DES EMPLOIS!

Part of the B.C.
page 5).

‘GUD MAINTENANT

delegation at-the Young Communist League convention in Toronto last weekend. (Story —

—Sean Griffin photo

4
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me

According to unofficial but
normally reliable sources at
Tribune press time, Coast wood-
workers rejected a recommended
contract settlement by a slim
majority of 83. votes. The
disclosure that only 18,000 out of
some 32,000 members voted can bel
explained by the fact that prior to
the voting almost half the mem-
bers voted by leaving their jobs

On Tuesday of this week 12,000
were off work, despite pleas from
the regional leadership to return to
work.

Voting took place at mills and
camps and most operations on
Vancouver Island were closed
when the vote took place. In
Vancouver, MacMillan Bloedel’s
Vancouver Plywood management
sent 1,000 workers home when
maintenance workers, dissatisfied
over the negotiated incredses for
tradesmen, refused to work. All in
all, some 80 per cent of MacMillan
Bloedel’s 9,000 Coast woodworkers
were off the job at Tribune press,
time.

Union sources are of the opinion’
that when the official results have
been published, the negotiating
committee will head back to the
bargaining table.

Ina public statement prior to the
vote the Woodworkers Bureau of
the Communist Party of Canada
urged woodworkers to vote against
the proposed settlement and to
send the negotiators back to the
bargaining table. The statement
said Communists in the industry
could not support any settlement
which did not contain a floor of $1
an hour, in place of the proposed 65
cents. Reports from many
operations indicate that
dissatisfaction by the lower paid
employees, those who suffer most
from the high cost of living, played

a large part in the rejection.

Interviewed by the Tribune, a
spokesman for the Bureau called
for a special ‘delegate conference
with representation from every
local. “The 'ptirpose of this con-
ference,”’ he said, ‘‘should be to
unite the membership around a
policy of getting a better deal
which will guarantee every
woodworker an increase of no less
than a buck an hour. If the proper
leadership is given, the mem-
bership can be reunited and a
better deal can be won. Without a
strong affirmation of membership
support, without unity of purpose,
the regional negotiating committee
will have very little clout at the
bargaining table.”

The spokesman warned against
any reckless, divisive policies that
would make the regional leader-
ship the main issue at this critical
period, rather than the need to
unite the membership around
constructive policies in order to

obtain a better deal from the

monopoly concerns who dominate
the industry. ¢

In the Interior, 4,000 members of
the United Steelworkers of
America went on strike at Cominco
operations in Trail, Kimberley and
Salmo. They have been joined by
650 office and technical employees,
members of the Association of
Commercial and Technical Em-
ployees who are negotiating
separately.

The Steelworkers rejected a two-
year contract that would have
raised the basic labor rate from $4
to $5.10 an hour and tradesmen to
$7 an hour in the first year of a two-
year contract. The company had
agreed that wages would be
negotiable in the second year, with
the union having the right to strike
after June 30.

Communist Party warning
against Maoist disrupters

A sharp warning against a small
Maoist clique — ‘“‘the Bains,
Boylans, Spikulas, ete. — who are
continuing their attempts to usurp
the honored name of the Com-
munist Party of Canada’’, was.
issued this week by Nigel Morgan,
the Party’s provincial campaign
manager.

“Don’t be fooled by these self-
styled ‘Marxist-Leninists’ who are
obviously trying with their leftist
phrasemongering to make a
caricature of the Communist
movement’’, Morgan declared.
Like all agent-provocateurs they
are playing the bosses game ,and
aiding reaction with their wild

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1974|—-PAGE 8

irresponsible statements. The
charges they level at our Party are
as ridiculous and untrue as their
wild frothings that ‘the Soviet
Union is headed by a_ fascist
government’.”’

“The only Communist can-
didates running in this election are
those listed in the Communist

Party of Canada advertisement in

the daily press. Look for the
designation ‘‘Communist Party of
Canada” below the -candidate’s

name on the ballot. Only can-

didates of the Party, led: by Tim
Buck for many years and today by
William Kashtan, can use that
designation’, Morgan concluded.

According to statements from:

union spokesmen, the main hangup
was not wages. The members want
improved fringe benefits with 100
per cent payment by the company.
A key demand is full pension at 55
after 30 years’ service.

Reliable sources indicate’ that
the outcome of this strike could
well decide the future of Steel in
British Columbia. Kitimat was lost
to an. independent union after
widespread dissatisfaction over

the conduct of a strike and major :

offensives have been launched to

knock out Steel in Trail and win

certification for its 2,800 members
there. A well-conducted strike with

wide membership participation,

solid financial support to the
strikers and a good settlement
would greatly strengthen the
position of Steel and leave the
raiders little room to manoeuver.
In construction, only Electrical’
Workers Local 213, the Boiler-
makers and the Glaziers have not
settled. Their negotiators are
trying to get a better deal from
Construction Labor Relations
Association than the 10-pact unions
settled for, which provided a total
increase in wages and fringe
benefits of $2.90 over two years.
While a greater degree of unity
was achieved this time around by
the construction unions, as
exemplified by the 10-pact
negotiations and settlement, it is
obvious that next time around
there will have to be an all-out
effort to unite all construction
unions in a common front for
contract negotiations.

‘Communist vote |
most meaningful

Cont'd from pg. 1

prices? Do they stand for action to
weaken the power of the cor-
porations and for public ownership
of major corporations? Do they
favor Canadian control of
resources through public owner-
ship and for action to end US.
domination? Do they stand for a
foreign policy of detente and
peace?

A gathering storm of. economic
and political crises in western
Europe and elsewhere in the
capitalist world is the background
of Canada’s July 8 federal election,
Communist Party national leader

’ William Kashtan told a large pre-

election gathering in Vancouver
June 30.
More than 200 people gathered at

Grandview Community Centre to -

hear Kashtan, meet six of the 12
Communist Party candidates
seeking election in B.C. ridings,
and enjoy an evening of folk songs
and political skits put on by .YCL
members.

The Communist Party is fighting
“‘with every ounce of energy it can
muster to expose the fraud and
fallacy of. Liberal and Con-
servative policies,’”’ provincial
party leader Nigel Morgan said. In
particular he. slammed, as
Kashtan did later, Stanfield’s
proposed wage and price freeze.

The Communist Party will
continue its policy of ‘‘critical
support”’ of the NDP, but he noted
with alarm its ‘‘wobbling”’ position
over wage and price controls.

“Former prime minister» King
used to say, ‘conscription if
necessary but not necessarily
conscription.’ Now the NDP seems
to say ‘nationalization if necessary
but not necessarily nationalization.
nationalization.’

“Generally, the NDP’s role is to
be one of administering
capitalism, ‘‘not challenging it to
make an end of it,’’ Kashtan
charged. He said he was disap-
pointed with David Lewis’ per-
formance during the election
campaign. ‘“‘He has not come out
fighting as he ought to have done.’’

Meanwhile 4
catastrophic decline in working
people’s living standards have
continued unchecked. Half of the
1.7 per centrise in the cost of living
recorded for May can be attributed
to soaring food costs, Kashtan said.
Twenty five per cent of the rise was
caused by fuel price hikes, yet the
Communist Party alone con-
demned the price increase, though ,
Stanfield, Lewis and the provincial
premiers all concurred with it. _

It is immaterial whether wage
controls are imposed for 30 days, 90,
days or two years, Kashtan stated. .

‘crisis of world capita

inflation and the’

The central issue is the ws

attempt to bamboozle peop ,
believing their struggle 10 ™%,
with the cost of living afl
ie
the

flationary. Wages are unre

price increases, he rem
“To tell the Canadian peop
increases wouldn’t have be si
with a price freeze in effe
unmitigated lie.”
HK the Tory’s respon
inflation is to be expected, ne
continued. It coincides wu
recessive tendencies tha a
seen in many capitalist © +
and is the classic remedy : de
monopoly capitalism. d ig
tried it and now Stanfiel thet!
vocating it. “It led to ful
flation and unemploymy
and will lead to it again, intl”
The connection bein get
in this country an ‘ee oe
course, being held nartll
electorate, Kashtan © icy
“This important econoll jag)
along with other issues &
brushed under the rug. i tt
Questions of detente 4
are being forgotten 100: b
has been no mention.
national party leaders; af
David Lewis, of 2 ie casi! |
questions the U.S. = ae ue
hungry for ° Canadial
resources — apparently
to the new government a
continued. of
Liberal policy has bee Bi
bankrupt, he said. It alii
itself incapable of fil
problems of poverty 4m©
disparity. Pes
if mien is any section of
population that needs ete
cerned with the oo
election, it is the wom ony.
Kashtan stated. And cages" ;
Communist Party is pl + ii
program of protecti
standards while atta

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wer of monopoly. 4"? 4
ake away the powe’
workers to win raises. | ypil
selves through the! cate
strength, oa
monopoly solution, —

“The old line parte; 0! i
the. premise that what
the monopolies }%. t
Canada. Our premise Fi is
good for working peOP™ ine P
the country. And here * oy
of departure of two
ferent and distinct

including food, 1S:
footwear. Strict contre sit!
ensure the

8

Communist Party national leader William Kashtan and fed
nearly 300 people at the Fraser Valley Labor Picnic.

success
program, Kashtan stated .

eral candidates were introduc