OTTAWA IGNORED JUST GRIEVANCES

INTERVIEWED BY PT:

Postal workers speak
out against injustice

By BLAKE ALLEN

“The government will have to:

give us what we want,’

Spoken in quiet confidence, this
was the prediction of the 26 year
postal service veteran I was
walking with on the picketline at
the main post office, His opinion
was not just his own, Every
picket I talked to said the same
thing,

“How come it’s only now that
we get a committee to investi-
gate?” asked one picket, He
went on to explain that back in
1962 the postal workers had pub-
lished a booklet presenting their
case,

“We've been talking for years
and got nowhere, Now they’re
taking us seriously!”

“I voted for Pearson last time
but I won’t next time unless he
gives us what we want,”

“A friend of mine’s 17 year
old. kid just started work as a
laborer,
I’ve been working more than 20
years and I get $90,”

These are just a few of the
comments that were expressed
by the strikers that reflect their
anger and frustration,

“I’m married with three kids,”
a young fellow in his late 20’s

Eccles tBritisle-Daily Worker}

He gets $95 a week,

said, “I take home $150 every
two weeks, Try raising a family
on that!”

A supervising carrier of over
12 years experience said that he
was paid $405 a month, “It
comes to $165 every two weeks,
And I have a different route every
day,”

“If I remember right I started

over 25 years ago taking home,

about $115 a month, Now I
take home about $292,” an older
picket commented,

“How many of you are vet-
erans?” I asked, since the post
office gives preference to vet-
erans in hiring...

“Oh, I’d say about 60 per-
cent are veterans,” he replied,

It would seem that the gov-
ernment’s appreciation leaves
something to be desired,

As we walked back and forth
many passers-by stopped to talk
with the pickets and wished them
luck, They reported hardly any-
one saying anything against them,

It would seem that their years
of service, in all kinds of wea-
ther and conditions have won
overwhelming respect and sup-
port and earned them the right
to a decent wage.

“it may well be China down there, | wouldn't recognize it if ae

saw it...”

Why did half of Canada’s post office workers go on strike, with the remainder determined —
to work to the rule? Why did 90 percent of British Columbia's postal-employees walk out?
‘Why did the strikers defy a national leadership who were opposed to strike action?

The answer can be found in
the fact that postal wages have
slipped badly since 1939, In that
year, a postal clerk in Vancou-
ver earned as much as a fire-
fighter. In January of this year
the clerk was $1260 a year be-
hind the firefighter, This is
generally the picture across the
country, for all categories of
postal workers,

- There are three unions in the
Canadian Brotherhood of Postal
Employees: The Federated As-
sociation of letter Carriers
(8,000- members), the Canadian
Postal: Employees " Association
(sorters and clerks — 10,000
members) and the Railway Mail
Clerks (600-members),

After years of frustration be-
cause their wages were falling
behind, and because as federal
civil servants they had no bar-
gaining rights, the postal em-
ployees exploded, The wonder is
that they didn’t explode sooner,

After they scaled down their
wage demand to $660 a year, the
federal government decided on
increases ranging from $300 to
$360, This is what the Civil Serv-
ice Commission recommended,
approximately half of what the
Pay Research Bureau of that body
proposed, The Bureau recom-
mended what the employees are
demanding, $660 a year.

On Thursday, July 22, the sec-

_ ond day of the strike, the federal
government issued an ultimatum

to the strikers; BACK FRIDAY
OR ELSE, At the sametime, they
applied for injunctions against
picketing in Montreal and Van-
couver, They also appointed

Judge C, Anderson as Commis-
sioner to enquire into the pay
seales of postal employees and
report back, In short, the stick.
and the carrot,

Despite the fact that an in-
junction in Montreal limited
pickets to six persons on abuild-
ing andanother, in Vancouver,
prohibited all picketing, the
strike spread to Toronto and

other cities. In Vancouver, citi- |

zens without placards took the
place of strikers,

While Judge. Anderson was
meeting with top executives of

WAGE

Cont'd from pg. 1
tional strike vote would be
ordered in about two weeks.

Postal workers and many of
their leaders have been highly
critical of the pressure and
threats employed by the govern-
ment in attempting to force the
men back to work, There were
also vague assurances given to
postal union leaders that Judge
Anderson will bring down some
recommendations for wage
boosts,

Despite the confusion and dis-
unity caused by the latest turn of
events in the postal strike, the
postal workers across Canada

Why the postal workers went on strike

By JACK PHILLIPS

“OOTAL EMPLOYEES

ON
STRIKE

BETTER YiGES

“ON STRIKE FOR BETTER WAGES”’. This was the scene outside Greater Vancouv"
postal stations and in other centres across Canada as postal. workers mani
lines to’ back up their demands. These two postmen were photographed at P
Station D, Zone 9 on Broadway near Granville in Vancouver.

the Brotherhood and strike lead-
ers in Ottawa, the leader of the
opposition, John Diefenbaker,
called upon the strikers to think
twice before going back to work
without gaining their full de-
mands, Diefenbaker is no friend
of labor, but he is acutely aware
of the weak position of the min-
ority Liberal government, Fur-
ther, he recognizes that postal’
employees have an excellent case
for their full demand and enjoy
wide support,

It is a pity that on the same
day that Diefenbaker made his
statement it was necessary for
Pat O’Neal, Secretary-Treasur-
er of the B.C, Federation of
Labor, to wire Claude Jodoin,
president of the Canadian Labor
Congress, urging national sup-
port from theC,L,C, To that date,
the C,L.C, had made no state-
ment,

It would appear from state-
ments by Northern Affairs Minis-
ter Arthur Laing that a bill to

BOOST KEY ISSUE

remain determined to put an end
to the scandalous low wage scales
prevailing in the postal industry,
and to win collective bargaining,

In these demands the postal
workers have overwhelming sup-.
port in Canada among all sec-
tions of the population, Last
Friday four United Church minis-
ters in Vancouver issued a joint
statement addressed to the Fed-
eral government urging “that
postal workers should have the
Same rights and privileges as

‘other employed groups in indus-

try . . . including the right to
strike, opportunity for bargain-
ing with an employer and the use
of conciliation procedures.”

July 30, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—P°

PIAL EMPLOVEES

BE TTER WAGES

.. Jack Phillips phot?

eS

give Canada’s 190,000 federal
employees collective bargail
rights will be placed before ‘- 2:
next session of Parliament. Ie
long overdue. However, orga
ized labor must demand no rer
striction on the right to strike
because without this right,
the postal employees #
learned, workers have no P
gaining power.

rd

Federal employees are ei,
tially organized, in 65 unions
associations, and with very
co-ordination, The majority ca
low paid in relation to worke™
protected by union agreemel’
The successful conclusion Of
postal strike should lay hen
for an extension of trade
organization in this field and £08 t
consolidation and mergers i”
should also bring federal © ze 3
servants closer to orgaMiZ@
labor, One thing is certain:
er pay for postal employees © y
bring demands for higher P
throughout the civil services
a demand is justifiable.

NDP MP’s Barry Mathe” , |
Harold Winch have urged P* pe |
‘Minister Pearson to mee Ke
wage demands ofthe postal We
ers,

Last Friday Nigel mote |
B.C, Communist Party !¢ est 4
wired the Prime Minister 4!
him to meet the union dem
The wire said; “You canne
cape acknowledgment ie on got”
are grossly underpaid, YO
ernment had no difficul
yourselves an extra inde™

ty vt
y Tie

0

The postal workers have pe

received overwhelming SYP i
from the public and the ¢

union movement in theit be)

for recognition and decent 8