OR FRONT

: By WILLIAM KASHTAN .

The decision of three railway unions in the running trades,
the Trainmen, the Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and
Locomotive Engineers, to develop joint action against the
elimination of stopover points in some cities in western Can-
ada, is to be commended.

According to one of the union officers, they will not be
striking. What they intend doing is to hold a series of con-
tinuous meetings of their 6,500 western members starting Aug.
17.

Obviously there are various wavs of skinning a cat and
more wavs than one of developing pressure on companies.

The reason for this action is the claim that once the
“run-through” program is implemented, it
will mean longer runs and working hours
for trainmen. engineers and firemen, And
while it is not said, one of the consequences
of this “run-through” program may also be
lay-offs. -

In any case the running trades. unions
like many other groups of workers in indus-
try after industry, face a form of speed-up
and intensified exploitation which they are
fully correct in opposing with all their
strength.

It is this kind of action which the railway unions generally
ought to give consideration to, in connection with some of the
recommendations of the McPherson Report. The Report makes
no bones about what rationalization will do to the jobs of
thousands of railway workers and what it will mean to entire
communities dependent on the railways for service and trans-
portation.

* * at

So far the railway unions have concentrated on the de-
mand for a board of inquiry to look into the McPherson Report
and its negative features. This may have some value in that
it helps to focus parliamentary and national attention on the
problem.

But if the basic line of the McPherson recommendations
is to be checked: and defeated more than a board of inquiry

may be needed. What may well be necessary is militant action _

by the railway workers and their unions.

After all, is there any reason to believe that the minority
Pearson government will do anything to protect the jobs of
railway workers unless it is pressed and pressed hard? What
‘may help it more than anything else would be the flat state-
ment of all the railway unions — cps and non-ops — that they
will not accept lay-offs and will fight against them with all
their strength. What would helo would be an equally flat
statement by the Canadian Labor Congress along similar lines.

The issue involved is clear enough. Shall profit be place@
above the public interest? Shall profit be placed above the
right to work and the right to a job? This issue, which has

come to the fore as a consequence of technologica! develop- -

ments and forms of automation, needs to be fought out now, not
after the horse is stolen. ;
* . *

It would be in the interest of railway unions, non-ops and
running trades, to combine their forces for such a struggle,
backed by all sections of the organized labor movement and
by all those communities and provinces affected by the nega-
tive features of the McPherson Report.

Part of that fight includes the demand for public owner-
ship and democratic control of transportation in this country.

It is an interesting fact that N. R. Crump, president of the
CPR, recently scotched a rumor that the CNR is buying over
the CPR. It is equally interesting to note that Jack Davis, one
of the Liberal government’s parliamentary secretaries, recently
put forward a feeler to the effect that crown corporations
should be returned to private enterprise.

True enough, Pearson disowned that statement, but where
there is smoke there is fire.

The fact that it was made indicates that spokesmen for
monopoly in and outside the government are out to eliminate
even the small feeble steps taken over the years which to
some extent weaken direct monopoly control over some in-
dustries.

In any case in face of the growing crisis in transportation,
a crisis which both the CPR and CNR are trying to resolve at
the expense of the railway workers and entire communities,
the way forward lies in a fully integrated, publicly owned
transportation system. Thai and the fight for job security and
rising living standards ought to be at the centre of attention
of all railway unions and the entire trade union movement.

Whe wants test ban?

Months agoKhrushchev The answer could be that

BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR CANADA

Canada-China trade
must be both ways

By BERT WHYTE
PT Correspondent
PEKING—A Canadian .gov-
ernment trade mission visit-
ing Hong Kong in June tried
to sell more Canadian wheat
to China. The current !ong-
term agreement, drawn up in
1961, ends this year, and
members of the mission saw
some hard bargaining ahead.
Canada caught China in the
midst of an agricultural crisis
two years ago and in proper
hard-fisted capitalist fashion
took full advantage of China’s
: % £0 0

NF # need
: 2 wheat by sel-
e ling at high
* prices and on
tough terms.
BE Onr.2e 4:
Bt une Lact
& trade is es-
sentially a
CWO «=- Ma Y
=. ma street, little
or no attempt was made to
buy goods which China of-
fered for sale. :

China signed the “holdup”
agreement, received the need-
ed wheat, and paid on the dot.

, But now the situation has

changed, with Chinese agri-
culture back on its feet and a
bumper 1963 harvest expect-
ed.

‘This time the mission (made
up of representatives of the
Canadian Wheat Board and
the department of trade, fin-
ance and national revenue)
found the Chinese difficult to
do business with unless Can-

ada is prepared to become a
buyer of Chinese products-—

such as textiles and handi-
crafts.
WRONG ATTITUDE.

The fact is that Ottawa’s
attitude has been wrong all
along — under both Conser-
vative and Liberal govern-

ments. The briefest study of

China's policy on foreign
trade would have convinced
them -of the folly of using

“squeeze” tactics in trade re-
lations with the most populat-
ed country on earth.

“China has always desired
to establish and devcton com-
mercial relations with all
countries of the world on the
principle of equality and. mu-
tual benefit,’ says Hsiao
Fang-chou, secretary-general
of the China Counci! for the
Promotion of International
Trade. He goes on: >

“The continued advancc-
ment of China’s production
and construction, her econo:
mic prosperity, the rising liv-
ing standard of the Chinese
people, all provide advantag-
eous conditions for the
growth of China’s foreign
trade. The CCPIT continue to
strive to oppose all artificial
obstructions to trade, promote
the development of normal
international economic and
trade relations, and uphold
the cause of world peace.”

Hsiao’s statement, which
appeared in an article in the
official magazine Foreign
Trade, stressed one. other

Bar ajainst Negroes hit
by city Optimist clus

The fight against the color bar
in international © service clubs
broke out in the open last week
when officials of the Vancouver
Optimist clubs said they will sup-
port the Ontario delegation at
‘the annual international conven-
tion in Toronto, who have pledged
to fight to lift the anti-color ban.

Last Thursday the Toronto dele-
gation was shouted down and
ejected from the convention hall
for trying to present a resolution
against the banning of Negroes
from membership. Robert Caws-

ton, head of the Toronto zone
was bodily dragged out of the
hall by a sergeant-at-arms for
attempting to speak on the reso-
lution.

A similar resolution presented
earlier in the week was killed in
the committees, which are dom-
inated by delegates from the
U.S. Deep South.

Leading Vancouver Optomist,
Gordon Frulling, said Canadians
were in the minority, ‘‘but we
will not be dictated to by inter-
national headquarters as to whom
we will allow to join our local
groups.”

He said there were 25,000 Op-
timists in Canada and suggested
they may withhold funds as a pro-

point that should not be over-
looked: “In the absence of
friendly political atmosphere,
normal trade relations will be
hampered.”

JAPAN EXAMPLE

He cited as a case in point
the trade relations between
China and Japan, which Ge-
veloped favorably from 1952
until 1958, then were disrup-
ted when the Japanese gov-.
ernment, under pressure from
the United States, scrapped
the fourth Sino-Japanese non-
government trade agreement.

Trade lagged for four years
but in 1960 Premier Chou En-
Lai took the lead in promul-
gating three principles for
trade based on three political
principles for relations be-
tween the two countries.
Since then trade has flourish-
ed; in the past several months,
rathér spectacularly.

For example, in the first
five months of 19638 there
were 105 sailings of Japan-
ese merchantmen to Chinese
ports, carrying steel and fer-
tilizer, and returning with full
loads of Chinese salt and coal.
The five-month total of Jap-
anese exports reached 136,000
tons, whereas the 1962 fiscal
year total was only 114,819
tons.

In terms of U.S. dollars,
Japan’s exports to China were
only about $2.7 million in
1960; rose to over $16 mil-
lion in 1961 and $38 million
in 1962. This year the figure
may top $50 million.
THRONE SPEECH

Surely this shows a road
that Canada could follow. The
Throne Speech in May declar-
ed: “Canada’s economic pro-
gress is vitally dependent on
vigorous economic expansion
throughout the world. We
must expect continuing rapid
changes in international trad- —
ing relationships, changes
that face Canada both with
problems of adjustment and
with new opportunities.”

If this means anything, it
should include changed trade
relationships with China —
not just a policy of selling our
surplus wheat and _ other
grains, but of trading on 4
two-way basis in any number
of products.

Take, for instance, China’s ~

ability to use more newsprint,
coupled with the present stag-
nant state of Canada’s vast
newsprint industry. Ottawa's
solution seems to be to make
a pitch for greater sales of
newsprint in European Com-
mon Market countries. Would-
n't it be equally desirable to
do something about sales to
China?

Six years ago I remember
attending a mass rally in Van-
ver called by the labor coun
cil to demand government ac- —
tion in the unemployment
crisis. The meeting unanim-
ously passed a resolution de-
manding “the immediate re

agreed to on-site inspections
at the rate of two or three
per year. Washington wanis
seven such inspections annu-
ally.

But why should the num-
ber be significant or debat-
able if, as the public supposes,
inspections are meant to take
place only when suspected in-
fractions of the ban occur?
Does any community ask its
police to investigate crimes

. that have not happened? .

vo Yinke

the U.S. does not really want
a.test ban at all.

A report from Washington
says that if Khrushchev wish-
es to shake and shock that
capital, all he has to do is
accept the American terms. A
treaty embodying these terms,
it is said, would be fiercely
resisted in the Pentagon and
could not get the necessary
two-thirds support in the US,
Senate.

gh.

Rach sein oe

—FINANCIAL POST

SUPPORT U.S. NEGRO STRUGGLE. Picture shows the recent par-
ade of 250 Toronto citizens to demonstrate their sympathy and
support for the struggle of the Negroes in the U.S. (See story on
page 7).

that trade means jobs. Today

isda i uly 5, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pags

cognition of the People’s Re
public of China and the ope?
ing of trade with all Asian
countries so that Vancouver's
port once again will blossom
forth as the true Gateway t?
the Orient.”

TRADE THROTTLED
The resolution pointed out

there are more unemployed |
Canadian workers than thet

See WHYTE, pg. 6