4

‘Workers have basic right
of job security’ —BCFL

The 10th annual Convention
% the B.C, Federation of Labor
BCFL) opened its sessions Mon-
'“8y in the Vancouver Bayshore
Im, Close to 400 delegates
ftom ail key areas of the province
fe in attendance, their aims as
; y well defined by a con-
Yention banner reading, “What.
© Desire For Ourselves, We
ish For ‘All,”

For the majority of delegates

itis a «working convention” with
Minimum of time given over to
Celebrity” speeches.

Officially opened by BCFL
Tesident E.T. Staley, the con-
€ntion heard a brief greeting

of welcome by Ald, Halford Wil-
son on behalf of the Vancouver
City Council, A message of
greeting and thanks for BCFL
assistance was also read from

‘U.S. Civil Rights leader Dr.

Martin Luther King, who ex-
pressed the hope he would be able
to attend the next BCFL conven-
tion,

In his opening remarks Presi-
dent Staley said: “During those
10 years we have accomplished
much, We now have 273 union
locals affiliated to the Feder-
ation, representing approxi-
mately 110,000 members, . .Our
accomplishments might have
been more significant but for the

B.C. Fed. delegates join

Climaxing a brief but hard-’
tting report to the Tuesday
2 €rnoon session of the BCFL
Stvention by delegate F.G.
€ddes of the Oil, Chemical and
: jfomte Workers (OCAW) on its
tter and protracted strike at
Titish-American Oil for the
th ic right of job security,”
© entire delegate body of con-
—"Sntion delegates joined in a
Massive OCAW picket line.

With the BCFL Executive
aa in the lead the conven-
02 demonstration marched up
hee and Pender streets to
: a B—A central office building

1201 pender, There, carrying
‘dreds of “B—A On Strike”
. ecards, well over 400 conven-
| °% delegates and supporters
/ parched around the B—A office
| “Uilding for nearly an hour.

It Was an impressive demon-

tion of trade union solidarity,
and Office staffs of B—A as well
a Surrounding office buildings
a ec glued to the windows while
‘ dramatic BCFL solidarity

g Picket was on,

QP
a

Bee who witnessed this his-
© BCFL picket demonstra-
me, representing its 110,000
a Federation, left no

ts in the minds of anyone
“€re the sympathies of B.C.’s
a union movement stood in

Pect to the oil workers strike,
the “basic right of job secur-

fled
o

oil workers picket line

ity” as the central issue of this
struggle. The BCFL convention
session discussions are already
giving top priority to the vital
issue of job security in face of
expanding automation,

Prior to the BCF Lpicket dem-
onstration, executive member
George Johnson, chairman of
the BCFL Strike Co-ordinating
Committee appealed to conven-
tion delegates on the urgent need
of “more men and more financial
aid to assist the OCAW strike:

Financially, many BCFL af-
filiates have contributed to the
BCFL Defence Fund Johnson
declared, in order to provide
financial assistance to the oil
and other strikes, “but many as
yet haven’t, although this is their
fight too,”

Johnson reported that his own
Union (Meatcutters) had «adopted
a B—A service station and main-
tain a picket’ line there every
Friday night. Other unions could
do the same.”

Delegate Johnson reminded

convention delegates that the.

BCFL had recently established a
co-ordinating strike head-
quarters at 319 East Broadway,
where all voluntary picketing or
other assistance to the striking
oil workers or others, can be

centralized.

introduction of some of the worst
anti-labor legislation in North

-America, The Federation fought

its introduction in 1960, as it
is now fighting its enforcement.”

Both the opening reports of:

President Staley and the BCFL
Executive Council report given
by Secretary-Treasurer E,P,
“Pat® O’Neal highlighted many of
the vital issues coming before
the convention.

Top among these is the issue
of automation and the working-
man’s “basic right of job se-
curity,” faced by the adamant
and antiquated attitude of man-
agement, “a clear indication that
management intends to exploit
(automation and technolog-
ical change, Ed.) to the fullest
possible degree,”

Other highlights in the execu-
tive reports cover the imple-
mentation of the Hall Commis-
sion recommendations on a com-
prehensive Medicare health
charter for Canada; the sub-
sidation of citizen education and
retraining, collective bargaining
and the right to strike for civil
servants, so-called “manage-
ment rights,” the scuttling of the
new Federal Labor Code by the
granting of wholesale “exemp-
tions from the provisions of the
code” to big corporations, etc,

A number of important reso-
lutions have already been adopted
by the BCFL convention, These
include: the building of a Can-
adian Merchant Marine, the re-
moval of nuclear weapons from
Canadian soil and “withdrawing
from any treaty agreements or
organizations which promote the
spread of nuclear weapons.”

- Other resolutions adopted call for

the removal ofall tolls on govern-
ment ferries, repeal of the sales
tax on building materials, etc.

One highlight of the BCFL con-
vention to date was the address
given by Mr, E,A. Cote, Deputy
Minister, Department of Nor-
thern Affairs and National Re-
sources, During his recent visit
to the Soviet Union touring the
Soviet Arctic and later as hostto
a Soviet delegation touring the
Canadian North, Mr. Cote drew
many interesting comparisons on
the extent of Northern develop-
ment in the two countries,

Mine-Mill scores big
gain in pension plan

History was made in Trail
last week, with the signing of
terms for a new pension plan,
jointly administered by union and
management, to replace the uni-

- Jateral company plan which has

been in existence since 1926,

In terms of the amount of
pension payable this is believed
to be the best non-contributory
pension negotiated in heavy in-
dustry to date, ‘

The new plan, negotiated by the
Mine Mill & Smelter Workers

with the support and participation

of three other unions, broke nev
ground in several respects, Itis
unique in that it not only “stacks”
the Canada Pension Plan and the
Old Age Security Pension on top
of the previous company pen-
sions, but in addition advances
the latter two pensions to age 65
from the first of January, 1966.

For example, a typical.Com-
inco employee retiring at age 65
in 1966 will receive a company
pension of $1,750 a year, plus a
temporary annuity of $900 equal
to the Old Age Pension and pay-
‘able by the government, In
addition, he will receive a life
annuity of $400 to compensate
for the fact that he will not be
eligible for the Canada Pension
Plan,

He will also receive a “supple-
mentary retirement Benefit”
payable for life, of approximately
$325. Thus his total pension
will amount to $3,375, Men re-
tiring in subsequent years up to
1971 will be entitled to similar
amounts of pension,

Another unusual feature of the
plan is that it covers former
employees now on pension, No
matter when they retired, or at
what level of pension, these will
receive a minimum pension of

Sudbury vote

By unanimous decision the On- ©
tario Labor Relations Board
(OLRB) has ordered the taking of
a representation vote in the
‘15,000 man bargaining unit at
the INCO-Sudbury operations,
The vote will be between Local
598 Mine-Mill and United Steel-
workers,

_ A meeting Wednesday of this
week between officials of the
OLRB, company, and unions will
set the date for the vote and
‘other details,

At press time no further infor-
mation was available,

$100 per month, Also, if they
are not yet eligible for the Old
Age Security Pension, this will
be paid to them out of the new
plan. An example being quoted:
is an employee who retired last
year on a pension of $57.50 per
month, who will now be boosted
to $175.

There are also provisions for
improved disability pensions,
widows’ pensions, and improved
basis for retirement at 60,

The pension agreement is to
run for five years, at the end of
which time, it will be renego-
tiated in the same manner, and
at the same time, as the collec-
tive bargaining agreement, Esti-
mated cost of the new benefits,
for the five year period, is
$8,000,000,

OBITUARY

a ree ete
William (Bill) Laird

Suffering from a long and ser-
ious heart condition, William,
“Bill” Laird of North Vancouver
passed away last week in his
80th year, Emigrating to Canada
from his native Scotland in the
mid-thirties, Bill Laird and his
family first settled in Saskatch-
ewan, There with thousands of
‘others Bill felt the full impact
of that era known as the “Hungry
Thirties,”

Moving to B,C,, Bill Laird
tried his hand at farming in the
Cloverdale area for a time,
then moved into Vancouver and
became a shipyard worker.
There he joined the Ship and
Dock Workers Union and later
the Marine Workers and Boiler-
makers in which he was held in
high respect for his active union
work, and remained an honored
member of the Marine Workers
until his death,

For many years Bill Laird
was a devoted reader and sup-
porter of the Pacific Tribune,
and regardless of failing health,
would always make the periodical
trip to the PT office to renew
his sub, leave a donation to the
paper, and words of encourage-
ment for the staff.

William Stewart, secretary of
the Marine Workers and Boiler-
makers Union paid a tribute to
the work of Bill Laird in the
building of the shipyard union,’
and to his outstanding integrity
as a union man,

The PT editors and staff ex-
tend their deep sympathy and
condolences to Mrs, William
Laird and family in their be-
reavement, With them the ranks
of labor and the progressive
press have losta devoted worker.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE
Z

Wai Ren.

y

&

November 5, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3: