—Fred Minaker photo

_ Containers are being unloaded at a number of Vancouver docks in
readiness for the container era. The above photo shows some of the big

boxes at the famed Ballantyne Pier.

LABOR SCENE:

‘Hot’ grapes, a BCFL
boycott, and peace

Vancouver and District Labor Council (VLC) endorsed the B.C.
Federation of Labor call for a boycott of all Safeway stores and a
tightening up of its two-year boycott of California grapes at all other

retail outlets.

That decision means that the.

public will refrain from buying
any and all Safeway products,
but keep a closer eye on ‘‘hot”’
grapes than hitherto. A wide
leaflet distribution and picketing
of Safeway stores are included in
the BCFL plan, since Safeway is
not only engaged in the retailing
of scab-produced California
table grapes, but along with
other big monopolies, such as
Standard Oil, etc. is one of the
big grape producers in
California.

It wasn’t all plain sailing
however. Delegates wanted to
know just what the position was
of Safeway staffs, such as the
Retail Clerks, Bakers, Butchers,
etc. on the issue. Were they
expected to honor such picket
lines? It was evident that in
planning this new Safeway
“total’’ boycott, some BCFL
homework had been overlooked.

Delegate Brogan (Marine
Workers) wanted to know what.
attitude labor should take
against those Safeway stores
which are not handling ‘“‘hot”
grapes, (he mentioned three
such stores in the Greater
Vancouver area) the general
consensus was that such stores
would not be picketed or come
under the boycott.

“It is time something more
than what we have been doing is
done,’’ observed Brogan. ‘‘When
one of your workmates opens his
lunch pail and finds it topped off
with “‘hot’’ grapes, it’s time we
b> oe oe oe oe oe ae Ge ae oe ae es es

~~ Workers :
Benevolent Assn.
Of Canada

Progressive Fraternal Society
Caters to all your needs in the
Life Insurance field

LIFE INSURANCE
ENDOWMENTS
PENSION PLANS

WEEKLY BENEFITS }
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began to make
stick.”’

In a three-way ballot to choose
a third VLC delegate to next
month’s B.C. Federation of
Labor convention, Frank
Kennedy won easily over his two
contenders, D. Farley
(Plumbers) and J. Ivaki, (Letter
Carriers. )

Resentful at the BCFL
“sticking its nose into other
union affairs,’ D. Morrison
(Beverage Dispensers) reported
that three locals of the Hotel and
Restaurant Workers fiad ‘‘with-
held their per capita’ to the
BCFL pending a request by the
Beverage Dispensers to the
Canadian Labor Congress ‘‘to
investigate the BCFL
activities.’’ Morrison
emphasized the point that his
union had not ‘‘withdrawn’”’ from
the BCFL, but merely witheld its
per capita as a form of protest.

the boycott

Perhaps by far the most
important subject of discussion
at the recent VLC session arising
out of a resolution to ban all
future Aleutian tests, was the
frank and open criticism of labor
itself in the over-all struggle for
peace, and particularly with
regard to the poor role it played
in last week’s Amchitka Island
U.S. nuclear test.

Recognizing that the nation-
wide protest against that nuclear
blast was probably the greatest
in Canada’s history, in which
students and the youth generally,
as well as church and other
organizations played a decisive
part, labor was barely in the
picture. ‘‘We have to get past the
resolution stage,’’ said a
delegate, and begin to recognize
the menace we face before it is
too late.”’

Another delegate, commenting
on last week’s (Oct. 4)
conference in the Fishermen’s
Hall, complained that it was
“poorly attended”’. . . with only
three trade unionists present.’
This led to a wider discussion on
how to bring the various peace
groups together, to ‘‘get rid of
the disrupters,’’ and for labor to
begin playing a more active and
unifying role in the growing
peace struggle.

_ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 10, 1969—Page 12

survival for dockworkers

By TOM McEWEN

In the current International
Longshoremen and Warehouse-
men’s Union (ILWU) wage
dispute with the B.C. Maritime
Association, the advent of the
container is not one of the major
issues of dispute, although it is
even now not being neglected by
the ILWU. By the time another
wage contract rolls around
however, it will undoubtedly be
the key problem facing all long-
shore and warehousemen.

For the uninitiated, the
container is a huge metal box,
capable of holding many tons of
merchandise (standardized in
various bulk sizes), especially

designed for export and import-

goods. With big bulk carrier
ships to match. The container is
so to speak the ‘‘A”’ in the A-B-C
of technological pushbutton
loading and unloading on the
waterfronts of the world. When
fully operative by all exporting
nations, Japan, West Germany,
the USA, etc. the container and
its technological complement
will cut down longshoring crews
by fifty or sixty percent, perhaps
more.

Handled by gigantic push-
button cranes, (one is now under
construction at Centennial pier,
Vancouver) electronically-
controlled dock haulers, trucks,
hoists, etc. — all the rest of the
modern electronic age gadgets,
these bulk containers can be
slung aboard or unloaded, loaded
on trucks or rail flatears, and
toted overseas or overland —
with a minimum of manpower
required.

TESTS

Cont'd from pg. 1

Remember how they  sup-
pressed the Pitzer report.”

The Pitzer report was a study
headed by Dr. Kenneth Pitzer of
Stanford University to examine
safety factors in underground
nuclear testing. The report was
handed to president Lyndon
Johnson in November, 1968, but
not made public until the
controversy over the Amchitka
test erupted.

In his report, Pitzer said he
was concerned with the problem
of earthquakes resulting from
underground nuclear testing and
said: ‘‘New and_ significant
evidence demonstrates that
small earthquakes do actually
occur both immediately after a
large yield test explosion and in
the following weeks.

“The fact that there have been
two shots of approximately one
megaton at the Nevada test site
without serious consequence
does not give assurance that a
future larger shot might not
result in a large earthquake.”

The report then goes on to
point out that the Amchitka test
site is more dangerous than any
of the Nevada testing grounds
because ‘“‘It is still more active
seismically.”

Gravel said that it was the
protests from Canada that were
a big factor which triggered a
wave of opposition to the first
test in the U.S. capital. “‘If it
hadn’t been for the protest from
Canada — and from Japan —
we’d never have got a public
hearing on this.” He urged
Canadians to help stop the

nuclear tests in the Aleutians |

altogether by continuing to
protest to Washington.

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SRDIEN

ana

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ee.
| re

ak

In short, the container era will
hit the Port of Vancouver with a
bang one of these days, and the
colorful longshoreman
“‘wafie’’, docker or whatever
term he is designated by, will be
almost nonexistent. For
longshoremen, as for workers in
other industries, it is not a
pleasant perspective, but there it
is.

In the negotiation of new wage
agreements, the issue of the
container becomes almost one of
survival for those who earn their
livelihood on the docks and
warehouses.

In the ILWU paper The
Dispatcher, recent editions of
that paper show the union
tackling the container issue in a
big way, and making sure that in
the rapid development and use
of the container, the long-
shoremen and warehousemen.
as well as the profit hungry
shipping federations and other
bulk carriers, will be the benefi-
ciaries of technological advance
on the waterfront. In a lengthy
“Text of Container Freight
Station Supplement’’ in the
August 26, 1969 edition of The
Dispatcher the union sets forth
all the conditions under -which
the container may be used; by

whom, when and where, and
under what conditions containe>
will be loaded and unloa a
“‘stuffed’’ and ‘‘unstuffed” as th
union designated that operatio™

This special “Text” will is
fully discussed by the we
union membership on
Pacific Coast, and probably
finalized and verified PY
referendum vote early
October. The advances already

made by the union in U.S. poe

on the container issue will be”

tremendous assistance t0 !

B.C. membership when the a |
metal boxes hit B.C. ports ™

bulk.

Soon the big bulk-carrier ship
three and four times the siZ€ :
the old ‘‘Liberty” freighl®”
specifically designed for be
container ‘‘stuffed’’ carg® ;
be sailing into the Port
Vancouver to discharge oF i
on their load of metal boxes f
loading time probably
in half or more, and wit
shore and docker gangs if |
vanishing force — replaced
the pushbutton — if the shop”
owners have their way.

No wonder B.C. :
longshoremen have to drivé
hard bargain — with ultim?
survival in the balance.

in lone

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