Pe

Y thinking Cana-
3, realizes the true
ificance of the
ike at Windsor.

tween organized la-
he Ford corporation
limgrad of the fight
- peace for the com-
| of Canada.

are mén who served
ont where Canadians
+d themselves in this
e men who served
vally by keeping the
war rolling over-

shere it was most
, war, they were a
sorking team that

-ajor role in the de-
_ axis. In peace, they
“er as fellow work-
-arades in the fight
nie elementary rights

'") Canadians gave
3 for in this war:
rity.

abor Veteran Unity
teactionary employ-

Ford Company do
2h unity. They rath-
fran against worker,
} against veteran. It
the interests of such

“2 organized veterans

nto numerous con-
wups -and organiza-
_lissipating their or-~
djength and legisla-
jal. ;

n of the Canadian
In Unity There Is
- indicates the road
\2ad for all progres-
'. veterans and wor-
-ut unity of organ-
purpose, the peo-
da will not be able
-s, Homes and Se-
ie immediate post-

reds of new veter-
_.arched behind the
-)f Local 200, UAW,

days ago, gave a
-) all organized and
| veterans across
“cry veteran must do
ower to support the
=-s, because they are
-s battle with the
y that they sup-
' in war time. It is
ght... for a bet-

but we have enter-
-phase—the postwar

‘king demonstration
Veteran unity was
‘1 gesture of solidar-
‘more than a physi-
sympathy for the
ue Ford strikers. It
the fact that one
‘nal issues on which
Sompany broke off
$ was the union’s
: full protection of
seniority rights.
the most. difficult
€ war, many reac-
dloyers like the Ford
pent tens of thous-
lars to convince the
they were the very
the war effort, and
zood friends of the
Ttudgingly, and in
®s under pressure,
concessions to or-
ior. But now that the
xx and labor is con-
ith such pressing
as union security,
pay and the 40-hour
my such wartime
| are becoming
0 say the least.
disclosures by the
aper of New York
/ the Ford Company
ly provided vehicles
erman forces before
= the war, and that

* side by side on the .

The Ford Strike And The

Veterans

this. company made“substantial
donations to the Nazi
funds. No doubt many of our
brave comrades who died in
Europe were killed by Germans
who rode to war in Ford ve-
hicles. Now that the war is
Over, it seems that the Ford
Company of Canada wishes to
perpetuate the best traditions
of Ford in Germany by dealing
with their workers in an. ar-
bitrary, Nazi fashion. But the
people of Canada won’t stand
for this sort of thing. It’s time
to eall a halt! é

Why. is it that Union Secur-
ity has been granted to Ford
workers in Detroit, and not in
Windsor? Is it because our
governments are teo weak and
spineless to settle the dispute
fairly—or because they are a
party to a conspiracy to smash
the Ford strike?

VERSEAS, I attended several

lectures on rehabilitation.
Quite a few of my pals
were interested in the “Rein-
statement In Civil Employment
Act.” This act, administered by
the Federal department of la-
bor, provides that if the. ex-
serviceman was a bona fide
permanent employee, and with-
in three or, in certain. cases
four months of his discharge,
he applies to his old employer,
it is the duty of that employer
to give him employment on
terms no less honorable than
would have prevailed had the
period of employment not

been interrupted by war serv-

ice. He must be given the ad-
vantage of any seniority rules
which prevail. If their are no
seniority rights, then he must
be given preference according
to first dates of employment.

It all reads very well, but
my pals were practical chaps
and they asked two questions:

@ How can a veteran be
certain his employer will live
up to his obligations beyond
the specified period of guaran-
tee . .. six months? And how
ean he be certain the employer
will not take advantage of an
escape clause in the act, to low-
er his wages, deny him seniority
or put him on the street?

© What is to happen to the
men and women displaced by
returning veterans claiming
their old jobs back?

The issue around which the
Ford strike is being fought
earries the answer to the first
problem. Only union security
can guarantee the veteran a
square deal from his employer.
The slogan raised some time
ago. by the organized
movement of Canada points to
the solution of the second prob-
Jem. Jobs for All .. . this is
the answer.

A friend of mine, who is a
member of a veterans’ organiz-
ation, told me the other day
that he was unsuccesful in intro-
ducing a resolution of support to
the Ford strikers at their busi-
ness meeting. The motion was
not carried because its most
vocal opponents considered
that the adoption of such a
resolution would be construed
as partisan politics. This inter-
pretation, I am sure, is no re-
flection of the official policy of
organized veterans. However,
it does demonstrate the fact
that there are many organized
veterans who do not understand
the full significance of the Ford

ADVOCATE — PAGE 11

party .

labor’

strike. There are still those in
veterans’ organizations who be-
lieve that veterans should go to
the government with cap in
hand; and those who find it
very difficult to sympathaize
with organized labor; and those

poor, misguided souls who want

to achieve a Canadian Utopia
for Canadian Veterans only,
and through the sole medium of
Canadian Veterans.

Clause L of the preamble to
the constitution of the Canadian
Legion—Canada’s largest and
most <influential organization

- of veterans, declares that it is

the purpose of the Legion ‘‘to
assist ex-servicemen to secure
not less than the recognized
standard rates of wages.’ It is
precisely the. trade unions of
Canada who have been the
most potent force in establish-
ing the standards that exist to-
day—and it is precisely the
trade union movement that is
leaving no stone unturned to
abolish sub-standard wages. If
the Ford strike is lost, the
green light will be flashed from
the Pacific to the Atlantic, and
from the American border to
the Arctic for a general on-
slaught on organized labor and

the wage standards of the
workers.

e@
HE recognized standard of

wages is not a fixed standard
-..a static quantity and qual-
ity. Many factors and influ-

ences determine how much the
worker takes home in his pay
envelope, and how much he can
buy for the meney he gets. The
most significant influences in
establishing a thigh standard
of wages is the collective bar-
gaining .power of the organ-
ized workers. If a worker in a
non-union shop or camp has his
wages cut, there is very little
he can do about it as an indivi-
dual, except look for another
job. But if there is a union in
that shop, the employer will
have to deal with the collective
group of workers, and this
group will have the full support
of their parent organization.
Thus organized veterans must
support organized labor to es-
tablish fair standards of wages
. .. and all veterans who are
eligible should join their re-
spective trade unions for full
protection on the job.

All veterans, through their

by J. Phillips

organizations and individually,
must call upon the Prime Min;
ister of our country to effect a
speedy and fair solution to the
labor dispute in Windsor. The
settlement arrived at should
make full provisions for sound
labor-management relations by
eontractual recognition of Lo-
eal 20,.U.A.W., as the sole and
effective bargaining agent of
the workers concerned in the
dispute. Union security must
be granted and the contract en-
tered into by both parties must
make full provisions for the pro-
tetion of veterans’ seniority
rights.

This dispute highlights the
necessity. of overhauling and
modernising provincial and fed-
eral labor legislation in keep-
ing with the needs of the times.
Unless such measures. are
taken, the question of labor-
management relations will con-
tinue to dog the path of recon-
version and aggravate rather
than solve many outstanding
grievances suffered by the
workers of Canada.

If the Ford company will not
come to terms, then the Feder-
al- Government must use its
special powers to seize the Ford
holdings in Canada in order to
effect a proper settlement and

end the Ford sabotage of recon> *

version. oar
The Bovey Royal. Commis-
sion which investigated the re-
habilitation problems of vety
erans stated “that governments
recognized and state that labor
is a full parnter in rehabilita-
tion with definite rights and re-
sponsibilities.’” The commission
recommended “that there be
just and equitable wages and
working conditions in all parts
of Canada.”
@
VERY veteran who has to
work by hand or brain wants
to see and enjoy “equitable
wages and working conditions.
From this, there stems a deep
going sympathy for the Ford
strikers. The question of Labor-
Veteran Unity is still some-
thing of an _ abstraction to
many of our new veterans.
The following facts should be
in the possession of every vet-
eran: .
@® The trade union move-
ment of Canada was the back-
bone of full production to keep
the war fronts supplied, and

showed admirable restraint in
living up. to their no-strike
pledge, despite employer and
government provocation.

® The trade union move-
ment launched the campaign
that increased the ex service

man’s clothing allowance froy
$385 to $100. a

@ The trade union move-
ment played an important role
in winning an increase of
basic pay from $1.30 to $1.50
for soldiers.

® The trade union move
ment advocates that an ex-
serviceman’s war service
should count as job seniority,
whether he goes to work for
his old or a new employer.

® The trade union move-
ment advocates enabling legis-
lation similar to the Veterans’
Land Act for the erection of
homes for veterans in urban
areas.

@ The trade union move-
ment advocates increased vo-
eational training allowances.
The $60 monthly for single
men is held to be insufficient. —

@ The trade union move-
ment advocates that War Ser-
vices Grants be paid in lump
sums to veterans requiring
eapital for the purchase of
homes, establishing them-
selves in business or to meet
pressing financial problems.

@® The trade union move-
ment’s campaign for low rent,
government subsidized housing
\is the answer to the housing
problem of veterans in the low
income class.

@ The trade union move-
ment’s program of “Jobs for
All” offers a common program
for dynamic, fruitful Labor-
Veteran unity. A 40-hour week
with 48 hours take home pay,
a minimum wage of $25 a
week, a more just distribution
of tax burdens, health insur-
ance, generous old age pen-
sions, good housing and better
all round standards of. living
. .. . this is what, the trade
union movement stands for . ..
to make Canada a land fit for
heroes to live in... to make
heroes proud. to live in Canada.

Labor and Warrior Unity
won the war against the dark
forces of reaction abroad.
Now, Labor and Veterans must
stand together to win the
peace. Every. veteran must
support the Ford strikers in
their battle for Union Secur-
ity. The end of the. war has
opened the page on a new
chapter in the age-old struggle
of the people for freedom, op-
portunity and security. Let us
mareh forward together ...
with our feet on solid ground
and our eyes on the great fu-
ture that awaits the people of
Canada in the not teo distant
future.

In The Name Of Stalin — om.

and penetrating gaze was re-
flected in the eyes of people,
and the memory of his smile,
scarcely noticeable under his
moustache, and in the wrinkles
about his eyes makes the day
brighter as though clouds had
been lifted and let the bold rays
of the sun through.

For nearly four hours the
mighty and living torrent of
demonstration poured over the
wet pavement of Red Square.
In the demonstration marched
old veterans of labor, fitters
and turners from Stalin Works,
the Dynamo Works, from the
famous steel smelters, from the
Sick-Leet Hammer Works,
weavers and spinners, railway
workers and aircraft builders.

In the demonstrtation marches
scholars and writers, actors and
artists, students and pupils of
trade schools, enthusiastic
youth and young girls with
ringing voices. Young children
sailed above the sea of theads
on their fathers’ shoulders.
Club workers sang, romped and
tap danced.

The victorious people march-
ed in clear bright consciousness
of the great feat it performed,
and after measuring its
strength by the great measure
of history prepared to work
and create, prepared at a mo-
ments’ notice to stand up like
an iron wall and defend their
joy, their happiness, their
future.

This procession was magnifi-
cent in its smooth progress, in
its endlessness. Everyone felt
the insuperable strength in
those broad rivers which merg-

ed into the sea of heads, into .

constellations of eyes, into the
mighty symphony of voices.
And echoes of this
movement arrived from Lenin-
grad, from Kiev, and Minsk,
from Stalingrad and Riga,
from Baku and Bilisi.

A great and victorious na-
tions is entering its twenty-
ninth year. Its new life, full of
inexhaustible energy, prepared
for constructive labor for the
sake of happiness and joy. Stal-
in’s name directs the movement,
and calls to new achievements.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1945

mighty .