STRIKE SET FOR NOV.15 Postal probe proves la changes needed ST OFFICE employees see the report of the royal commission on working conditions tabled last week in the House of Commons as proof © of their allegations that radical change is necessary. The report, by Mr. Justice Andre Montpetit, makes. 282 recommendations on improve- ments in working conditions. It sharply criticizes the post office executives for the way they deal with the employees stating that many of them are living in the past and have only a vague notion of the importance of good staff relations. Among recommendations are payment for overtime, provisions to allow more workers to take their holidays in the summer, improved sick leave, and remo- val of work hazards. As one Toronto postal worker put it to the Tribpne: “It’s 98 percent good but that which is bad, is very bad.” He was referring to the pro- posal that postal workers give a fair trial to Bill C 170, which is now before a parliamentary committee for study and which would force compulsory arbitra- tion. Both the unions—letter Car- riers and postal employees— have opposed this legislation. They have asked to be treated like regular trade unions under the Industrial Relations and Disputes Investigation Act. They are asking a wage in- crease of $1 an hour. Although there has been lots d¥s By WILLIAM ALLAN DETROIT * ITED Auto Workers union members in American Mo- tors Corporation. (AMC) who have come out on the short ' end of the profit-sharing plan their union signed, are ready to dump the‘plan and told news- ~ men they want straight wage in- creases, not stock. The UAW here is preparing _ its demands these days for pre- sentation to General Motors, _ Ford, Chrysler and AMC for negotiations in early 1967 when contracts covering over ‘one mil- lion UAW members in _ these plants comes up for renewal. The AMC-UAW members are sounding off early that they want the so-called profit-sharing plan dumped. The UAW top of publicity on an “interim” wage offer to try and forestall a threatened strike before Christ- mas, the truth is that the Trea- sury Board has yet to put any concrete offer before the work- ers. The suggestion by the Civil Service Commission of a six per- cent increase (approximately 10 cents ‘an hour), which is re- garded-as ridiculous by the wor- kers, has not even been for- mally placed on the table. With a tentative strike dead- line of Nov. 15, the unions are not just waiting. In all centers joint strike committees between BIGT the two unions are being estab- lished. In Toronto and Montreal, for example, the proposition now being discussed is the opening of strike headquarters, selection of picket captains, deciding on length of picket duty, etc. The postal employees mean business and, as the Tribune was told, “unless there is an offer of at least 50 percent of our demand to begin with, there is no alternative but to strike.” The Montpetit Report strengthens the union’s fight and they have welcomed it. Fred Wright (UE News) “Your insurance company says you don’t qualify for any benefits but they send you their best wishes!” FOR AUTO WORKERS |. “tional Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and one of the EXPRESSING concern over the recommendation to closé down the Cape Breton coal mines, William Kashtan, leader of the Communist Party, suggested that the support of all sections ° the labor movement, be sought to compel the federal governmem™ to take over the mines and operate them in the public interest. In a letter to William Marsh, president of District 26 of th United Mine Workers of America, Kashtan stated: e “We believe the labor movement generally should reject this proposal (the mine closures) as being contrary to the nation@! interest. Coal continues to be a vital form of energy necessary f the further development and expansion of the Canadian economy It could be the energy base for development of other industries in Nova Scotia as well as a source of supply for Ontario’s and Que bec’s needs which are now being met by import of coal from the USA. Such an approach makes sense and is in line with Canada needs. “In our view the mines should be kept open and if Dosco 7 fushes to do that, the governments concerned should establish # crown corporation to operate them in the public interest. Rathe than a policy of subsidies and phased out operations we ought 1 have a policy of public ownership which would enable this vital source of energy to be used for further development of the Can- adian economy. “We are prepared to cooperate in whatever way is useful in a public campaign to keep. the mines open and the men on the job. * * * UNIONS have gone too far in their wage demands says Jean Brunel, general manager of the Professional Association of Indus trialists in Quebec. According to him, “decisions are even taken without the presence of business leaders.” He said, “Quebec bus! ness leaders associations must become the one voice of mana ment againt the forces of creeping socialism that may eventual, destroy the free enterprize that has given our nation its high stand ard of living.” : E Backing up his words with action Brunel said. that various associations of industrialists have been meeting secretly for th past three years to plan a united federation to challenge the wae: demands of the labor movement. : * x * WILLIAM P. KELLY, Canadian. vice-president of the inten leadine negotiators for the railway unions has got a new job.-Starting Nov 1, he will be working for the government, in the Department a Labor no less. Kelly has been appointed director of the depart ment’s conciliation and arbitration branch. If you can’t lick .’e™— join ’em. : profit-sharing—without profits officials made no move to ask AMC for cash for its. memb® while the salaried people were getting cash. Also promised were compa” leaders are not fighting the mem- bers, so it’s doomed and will end up in the ash-can of labor history. - : “Profit-sharing isn’t any good without profits,’ remarked Claude Keim, assistant director ‘of the UAW’s AMC department. Also the news is that if AMC’s profits keep sinking, workers will not get the added week of pay in lieu of vacation that the profit plan was supposed to pro- vide. This means AMC. workers will get a week less vacation pay than their fellow workers in the Big Three. This last year they only got 97 percent of their additional vacation week of pay. Now, five years after it squeaked into existence, AMC’s profit sharing, sold by UAW + 4, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 4 president Walter Reuther, is about as popular as an assembly line speedup. Back in 1961, the profit shar- ing (Reuther called it progress- sharing) was approved by a slim margin of 1,607 to 1,309 in the “Milwaukee, Wis., plant. In Ken- osha, Wis., workers voted down the contract but approved it 6,738 to 3,264 after a massive “education” drive by UAW offi- cials. The ‘education’ was, vote for it or go on strike. AMC officials had in mind to make the workers cut labor costs, produce more, file Jess grievances — all because they were becoming stockholders and, to get more stock, would in- crease their “efficiency”. UAW president Walter Reu- ther called it the “most signifi- cant and the most historic col- lective bargaining agreement ever written in the United States.” In return for stocks the AMC workers gave up a one-cent cost of living raise in wages due them in September, 1961, and gave up a. five-minute washup time each day. In the first year, 1962, they got 7.3 shares of stock, worth about $124, but they couldn’t cash in on them because the company held it in trust for them for two years. Meanwhile, great dissatisfac- tion started among AMC pro- duction workers when _ they found the company was paying cash bonuses to its salaried em- ployees, while shares of stock On paper were only credited to the workers under -the profit- sharing plan. Still the UAW top contributions into a _ resel” fund, which would finance pen sions, insurance, and supple mentary unemployment penefilé (SUB). The union* admitted 1964 in a bulletin: “profits h@Y not been sufficient to permit 4” money to be placed in this / serve fund”. The market price on sha fluctuated of course, St0oe shares for the workers in 19% were listed at $21.34 but a ye" — later were worth only $17 | share. To equate share dealiné with hourly-wage increases, * the champions of “pr sharing” schemes did, is a cit hoax. ;