Trades and Labor Congress
‘historic session ducked key
problems in early sessions

By MARK FRANK

ieee OTTAWA

~ Labor oe ar of unreality ruled the Chateau Laurier sessions of the 68th convention of the Trades and
issues paige of Canada. At the conclusion of four days’ discussion not a single one of the great

_ tion p 48ng throughout the world and Canada had come to the floor, despite a tremendous pre-conven-

Canadian 3, that this was a historic session — commemorating the 80th year since the founding of the

ere fae a Union.
i © 647 delegates speak-
cr 580,000 rh anc si the Delegates also turned down A.
in Canaan’, trade union centre ‘ty ee. an greeks »
ex , 2 With on:the whole an © DHtS Stace Vnlon Congress,
cellent Series of resolutions from’ despite their earlier approval of .

Its\Io af
but the s 24 affiliates before it,

Ost important ones were
Ing ], :
convent sy the dying hours of the

his red-baiting tirade during de-
bate on the resolution protesting
the barring of delegates because
of their political views.

.

Forty ~ ¢ ‘

dinectly at resolutions dealt Alsbury, Bengough, Max Feder-

Mands, henin Social security de- -|man of Toronto, Bernard Shane of

4 covered we surance, pensions; -|Montreal and Arthur Deakin of
* dition. 4, V48es, hours and con- the British TUC all sounded a note

93, the three struck hard at Bill
“inal cogendments to the Crim-
- ing crisis. nine covered the hous-
for Bil One dealt with the need
Calle ¢ of Rights; two of them
lavrenct the building of the St.
a steel induce ys, another urged
high 4 ‘Ustry; 13 lashed out at
two hittin: nine dealt with trade,
freq ave US. dumping; two cov-
Nd sing Ssue of trade union unity |{
© recede union centre.
Dower €solution called for big
Wingt ae S along the lines of
othe. CMurchill’s proposals; and
Congre : demanded admission to |}
oales re “onventions of all dele-
‘On, alone 1 less of political opin-
Versa} § the lines of the UN Uni- | SSS : . RSS Kitchener.
Rights Sclaration of Human PERCY BENGOUGH While crying to the skies about
f \ non-existent ‘conspiracies’ against
robbed of the right to vote by this | the Congress, the TLC leaders Ed
same government. chose. to soft-pedal the strangling :
This frustration of the delegates | terms of Bill 93 in their executive
council report; said not a word

of alarm about “communism,” and
spoke ominously of “a conspiracy
to destroy trade unionism.” But
strangely enough the administra-
tion saw fit to provide the plat-
form to Premier Leslie Frost of
Ontario, who days earlier had is-
sued a_ strike-breaking order
against the AFL Teamsters’ and
dealt mildly with the “shoot to
maim” officials of Broulan Reef.
$

Don Cockell of Britain lowered the boom on Harry (Kid) Mathews

in Seattle and is now regarded as a serious heavyweight contender.
Photo shows Mathews taking the first of three trips to the canvas
in the ninth round. :

Even as Frost spoke there was
the news that 16 miners had re-
ceived sentences up to a month
and that Ontario provincial po-
lice were mauling and arrgsting
nine teamster pickets near.

i \ an expres- ~
tion deep-going dissatisfac-
mands, clear-cut militant de-
rank ®Y were here in the

yl ang deepened as the sessions wore on f
ions, ate body@ok resolu. | and broke into the open in the | about the firing of A. F. MacArth-
ate nthe four days of de- | decisive way in which they slapped | Ur, Canadian teamsters’ represent-

ative on orders from Beck; or the :
interference with the Montreal| Dig that 3-D pitcher Ethel
local. Ramsey, going mad on the mound
_|trying to hurl a -hayfoot, straw-
Instead of a lead from the con foot “ontht Whe. Kewies iia o
Senior A softball title.
Ethel is a real gone flinger,
but she just hasn’t got an infield

down Frank Hall, rail union lead-
er, on the MRA issue, and later
when they bluntly scored the new-
ly-affiliated public employees’ fed- a
Conve, Sense of . : eration for its promise “to study a| vention leadership about these
ners tion’ was preity at the | no-strike, compulsory arbitration | clear and present. dangers to the
Eougy Which Bdoeee the man- | formula.” trade union smovernent pers Shey
Cle ercy Ben- Impatience of the delegates | a pre-occupation wi e old well- :

ilttess ¢,°eTlY used his TpEnine was Hak shown in the Ripakey worn themes of “communist do-|>ehind her that can go through a :
© ver rument legis-| voted down Birt Showler, inter- | mination,” a tactic which serves ee bape ee a in a. | trotting one :.

Dole TOss “ry day that work-| national teamsters’ union repre- | to blind the rank and file for the |@Sh of errors and kicking the Up to not so long ago the worst
cone While eee Went to the| sentative for David Beck, U.S. | moment to their own inaction on ball around likesit was a soccer feature of sulky racing was the
tage ton de ae Same time the | teamster head, in the vice-presi- | the issues which affect the very final. job of getting-the race started.

legates bi : : Monday night this week I | Drivers manoeuvred for ition
itt , : : : h of the trade un vy. ms : POS
that they et Ret Sueescae ee eee ee — ey watched Kerries take a 3-0 lead | behind the line and the starter

. in the first inning of their best--| gave the word to go when they
of-five series with Crowhursts, | approached the line in reason-
and all looked peachy-dandy up | ably close order behind the “pole
to the third frame, when their | horse.” Sometimes it took half

Sht f.,.
op lor demoe racy from floor
O >: ay FE ) opponents got two runs, thanks | an hour to get a true start.
“RE want McCarthyism here ort. Mittin R | Bet Bm Si le

(there’s always one of these fel-
¢ Crowhursts wrapped it up by

e
attention’ never got adequate

Me to the When: some few
thopne, e floor were quickly

isthars @ tO pj
‘tration, Pleces by the admin-

racing filberts usually pay little
attention to the buggy dashers.
It might surprise them to know
that thousands of people who
have never enjoyed the so-called
“sport of kings” have seen har- : :
ness races at country fairs, and, F
in recent years, at pari-mutuel

lows around) who invented a

; tray a ban. wpatttion ¢

e crossing the plate three times. | folding gate, or pole, attached to va
Or e [ Just to make sure, they scored | a truck. The horses are now Ae
Or E te S P ar ey again in the fourth. lined up behind this gate, the et pe
. S . So there was Miss Ramsey, | truck starts moving and when f
ign © don OTTA: looking at the statistics. She had | all’s well the gate is retracted and '
Mt in a Want to see MeCarity: International representative John | Nelson Cox of the Barbers’ |Siven up four hits and had six | the truck speeds out of the way. i
co Ment yada or in the he -|McLeod of the Bricklayers, who| Union called strongly for the |Tuns scored against her. Her own | It works fine.
leg @t Uniteg vorge North Ren. was chairman. of the constitution | right of unions to seek a vote | £2ng collected ata ng — Harness raciug:won't likely re- :
the orkepe ishermen na Al. | committee, took personal offense | on issues between conventions. oe by ae ut cou place running horse races in pop- i
anq rh COnyer 0M delegate tojq | at the attack, and rose in some ex-| “This would be a democratic ap- {DIY chalk up three runs. — ularity, but there are plenty of Re
Spqabor Connon of the Trades | citement to call on all members| proach,” he said. If Kerries, by some atone. folks who swear it is the best
cea Kt 8ress of Canada of the constitution committee to Tithe anita tore thn oltiners. beat Crowhursts in the playoffs, | kind of horse racing in existence.

: 0 ;
hong the Ince Solution intro-

oa €rnational B -
aa ; 1 Settical Workers
“ ur

aw lecteg dentials of = Pe.
‘ vd €gat, sein

0 ees ates «4.»
of tion» ligion § “without re-

stand up.
neurotic?” he asked. The conven-
tion_ delegates appeared indiffer-
ent and moved on to other busi-
ness.

“Are these people

Cain also charged that Russell

race or bis
uch The na lasheq th Political Harvey, AFL organizer had told

€ sections
alling for

Tent is the peiPles and submis.
4 @ fe
oye chet last Ae govern-
eg, oF ahha thro ¥ SRR
Cai, He wactstitution: pectin
of “ Local SUPPorted 3 a
Sppge"Ohto h P Umbers Unie.
Ny ey to + be described Hibke
Con Moronic. Ution as hav-

him personally on a previous occa-
sion that any delegate who oppos-
ed the reports of convention com-
mittees should be placed down as
a “communist” and purged.

Other expressions of the fight

for democracy within the TLC ap-
peared in the voting for top offi-
cers and in the struggle to win
the principle of the referendum
vote.

On the referendum vote issue,

all were re-elected without oppo-
sition with the exception of Birt
Showler, who' was replaced by R.
K. Gervin, of the Vancouver Coun-
cil. While Gervin is no progres-
sive by any means, the over 300
votes polled for him illustrated
the latent discontent with the ad-
ministration at the convention.
All of them felt Showler would
swing through with the rest of
them without opposition and by
acclamation, but even putting up
a reactionary like Gervin, was
enough for the delegates. It was
an opportunity to let Showler have
it, and they did. Showler had been
B.C. vice-president since 1943,
with one exception in 1947 — a

period of nine years.

they'll have Ethel Ramsey to
thank. If, as expected, they
lose, it won’t alter the fact that
they are tops in the pitching de-
partment.. After all, a. pitcher
needs a team, too.

~ * a

I was reading about & note
which some joker _ scribbled
alongside the race selections of
a noted daily handicapper: “For
best results turn upside down.”

~ * x

Last week a Canadian-owned
filly, Helicopter, romped to vic-
tory in the famed Hambletonian
trotting race at Goshen, before a
crowd of 20,000 fans.

Following of the beetles at
Hastings Park may not have been
very excited at the news, for flat

* rahe were 4

It’s another Subway Series this
year, with the New York Yankees
and Brooklyn Dodgers each away
out in front in their respective
leagues. Our vote for the most
amazing team of 1953, though,
goes to Milwaukee Braves.

* * *

Early in October British Em-
pire middleweight champion
Randy Turpin clashes with: the
American title holder, Carl (Bo-
bo) Olson, at Madison Square
Garden in New York. Winner
will be hailed as world champ.

This affair might just turn out
to be the middleweight fight of
the century. My money will ride
on Turpin.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 21, 1953 — PAGE 11

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