cane AUTOMATION OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM ‘Next to A-bomb,’ Douglas tells IWA (es cee OCTOBER 2, 1964 25 — <>, NO. a0 U U i] I I I I I I I I I | I { I I I | I I l I I | I I I I THIS WEEK Sa — os — = eee eee oe AT BRITANNIA What Soviet trade _ can mean to Canada * AUTOMATION: HOW FAST? * B.C. Fed. must tackle labor’s new problems —PAGE 5 —PAGE 6 —PAGE 12 By JERRY SHACK ‘‘Next to the problem of the nuclear bomb, no problem has greater ramifications than that of automation,” T. C. Douglas, national leader of the New Democratic Party, told some 160 delegates to the IWA’s 27th annual regional convention this week. Douglas made it clear there would be no solution of the problems posed by growin intensifies its political action. “There is not much use march- ing on the economic picket line if you’re going to scab at the political ballot box,” he said, “Until we (the trade union move- ment—J,S,) learn to combine the economic and political struggles we will continue to flounder in the wilderness.” Calling for the building of “a great new Canada,” Douglas said the job could only be done by labor swinging into action at the constituency and municipal levels, It means hard work, dedi- cation and devotion, he said, It means going out night after night, up one street and down the other—meeting people, talk- ing to them, convincing them of the need to lend their support to a people’s party, This means that “we in the trade union movement have to re- orientate our thinking,” Douglas stated. “We have to change our outlook, our organizational forms and anything else that stands in the way. We have to devote more funds to political education,” Pointing to the Toronto print- ers’ strike—where ITU members U.S. mine monopoly threat to shut down B.C. town hit . Musly anti-labor Ana- its 3 ining Company renewed Woy, 2S this week to shut po anna rather than s the just demands of ye Pu as In the midst of grow- S. og Condemnation of the Mpany’s action, Late a8 to speak out against ‘legate S threat were the 150 You e to the New Democratic i Weep vention in Vancouver Utio ne _Which adopted a reso- ‘ take «8 the B.C. government mer Britannia mine. Re x the the B.C. Executive 1 8Mien °Mmunist Party wired alloys, Whett condemning the an Its: ee attitude of the company Ae of a,/STegard of the wel- workers and their : 4S well as the fate of Over poet the government € mine rather than “S, monoply to close As te. the “Stay PT went to press Wed- © miners were due to vote on the latest company offer. A meeting last Saturday recommended the offer be reject- ed. But even before the vote was taken the company said it had withdrawn the offer and announc- ed it will proceed with the shut- down. Meanwhile, faced by unitedand determined action by the Bri- tannia miners and their wives in support of their demands, the company moved Tuesday tohave the courts grant an injunction in the hope of breaking the nine- weeks old strike, The injunction says it will seek damages for alleged ‘trespassing’? and ‘¢nuisance’’ on or near the mine operations. Threats to shut down, and the use of anti-labor injunctions aim- ed at strike-breaking, are old tactics used by the billion dollar U.S. corporations in its long and vicious struggle against unioni- zation in North America. In an advertisement published by the Britannia Mine and Mill- workers Union this week the union said that ‘‘an honourable settle- ment can be arrived at provided only that a responsible approach to the entire community is taken by the company. It must realize that we live in a day and age when nobody can continue to order about the lives of whole communi- ties on the basis of unilateral and arbitrary ‘Rights’ and deci- sions.”’ The ad points out that a ‘‘rea- sonable. settlement was not too far off?’ had the company showna genuine desire to reach a settle- ment. On Wednesday Charles Caron, Communist Party provincial or- ganizer and former Federal can- didate in the Coast-Capilano rid- ing, demanded that Liberal MP Jack Davis raise the matter in Parliament, and urged Davis press for a takeover of the mine rather than allow the U.S. mon- opoly to shut it down. are on the picket line but press- men, bookbinders, mailers, etc., are still working—he said: “We still haven’t learned to organize workers along industrial rather than craft lines,” He contrasted this situation to the strike of office workers in Alberni this summer, “The Al- berni victory was one ofthe most heroic things ever done by the labor movement in Canada, and it is precisely this kind of unity that’s needed allacross Canada,” Posing the question “Is auto- mation a menace or a miracle?” Douglas answered by saying: “It -all depends on where you sit, The industrialist, the investor and the corporations are able to make bigger profits; for them, it’s wonderful, But how about the man who loses his job?? If automation were to be pre- vented from becoming a menace “some of its benefits must accrue to the workers and not all to the employers,” he declared, This g automation unless labor greatly meant worker rétraining, ade- quate pay while learning new skills, and other measures, he said, But is also means “fundamen- tal changes in our economy, be- cause we’llnever have an expand- ing economy and full employment unless the bottom 40 percent of the population has the power to purchase the products of indus- try.e He called for the creation of thousands of jobs through agreat program of “social investment” in schools, houses, factories, hospitals, etc, But instead of in- itiating such a program, “we have starved the public sector of our economy,” The only way such a program could come about was by the elec- tion of a people’s government, That was why it is so important for labor to look beyond the bar- gaining table and greatly increase the effectiveness of its political arm—the NDP, Douglas said, WARREN COMMISSION REPORT DODGES QUESTIONS. Photo above shows U.S. secret service agents re-enacting the assassination. Circle shows window from which Lee Oswald is supposed to have fired the shot which killed Pres. Because the report failed to answer many world queries it has been branded in many countries as a ‘whitewash.’ See editorial on page 4.