is typical of) sion plans now in effect on

what the railway non-ops have) both railways are most inade-
quate and far behind pension

had to contend with. Their :
wage agreement with the com-| Plans achieved by many or-

Laurent government

panies expired on Dec, 31, 82mized workers in basic in-
1959. In accordance with es-| ustries.
tablished procedure, the 15;° In addition, the railway

workers have been subject to
drastic layoffs in recent years.
In. December, 1955, for ‘in-
stance, there were 128,000 em-
ployees in the non-operating
crafts. By the end of 1959 that
figure had dropped to 116,000.

unions involved served notice}
on Nov. 5, 1959, proposing a}
two-year contract with a wage)
increase of 25 cents per hour,|
three weeks’ vacation pay to/
employees after 10 years’ serv-|
ice and four weeks’ vacation)
pay after 20 years. |In the course of the single
The companies rejected both| year during which the present
demands outright. | negotiations were in progress
Negotiations ‘were broken| another 5,000 lost their jobs.
off on Feb. 2, 1960. There fol-| According to company officials
lowed the setting up of a board; further large scale reductions
of conciliation and the appoint-| in staff will be taking place
ment of its chairman by the| in the course of the next few
minister of labor; hearings be-| years.
fore the board from May 9 to}
July 7; the report of the board |
on Aug. 24 recommending 3)
i14-cent wage increase spread |
over the three-year period and/
four weeks’ vacation with pay
after 25 years’ service; the ac-|
ceptance of the board’s recom-|}
mendations by the unions and!
théir rejection by. the com-|
panies; ‘the strike ballot and}
the setting of the Dec, 3 strike
deadline 13 months after
the opening of negotiations. | but that they hoped that the
The charge _ that railway | threat of a strike by the em-
workers’ earnings are far too} ployees would put pressure
high already is pure myth.! upon the government to come
Average hourly earnings for} across with further financial
the 111,000 non-ops are $1.76.) assistance, perhaps in the form
The unions maintain that it} of subsidies.
will take another 25 cents to) In 1958 a strike was averted
bring them in line with wages; by the government granting
in comparable durable goods| the railways a hike in freight
industries. Since the end of! rates to meet the costs of. the
World War 2, wage levels on| wage increase awarded the

Dieselization, speed-up, elim-
ination of a number of smaller
terminal points, reduction of
passenger services—all are jeo-
pardizing job security on the
railways for tens of thousands
of workers, many with 20, 30
and even more years of sen-
lority.

In rejecting any wage in-
crease whatsoever, the com-
panies have pleaded “inability
to pay.’ There is on doubt

the railways have dropped| employees. Since then; how-
from third highest to 20th| ever, freight rates have been
position. frozen pending the report by

While real annual earnings|}the Royal Commission on

for the non-ops have increased| Transportation set up by the
by only 16 percent since 1946,| government to review the
the real earnings of durable! freight rate structure. This re-

holidays

mies of peace hide.

Pauling estimated that the
USA has 115,000 atom. bombs

of these being 5, 10 and 20
megaton bombs. This being 30
or 40 times the number neces-
sary to destroy the USSR.
“One of these super bombs,”
he ‘said, “‘is the equivalent of
20 million tons of TNT or :7
times the total exploded in
the last world war. Three hun-
dred of them would destroy

kind has now sufficient stock-
piles of atom bombs to render
itself extinct.”

Don’t Buy War
Toys For Kids

Too many backyards are
turned into battlegrounds’”’
says an appeal to parents
by the Vancouver Branch
of the Women’s Internation-
al League for Peace and
Freedom, ir an appeal to
parents not to buy toy
weapons of war this Xmas.

Such toys, says the Lea-

gue, ‘‘arouse the desire to
kill. They breed ideas of
enmity anc  unifriendlin-

ess.” Parents are urged to
buy toys which develop
“co-operation and _ good-
will.”

The League appeals to
parents to “prepare the in-
nocent minds of your chil-
dren for a peaceful tomor-
row by ending games bas-
ed upon the _ horrors of
war.” |

port is expected sometimes in
May, 1961.

The railways can continue:
to play-an important role in

stock-piled at this time; 20,000'

the USA or the USSR. Man-!

More than enough bombs t
end world says Pauling

“T jike the world. I think we should conserve it,” stated Lynus C. Pauling
an overflow meeting of 3,000 people at the Orpheum Theatre last Sunday.

| Radiating confidence in the
|mighty crusade “for peace
which he champions, he said
“we are going to be success-
ful. There is not going to be a
third world war. Public pres-
sure and world opinion, be-
cause of modern transportation
and means of communication,
/ are being moulded into an
| irresistable force against war.”

“Approximately 5 million
Americans might survive an
all out atomic war,” ‘he esti-
mated. Kastern Canada would
be’ obliterated while some of
the’ population in the . Far
North and north west would
probably be left alive. Even
for the few. survivors, how-

ever, the incidence of mal-
formed children would be
very high.”

He answered the advocates

that this is a juvenile delusion.
Enough bombs to destroy the
Soviet Union might be dropped
in a surprise raid but since it

would take about two days for
the radioactive fallout to go
about the job of slaughtering
the population that would ‘al-

of surprise attack, pointing out:

wipe out the USA and anydlp
else involved with them.
“There is only one solutil
for mankind,” he said, “
that is. to learn how to
together.” i
Pauling placed great @
phasis on the neutral nat :
of the world. “Canada cou™
play a great role as leade
the small nations of the w
for world peace. ‘‘Neutrali
he predicted, ‘“‘would play ”
increasingly important role
the fight against the instiga
of war.” =e
In a rapid fire answer.
questions -submitted by
audience, Pauling said
out shelters were a_ usel@
cruel hoax, a form of aggl®
sion which conditions peo
for war.” “The so-called cl
bomb is a fraud — there
no such thing.” “Greed
profits trom arms making
one of the causes of wi
“Moral Rearmament, I do?
like it.”
The meeting which was ¢
ed by the B.C. Committee
Radiation Hazards was adv
tized under the. slogan

“

low them plenty of time to

More War.

our national economy. How-
ever, the pattern of continuous
freight rate increases, bitter |
resistance to the justified wage
demands of their employees,
callous: elimination of passen-
ger services and the like, raises
the question of government ac-

and make both it and the CNR
serve the needs of the Cana-
dian economy and the interests
of our workers and farmers.

Strike or no strike, this
question is on the agenda of
the day for consideration by
the labor and farm move-

ments.

tion. to. nationalize the CPR} 3

“Thus Does History Repeat”

NEWS ITEM = The first batch of more than 200 ‘'Bundeswehr”’
the advance party of 2,400 Parachutists and armored infantry who are to
agne, France, early in November
immediately upon the signing. by. Fr
an egreement om setting up ‘raining

ire military exercise grounds. in Cham
‘ee-week training period. This fellowed:

West German authorities in Paris of
fegistic bases In France for Bonn troops."

December 9, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pag?

soldiers for!
0