protest What union leaders say about the bill E. T. STALEY, président of the B.C. Federation of Labor described Bill 33 as “slave labor’’ legislation. He said it was filled with compulsion that removed the freedom of either labor or management to fight it out and reach settlements on their own. Staley said this compulsion on each employee ‘makes him a slave of the employer — he couldn't even quit his job.” “Under this legislation the cabinet really has the right to terminate a strike if it sees fit. | look upon this compulsory stuff as pretty damn tough labor legislation. ! can’t accept it. | never would accept this willingly. It would have to be a slave state first.”’ we * ED SIMS, president of the Vancouver Labor Council, said he was opposed to giving the government the unilateral right to define whether an industrial dispute affects the public interest. ‘This could be extended to cover all sorts of groups from transportation workers to telephone employees to all the people in the electrical tield.”’ week * JACK MOORE, IWA regional president, said the bill was “very dangerous legislation that is bound to blow up in their faces.’ He said under this bill the cabinet can “decide through compulsory arbitration what salaries and wages should be paid to workers . . . Compulsory arbitration, compulsory incomes — these policies have been tried out in other countries before.”’ we * STANLEY LITTLE, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, wired Labor Minister Peterson from Ottawa on behalf of B.C.’s 17,000 members, that the new labor bill “reeks of Gestapo dictatorship.” Opposing the legislation, Little's wire said the. legislation would take away the right to strike from most of the B.C. membership. “You will be telling people where they must work or must not work,” he said, adding that the bill would ‘‘deny our members their democratic right to win for themselves the kind of wages and working - conditions which they deserve.” wee * VICTORIA LABOR COUNCIL, aft its meeting Wednesday, Feb. 21, protested the compulsory arbitration sections of the bill and called on the B.C. Federation of Labor to immediately take steps to oppose its implementation. Council secretary Larry Ryan said “the principle of compulsory arbitration is repulsive . . .1 don’t know of any province where this obtains. It is dictatorship.” WA delegate Joe Fowley describing the bill said “this is one of the blackest days in the labor history of this province.’’ He compared the legislation with that of Fascist Germany in the 1930s — “if the government gets away with this, Lord help us.” PORT ALBERNI LABOR COUNCIL sent a telegram to MLA Dr. Howard McDiarmid urging him to vote against Bill 33. Signed by president Dan Connell, the labor council charged the bill ‘‘sets a course in labor-management relations which returns this province to the chaos and bitter conflict which proceeded the general adoption on this continent of free collective bargaining.” “The use of force, whether with bayonets, police dogs, or injunctions will not build industrial harmony and stability,” says the wire, adding: “In view of pending negotiations for nearly all workers of Albernis we are recognizing that Bill 33 will confine them in a straight Creator of this cartoon is Roy Carl less of the United Electrical Workers ‘Union (UE) in Ontario. His work is being reprinted by an increasing number of labor papers. Block Bennett's slave labor bill Cont'd from pg. 1 representatives who fail to comply are automatically guilty and punishable.”’ No stipulation is provided for cases where a worker can’t immediately raise the $1,000 fine. Legal authorities point out that wherever provincial laws fail to cover such an eventuality, provisions of the Summary Convictions Act (namely six ‘months in jail) applies. Bill 33 thus provides compulsory arbitration, compulsory work, and of course compulsory wage control in one neat packet. But notably, no compulsion in restraining company. prices, profits or dividends. Having provoked a strike which shut down the B.C. government ferry fleet of 20 ships for over two weeks by ignoring seniority rights of 160 laid-off workers; dismissing permanent employees with as much as 13 years service without unemployment insurance benefits, and stubbornly refusing its own employees collective bargaining rights — the Bennett government now wants to strait-jacket the rest of the B.C. trade union movement for the benefit of its big business backers. BLOCK WAGE GAINS Bill 33 is aimed at blocking involved in Bill 33 knows no limits. While claiming the new law is modelled on the Swedish systemof labor relations, it goes considerably beyond that, and is much closer to the fascist ‘‘corporate state’ dictatorship. It is widely recognized that much — more needs to be done if Bill 33 is- not to become law. Many trade union members are rightly critical of a tendency to hedge and hold back by some politicians, both inside and outside the legislature, who apparantly fear Premier Bennett’s veiled threat of an election more than they fear the strait-jacketting of labor. In this connection, the NDP statement expressing ‘‘outraged opposition’ and its pledge to wage and all-out fight to defeat the bill (see page 3) is a welcome - development. UNITED ACTION The Communist Party in B.C. calls for an all-out effort to defeat Bill 33. Determined, demonstrative action is needed to show the government that labor means what it says, and to block ratification of the bill at this session. The focal point should be the Legislature, particularly those NDP hits Bill 33 ‘Make Legislature ring with protest’ The following resolution was adopted by the Provincial Council of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia on Saturday, February 24. The Provincial: Council consists of the Provincial Executive, plus MLA’s and MP’s, together with delegates elected | from each _ provincial ‘constituency in B.C.: * This meeting of the Provincial Council of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia registers its outraged opposition ‘to the proposed Bill 33, introduced into the Legislature of British Columbia on 21 February, 1968. ‘The proposed bill is bad law: .It provides for adjudication of wage disputes by cabinet order. It establishes wage controls without corresponding controls on prices or profits. .It is discriminatory, in that it is aimed at the working people in our society. .It contravenes both the premises and the conclusions of the Nemetz Report. It makes a mockery of the idea of an independent Mediation Commission, because the commission is subject to political control. It leaves government employees at the complete mercy of the Cabinet.” * The NDP statement charges that the bill represents a fundamental assault on our civil liberties. ‘‘Today it is the working people in our society; tomorrow, whatever group incurs the displeasure of the government.” “The right to free collective bargaining is a right as inherent and as vital in our industrial society as is the right to freedom . of expression, of worship and of assembly. An assault on any one is an assault on the fabric of our working people from obtaining the 5 tteadisenan*