Dec. 7 will elect a City Coun- ae oe and Board of Education . ene years. The great concen- Fe ‘On of basic industry here Produces fabulous wealth. There ae Strong working class with el unions. The struggle oo the Canadian and U.S. i iPr and the workers never Sup and gets sharper. ene at Otis Fenson, are Bas = baptized in strike action Fant; € the harbor police. While ' ation hold outs like Dofasco Binion as a threat to labor, the s n membership in the city °wWs bringing into its ranks For controller | mii ARRY HUNTER, former Ha- toac alderman, well-known in Closet Union and labor circles. ie ot Gssociated with the ne through of industrial t ns in Ontario. Prominent in ® struggle for democratic cit lanning r For alderman alge ON. STEWART, candidate for ee in Ward 4, is an ac- ele ttade unionist. Since last Stion he has made two at- "pts to have city council call nat resentative citizens’ confer- Hanae’ find a way to resolve “Milton's financial crisis. hite collar workers, like the . IN HAMILTON labor's thrust By HARRY HUNTER AMILTON civic voters on: young people who are bold, with little respect for holy cows. The: = union movement is bigger and is growing. It is more. united and has a lot of experience. — The ‘growth of militant unity is shown in the refusal of build- ing trades workers to cross the picket lines of striking Otis draftsmen. This strike of ‘pro- fessional workers who have or- ganized and set up a picket line is new and is a.sign of the big changes taking place. The action of the building trades workers spells solidarity and welcome to a new force in labor The sup- port by longshoremen and team- sters of harbor policemen on a picket line outlines the new di- mension once more. Add the militant fight of the Stelco work- ers in the summer, carried out in the face of a hostile top leader- ship and nobody would argue that the drive for a better deal is dying—it is getting stronger. ‘Driven by speed up, fast tech- nological change and with the axe of uncontrolled automation hanging over its head, jabor has to drive ahead. It has to do that faced with injunctions, jailings, hostile employers, governments and sometimes against weak and fearful leaders. With the big Westinghouse negotiations coming up early in 1967 the failure of the splitting ‘TUE to get a hold in Hamilton shows that their backers — the staff brass in the steel union are running into unity. trouble. The great battle of the Stelco work- ers this past summer showed that labor solidarity and com- munity support is a must for any union, big and small, if it is to win against the united employers and governments. They pulled out all the stops through use of the press, radio, TV, during the Stelco strike. They used lies, distortions and every dirty trick they could think of to make the strikers look bad and monopcly look. good. Every union that fights gets this treatment. But this summer was the worst yet. The fight for the support of the entire community has arrived and thousands of Hamilton labor voters know it. Recognition that the winning of union demands is good for the whole community is grow- ing. The idea that the big busi- ness position benefits the city is being looked at. More and more people see through the lie that it is workers on strike who are unreasonable and undemocratic. Hamilton public opinion can be won to see that the opposite is true. City Council can play a very big role in this. ; Labor is reaching out and is supporting other democratic movements and by doing that is loosening the grip of the big This Otis-Fensom worker marching on the picketline is defend- ing not only his rights but those of all Hamilton workers. His voice ought to carry more weight in city. hall. shots. on the community. The labor support given to the house- ‘wives in their battle on prices ‘can go a long way to getting ‘the womanfolk behind labor. Monopoly spends millions to turn women against the labor movement. They have to take something new into account now —the consumers’ price protest movement. Thousands of listen- ers heard the protest leader in Hamilton district force a smart alec radio newscaster to admit that he couldn’t explain the big lie that he and others peddle that higher wages mean higher: prices. This young housewife supported labor’s position. When the powerful building trades council lines up behind the high school students’ cam-_ ‘paign to get lower bus fares— that is something to think about. It is. more than grownups sup- porting young students for lower bus fares — it is helping young people to see unions as they are. They don’t get that in school —they get the opposite. This active help to other de- mocratic movements will grow. An outstanding example which shows that labor, the ordinary people, are the true democrats is shown in the fight against water pollution. In the middle of millions of spoken and written words about Hamilton Bay and Lake Ontario pollution, a work- ing man acts for the people. A building trade union man put the big anti-labor Dofasco into public focus as guilty of dumping poisonous acid into the bay. This public spirited man gave Ald. Powell, a union steel- worker at Stelco the informa- tion, which he made public with a strong condemnation of Do- fasco. This led to an investiga- tion and some very biting words © about the action and arrogance of Dofasco by Mr. W. A. is there. Wheten, the City Engineer. He made clear that other industries including Stelco were just pois- oning the waters and ignoring the city. The agreement of the Provincial government through the Ontario Water Resources Commission ‘in this was clearly shown. It’s by these actions and others that labor will come through as the leader of the community. The big guys don’t like what is 'going on. They are doing everything they can to see that the mood of challenge among the people does not get into City Council affairs. ‘ There is little use crying about the fact that the Hamilton Labor Council endorsed only one can/ didate for alderman in each ward and one candidate for con- troller. This falls short of a labor majority. But the chance for labor to provide the needed thrust in the next City Council Every serious civic politician knows that there are big new pressures working in city affairs. There is the begin- ning of a line-up against the big stick used to whip the City Council into line for the big men in industry and government. In this election, labor pres- sures plus other democratic pres- sures can push the city left — in opposition to the pressure of the right. Almost everything that Mayor Copps does now December 2, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7 Civic progress needs ‘shows this. The editorials of the Hamilton Spectator show well it understands. These pressures show that there is a battle going on. for leadership of the com- munity — labor or monopoly — for people or for big profit. The big guys want a City Council which will be actively anti-labor and a willing tool in their hands. They don’t want a Council that ‘goes along with the people’s mood and rising clamor for pro- gressive change. They know that the heart and core of such a Council has to be labor. They’re smart enough to know that if labor representation includes the left wing their troubles will be multiplied. They don’t want that. Not only because City Council could not be used against labor, nor be- cause such a Council would take a stand against injunctions, but because labor and progressives ‘on City Council could get to ‘work to force the governments to scrap the loaded civic tax system that makes people pay for things that should come out of the big profits and stands in the path of modern development. It could transform City Hall into a centre of leadership for the planned growth of Hamilton in the interests of the people — a beautiful and dignified cultural city. : It could get to work and make big industry pay its rightful share of taxation. As the muni- cipal program of the Hamilton . and District Labor Council says; “there should be a larger share of the civic tax burden borne by industry to relieve the small tax payer of his tax burden” and the “province of Ontario, assisted by federal grants, Should assume the full cost of education.” It could make Hamilton:a place where our youth would re- ceive education to fit them for life — and not to be only tenders of automated production or un- employed. A city where young and old could engage in health- ful social, cultural and recrea- tional activity, made possible by the return to the city of some of the great wealth produced in the modern plants. As a candidate for the Board of Control I pledge to fight for the proposals contained here and to unite with all who go in the same direction.