Ist Issue, March é B.C. LUMBER WORKER

PROTEST INJUSTICE OF BILL 4

The members of the trade unions affiliated with the B.C. Federation of Labour appeal to all the
friends of labour to join in their protest against the enactment of Bill 43, An Act Relating To Trade
@ Unions, recently introduced in the Legislature by the Social Credit Government.

The Main Reasons For This Protest Are:—

1 The Bill is entirely restrictive, and designed to 4, Bill 43 reverses accepted principles of justice. It

hamper all trade unions in their negotiations. It
offers no improvement in facilities for the settle-
ment of disputes. As stated by the Minister of
Labour, the great majority of industrial disputes
have been settled without strikes through concilia-
tion. Yet no provision has been made for necessary
improvements in conciliation procedures. By
depriving trade unions of established rights, the
Bill will make collective bargaining less effective,
while attempting to repress the resulting discontent.
It proposes to club trade unions into acceptance
of the employers’ terms by the threat of ruinous
damage suits.

2 Bill 43 repeals the Trade Union Act, and thereby
cancels guarantees given Unions in B.C. by the
Legislature in 1902-and 1924. Decisions since
rendered in the courts have amply protected com-
munity. interests. In 1902, the Trade Union Act
paralleled the action of the British Parliament to
relieve trade unions of the effects of the Taff Vale
decision in regard to liability for damages on
account of business losses occasioned by a legal
strike. In 1924, the unions were relieved from
responsibility for wrongful acts, not authorized.
The harsh terms of Bill 43 are in direct contra-
diction to present labour laws in Britain and the
Commonwealth,

3 Bill 43 is a sham, in that it pretends to preserve
for trade unions the right to strike, but actually
takes away the means to make a strike effective.
The right to strike, without the right to picket is an
empty mockery. It prohibits, and makes actionable
all usual outside support for a strike necessary to
make a strike effective against a large corporation,
or group of employers. The phrasing which assumes
that employers and unions are on equal footing
in this respect is mere pretence. An employer can
make a lock-out effective without resort to the
action required by a union, which must be free to
communicate with its members and other workers
to make the strike effective.

states that a trade union is presumed to be guilty,
until its innocence is proven. It is presumed to
have authorized wrongful acts by any of its
members unless the contrary is shown. No such
presumption is stipulated for the employers’ organi-
zations. One unlawful act in picketing by any one
member of a union can make all its picketing
illegal. One indiscreet act by a member of a union
can expose that union to ruinous litigation. All
such acts are made actionable against the trade
union which is now re-defined to include the inter-
national organization as well as the Local Union.
It would be quite as just to state that all actions of
the shareholders of the BCER are presumed to
have been authorized by the BCER until the
contrary is shown.

5 Bill 43 is an open invitation to employers’ organi-

zations to break strikes by the importation of
strike-breakers, and by the attachment of trade
union funds. To give legal sanction to such
activities on the part of the employers, while
limiting the civil rights of trade union members
can only lead to serious and open unrest in B.C.
industry. In effect, Bill 43 transfers responsibility
for the administration of labour law in the province
to the employers acting through the courts. This
is a form of coercion, against which the trade
unions must fight until they gain full restoration
of their civil rights.

6 Bill 43 makes a trade union a legal entity for the

purposes of suing and being sued. This provision
is designed to bankrupt a trade union on strike,
against which any technical illegality may be
proven. Trade unions are already liable for severe
penalties if they engage in wrongful acts. Bill 43
provides for additional and unlimited penalties. It
would be impossible to calculate and assess the
damages inflicted upon a union’s membership by
the wrongful act of the employers’ organization.
It would also be impossible to collect damages from
those organizations that represent the employers
during negotiations. They usually work for fees
and are not responsible for company policy.
Damages awarded against a trade union, under
Bill 43, could not only bankrupt the Union itself,
but in the absence of a limited liability provision,
could also involve the personal assets of an innocent
member.

Trade Union members are compelled to accept the conclusion that the passage of Bill 43 will indicate
that the Social Credit government intends to side with the employers’ organizations in “holding the
line” on wages. All trade union members are warned to refrain from acts which can be described as
unlawful under Bill 43 and which would make their unions’ funds liable to attachment at the instance
of the employers. Bill 43 confirms the position of the B.C. Federation of Labour to the effect that
just labour laws can be obtained only through a political party that is prepared to serve the interests
of all the people of British Columbia. ‘i

This advertisement is published by the B.C. Federation of
Labour, 2475 Manitoba Street, Vancouver, B.C., with the
financial support of the members of its affiliated unions.