IN THIS YEAR’S NEGOTIATIONS —

United labor can win big

(In the following article the Labor
Committee of the Communist Party
analyses the big challenge and
opportunity facing B.C. labor this
year.)

é

Contract negotiations involving
woodworkers, pulp workers,
longshoremen, carpenters, min-
ers, aluminum workers, shipyard
workers and a large number of
civic employees are currently
underway in British Columbia.

These negotiations are taking
place under unprecedented econ-
omic and political conditions,
The economy is booming. Profits
are at an all time high, Capital
investment has’ never been
larger.

The employers, their political
representatives and their friends
in the press, radio and TV, have
mounted a powerful, united and
diversified campaign against the
organized labor movement and its
political supporters, In order to
beat off this attack and to win
substantial gains it is indispen-
sible for the labor movement to

co-ordinate all its actions on the :

economic, political and public
relations front,

The B,C. Federation of Labor
recognized the necessity. for this
course of action and adopted a
resolution to this effect atits last
convention. Butin recent months,
this resolution has remained on
paper, Not only is there ‘an
un-coordinated approach as be-
tween the various unions innego-
tiations but also labor’s main
political expression, the N.D.P.,
has adopted a passive neutral
position,

Unless this situation is quickly
corrected the outcome of the cur-
rent set of negotiations of the
impending provincial election
will not be in the best interests
of. the labor and democratic
movement of this province,

Economic situation

The province is now in the
midst of the most prolonged
period of economic prosperity
since the second world war,
Gross provincial product has
risen 23% in the past two years,
Major capital expenditures have

risen a phenomenal 45% in the
same period of time. Hydro
electrical developments on the
Peace and Columbia have been
matched by huge expenditures for
expansion notably in the pulp and
mining industries,

The policy of the wholesale
shipment of the province’s raw
materials to the United States
has provided a temporary period
of full employment. There isa
tight labor market. -Until fairly
recently prices have remained
fairly steady. But in the past
year they rose 2.9% and in the
past four months they have begun
to “sky-rocket,’’ particularl}
food prices,

The monopolies and their serv-
ants in government are attempt-
ing to *manage” the boom, Var-
ious monetary and fiscal policies
are being adopted to try and
prolong the boom, while at the
same time, see to it that the
labor movement bears the enor-
mous. cost of the genocidal war
being waged in Vietnam,

Interest rates have jumped
sharply in the past two months,
The Federal budget has increased
income taxes and. government
spokesmen have indicated that
much needed social benefits, not-
ably, medicare and increasedold
age pensions, are beyond our
means.

During the past year the labor
movement in Canada has made
some notable economic gains, In
this province the average wage
gains amounted to 17,7 ¢per hour,
Important fringe benefits were
also won, The widespread use of
advanced production techniques,
and in some cases, automation,
has been accompanied by a
growing speed-up and weakening
of working conditions, As a
result workers have defended
their positions with the largest
number of wildcat strikes in the
history of the country.

The employers fear this mili-
tancy. They especially fear the
fact that the labor movement is
now raising questions which go
beyond economic demands as
such. So-called ‘‘management

rights” are being strongly chal--

lenged, Some victories have been
won in this regard by the labor
movement,

The report of the Freedman
Commission on the question of
railway *run-throughs,” estab-
lished the general position that
it was not the unilateral right of
the companies to institute econ-

-omic changes which affected

whole communities, Andin Brit-
ish Columbia the threatened gen-
eral strike on the question of
“automation” and job security
succeeded in the establishment
of joint labor-management com-
mittees to deal with the problem.

_ Employers’ drive

The employers have mobilized
all their forces in a major at-
tempt to stop the advance of
the labor movement, Never be-
fore in this province has such
a campaign been undertaken, The
formation of a “high command”
(see front page story) to master-
mind this attack is particularly
significant, It has uniformly
resulted in a “hard” line in the
current negotiations, Labor
needs to take particular note

of the situation and to carefully
pick and choose the battlegrounds
on which to fight.

In the woodworking industry
the companies, through their
spokesmen, are complaining
about a “drop” in their astron-
omical profits, They have de-

- manded continuous operations,

extended overtime and arbitra-
tion boards to determine the
blame for “wildcat” strikes.

In the carpenters’ negotiations
the: contractors are trying to
provoke an early strike, Norm-
ally the government conciliation
process is a long, drawn out
process, But this time, with the
active support of the government
conciliation officials, everything
possible is being done to by-pass
the normal process and to bring
about a situation where no con-
tract exists,

Employers in the shipyards
are showing no concern about
the possible effects of some 13
different sets of negotiations,
something which two years ago
they were demanding be “cor-
rected” by government legisla-
tion.

End big business control in Victoria

aim of Communists |

Meeting in Vancouver last
weekend, the B.C. Committee of
the Communist Party has recom-
mended nomination of candidates
in ten constituencies inthe forth-
coming provincial election.

Setting as its mainaim election
of the largest bloc of Demo-
eratic, anti- monopoly MLA’s to
B,C,’s next legislature, the Com-
munist Party will not nominate
in any constituency where the
margin of votes in the 1963 elec-
tion shows the NDP could defeat
the Socreds,

*We will fight to expose the
-sinister conspiracy monopoly in-
terests are plotting with the Ben-
nett government, appealing to all
labor and democratic forces to
speak out and work for. creation
of a broad, democratic alliance
based on the NDP, trade union-
ists, Communists, farmers, pen-

_ gioners, ratepayers, small busi-_

ness and professionals who want
democratic reforms,” Nigel
Morgan, B,C, leader of the Com-
munist Party declared.

«¢This is the most effective way
we can contribute in the present
situation to ending big business
domination of this province, and
help end the pro- monopoly, pro-
U.S,,; pro-war policies of the
Bennett goverment” he said,

*On all sides there are indi-
eations the monopolists have
launched a new offensive against
the people and their living stand-
ards, which could provoke another

-major confrontation with labor,”

re warned, “Big business fears
he rising challenge to the so-
ralled ‘residual rights’ of man-
igement’ brought on-by automa-
tion and technological advances,
They know that rising prices,
taxes, and today’s phenominally

high profits are creating wide-
spread social unrest,

The stage is set for substantial
contract gains by a united labor
movement; The monopolies know
the majority of British Colum-
bians are fed-up with anti-labor
laws and injunctions, and that
they want improved social and
labor legislation, and municipal
tax relief, They know that public
opposition to resource giveaways
and U.S, economic penetration of
B.C, is increasing, as is oppo-
sition to U.S, aggression in Viet-
nam,

e

“Mr, Bennett wants to whittle
down and destroy all opposition
to his big business policies, AS
the ‘Legislative broker’ of the
monopoly interests he wants a
bigger majority to carry on for
another five years the granting

_ of special privileges to plunder

n B.C. election

our natural resources and tax
concessions,

He wants a bigger majority to
stave off popular demands for
bringing under public ownership
auto insurance, the telephone util-
ity. the oil and natural gas in-
dustry and our timber resources
—as well as increased expendi- ‘
tures for social welfare, He wants
to eliminate all opposition to the
imposition of additional re-
straints on labor: new ‘straight-
jackets’ the monopolists are de-
manding.

«Communist participation in
the election will concentrate on
bringing these issues to the fore,
Communist candidates will work
hard to develop the most effec-
tive, hard-hitting campaign to

See ELECTIONS, Pg. 3

(2)

At the giant Cominco works in
Trail and Kimberley, Ed Benson,
member of the “high command,” —
and former Cominco personnel
manager, publicly praises the
leadership of Mine Mill in order
to sow confusion, knowing full

well that the Steelworkers have
set up “raiding shops’? in town, —

Government concilation boards ©
in the case of civic workers have
brought down unsatisfactory
awards, The civic workers have
taken a strike vote, And there
are demands that compulsory
arbitration be invoked by cab-
inet order.

The provincial legislature has _
just concluded its session and
there is widespread speculation
that Premier Bennett is about to
go to the polls, His main aim
will be to seriously weaken the
NDP. He will poseasa champion
of the little guy against pig”
labor and “big” capital, His
public relations men will work
overtime on this image.

The New Democratic Party was
formed as a result of an alliance
between the labor movement and
the old CCF. The fortunes of
both the labor movement and of
the NDP are closely connected.
It is therefore regrettable that
the NDP failed to take effective
action against the vicious anti-
labor statutes, together with la-
bor at the last session of the
B.C. Legislature, Besides, one
can hardly conceive of the NDP

leader publicly disclaiming in ~ z

the Legislature, any support for
the position taken by the labor
movement during the “general
strike’? movement last Novem-~-
ber, Yet that is what he did,
This attitude makes it all the
easier for Premier Bennett to

move against the labor movement — bs

and simultaneously inflict ser-
jous cutbacks in the NDP vote.

Need co-ordination

In the face of the co-ordinated
campaign of the employers, the
labor movement and the NDP
and its supporters must close
ranks, carefully assessing the
situation, and work out a cam-
paign of its own. Timing and
public relations should play abig-
part in this campaign, The B.C.
Federation of Labor needs to call
an all-inclusive conference of the
labor movement with NDP MLAS
present to work out a united ap-
proach, This can be the first
step to victory on both the econ-
omic aad political front. The
second step is for the labor
movement to undertake an
imaginative public relations pro-
ject taking their case to the
public at large. In this fashion

‘they can expose Bennett’s false

®image,” and show that it is the
labor movement that stands for
the interests of all sections in
the community, except the handful
of monopolists.

The possibilities for big gains
are there, But the time for ac- —
tion is growing short, ahe
splendid spirit of militancy that
is everywhere, if given planned
direction and co-ordination, can
be victorious. As always, unity
is the key, and in the particular
circumstances that exist today,
is an absolute must.

April 7, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page