"LET’S GET THE NICKEL NOW’ SAY STEELWORKERS

~ Millard’s ‘pay hike’ really

TRAIL, B.C.

Smelterworkers discovered this
week that huge Steel advertise-
ments in the Trail Times lauding
United Steel Workers’ ‘13-cent
wage victory” at Stelco told some-
thing less than the truth. Dis-
patches from Hamilton exploded

the “18-cent raise’ myth and re-
vealed several serious flaws in the
proposed Stelco contract.

The Stelco local itself turned
thumbs down on Millard’s “wage
gain” which calls for an 8-cent
increase effective June 1, 1950,
‘and a 5-cent increase effective

April 1, 1951. The steel workers
voted to instruct their bargain-
ing officers to approach Steico
again and demand the five cents
now instead of in 1951. “Let's get
the nickel now,” the workers say.
Reason for this action became
apparent to Trail workers when

other hidden details of Steel’s “pay
hike” were brought out. Acceptance
of the offer would get the 40-hour
week for Stelco workers, but for
the vast majority it would lose a
minimum of. $1.92 each pay day.
Tkere’ll be no staff increases, and
Stelco workers will be expected to

 'Callous treatment’ of coal miners’
mpensation probe

denounced

Fishermen? coal miners and

at co

electricians submi ‘ted briefs this week to commission hearings of the

Workmen’s Compensation Board in Vancouver.

A brief presented by William
Rigby for the United Fishermen
and Allied Workers Union urged
full compensation coverage for all
fishermen.

Denouncing the “callous and in-
human” treatment of certain dis-
abled coal miners, J.M. Cameron of
the United’ Mine Workers asked
for vocational training to assist
these men who are seeking “light
work” while drawing inadequate
compensation.

The UMW brief, presenting views
of 3,500 B.C. coal miners, urged
inclusion of “anthracosis’”” (coal
‘dust in the lungs) in the schedule
of crippling industrial diseases.

International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers opposed legis-
lation enacted at the last Session
of parliament transferring adminis-
tration of the Electrical Energy
Inspection Act from the Workmen’s
Compensation Board to the Min-
ister of Public Works.

“We believe that prevention mea-
sures should be under the control
Of the administration which collects
the funds to pay the injured work-
man,” IBEW representative Alex
Dorland told Chief Justice Sloan.
“Preventative measures should be
independent of control or direction

Y either the employer or employee
and should be freed from any politi-
Cal influence.”

Ship sailing
perils Greeks

The Panamanian freighter Cno-
Saga' sailed for Colombo, Ceylon,
this week, leaving behind seven of
the 14 seamen who struck the ship
here. ‘The seamen, all Greeks, are
held in custody by the immigra-
tion department, and may be de-
Ported to fascist Greece, where
Some would face imprisonment or
death,

The strikers have. filed a claim
for $1,600 back pay they allege is
owing to them, and the case will
be decided in Admiralty Court.

Brother’s Bakery
Specializing in
Sweet and Sour Rve Breads
342 EK. HASTINGS ST.
PA. 8419

UNION HOUSE
ZENITH CAFE

105 E. Hastings Street
VANCOUVER, B.C.

WILLIAM RIGBY
He urged full compensation
coverage for fishermen.

Senior citizens deserve
better deal, says UE

TORONTO

“Old-age , pensions should be
looked on as the right of every
Canadian citizen of older years
just as thé family allowance is the
right of every Canadian child,” says
a brief presented. by the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers (UE) to the joint com-
mittee of the Commons and Sen-
ate which is studying old-age se-
curity. '

“We strongly urge,” says the
}electrical union, “a system under
which pensions are assured as a
right, without any means test.
The union proposes that the pen-
sicnable age be reduced to 60
years and the amount of monthly
payment be increased to $62.40, the
minimum for unemployment in-
surance,.

The union proposals essentially
call for applying the same prin-
ciples to the care of senior citi-
gens that Canada has so success-
fully pioneered in for the care of
children through the family al-

LUMBER ©

will help to offset the employers’
drive to abolish the 40-hour’ week

| here.”

Canadian strike deadline set by
the IWA and supported by the
WIUC, is June 15. “No contract,
no work,” is the slogan adopted by
the IWA district convention this
year.

Shortly before 40,000 U.S. wood-
workers were scheduled. to “hit
the bricks,” all lumber firms ex-
cept Weyerhaeuser settled for a
715-cent wage increase to apply to
health and welfare benefits.

Virgil Burtz, IWA research di-
rector, said the strike against Wey-
erhaeuser would continue until, the
company agreed to a union shop
status and the pay increase ac-
cepted by all other operations in
the industry. ‘

Canadian woodworkers have re-
jected the bosses’ offer for “more
wages by working six eight-hour
shifts’ and have denounced the

_| proposal as “sucker bait in order

ito facilitate the scuttling of the
40 hour week.” Rank-and-file work-
ers in the IWA and WIUC are unit-
ing around the demand for a 17-
cent hourly pay hike, with no
strings attached. :

Progressive youth plan

'to publish newspaper
| . TORONTO

Labor Press Month will see
launching of a project for a new
addition to the family of progres-
sive labor papers in Canada — a
youth paper. A ‘conference is

It will be representative of several
progressive national group organi-
zations, the National Federation of
Labor Youth, and interested indi-
viduals. Editors of existing pro-
gressive papers have been invited
to attend and bring their good
wishes and advice. A drive will be
launched to ensure publication by

New Year's.

Labor Council backs

recognition of China

Recognition of People’s China
and. establishment of Canadian-

| Chinese trade relations is called
| for in a résolution passed by two
locals of International Fur and
Leather Workens Union recently
and endorsed by Vancouver La-
bor Council (CIO-CCL).

Pointing out that the govern-
ments of Britain and a number
of other countnes have already
recognized the People’s Republic
of China, the resolution stresses
the fact that the development of
trade with China will help to pro-
vide jobs for thousands of Cana-
dians.

Privy Council
to get appeal

British Columbia Court of Ap-
peal's decision ordering reinstate-
ment of Myron Kuzych in the Boil-
ermakers’ Union and awarding him
$5,000 for ‘wrongful éxpulsion”. is
being taken to the Privy Council by

|the Marine Workers and Boiler |

|makers Industrial Union (CCL), Lo-
|cal No. 1.

Appeals from Canada to the Privy
Council were abolished last year,

'the English court.
|. Kuzych was
now defunct Boilermakers and Iron
Shipbuilders Union and has re-

| peatedly tried, without success, to

| join the Marine Workers and Boil-
!ermakers Union. :

Electrical Workers
win wage d mands

‘

scheduled to establish a commit-,
tee to take hold of the project.)

International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers this week won
substantial wage increases in ne-
gotiations with Hume and Rumble,
the Pacific Tribune learned at
press time. A pay hike from $1.54
to $1.78 was secured for various
classifications. When previous ne-
gotiations broke down the men
had voted to take strike action to
'win their demands.

lowance system. —

Arising out of @ minor dispute
petween Polaris-Taku Mining Co.,
Ltd., and International Union of
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers
over firing of a cookhouse staff, a
question of law has been. projected
by the firm’s counsel, which threat-
ens the ICA Act itself. :

Tne case appeared to be a fairly
simple one. Polaris-Taku fired its
cooknouse staff and sub-contracted
the cooking end of its operations
to a firm. The union took the men’s
case to an arbitration board. _
““@he mining firm lost its major
argument when. the board ruled
that it was still running the cock-

E. H. SKEELES
Transfer & Fuel

CEDAE, BC.

MINING COMPANY DIGS UP OLD STATUTE

Tries to circumvent ICA Act —

house. Then company counsel an-
nounced that Polaris-Taku wanted
to appeal to a Supreme Court judge,
on the basis that the board, was
ruling on a point of law.

The request was made under Sec-
tion 22 of the Arbitration Act which
says that any party has the right
to appeal in such cases. Tae Ar-
bitration Act is a statute that has
been inherited from the 1890's from
England for the purpose of pro-
viding speedier and less expensive
settlements than courts. It was
passed more than 40 years before
the ICA Act, which provides spe-
cial machinery for settlement of
labor disputes.

Mine-Mill counsel John Stanton
took the position that the ICA Act
and not the Arbitration Act applied
in this case. The ICA Act states
that “every collective agreement
shall contain a provision for final

«

stoppage of work by arbitration.”

The contract between Mine-Mill
and Polaris-Taku clearly states that
“the decision of a board of arbi-
tration shall be final and binding.”

Company counsel’s attempt to
turn back the clock was upheld by
the chairman of the arbitration
board, Stewart Gilmore, This means
that in any labor dispute any em-
ployer could make the same move
and have the dispute taken to court,
thus virtually scrapping the main
part of the machinery in the ICA
Act specifically designed to settle
industrial disputes speedily and
cheaply without recourse to courts.

It seems probable that the dis-
pute between Mine-Mill and Polaris-
Taku may be settled through fur-

involved in the tactic employed by
the firm’s counsel is of concern both
to trade unions and the Labor Re-

and conclusive settlement without

lations Board. ,
PACIFIC

but a case that was started before
this decision can still be taken to

expelled from the |

ther negotiations, but the principle ||

speed up and do the same amount
of work in 40 hours as they did
in 44.

Former Hamilton controller Hel-
en Coulson exposed other shocking
details of Millard’s contract scheme
in an article in the Camadian Tri-
bune. Here they are:

“On many operations, workers

won't get the weekend off. The

company will have the unreserved
right to work out schedules. (This
means that a worker could get,
for example, Monday off, then work
Tuesday and Wednesday and then
get Thursday off as his second rest
day. In the blooming mill workers
will have to work six days to make
up their 40 hours.)

“Worse, Stelco workers are asked
to become partners in the big
business wage-freeze plot by ac-
cepting a two-year contract which
provides for five cents in 1951-2.
They are being asked by Millard

,and Sefton to set the pattern for

some 400,000 workers who are to

-| day in wage-hour negotiations (and

the million workers who will ne-
gotiate in 1951): a pattern of wage
cuts and wage freezes instead of
wage increases. s
“In 1948 Steel’s wagé and policy
conference decided that steelwork-
ers need a minimum of $48.40 and
the 40-hour week. That was based
on the rock-bottom wage that
workers’ families could live on
when the cost-of-living index was
159.6. The present proposed settle-
ment is $3.60 a week below that, and
|the index stands at 164. In March,
| 1952, Steleco workers would get $1.60
; below the 1948 demand.”
| Trail smelterworkers, having de-
feated Steel’s attempted raid
against Mine-Mill here, are united
solidly behind their union negotiat-
ing committee which is currently
bargaining for wage increases in
this year’s contract with Consoli-
dated. ,

| Exposure of Steel's “trick con-
‘tract provisions” at Stelco should
disillusion the dwindling number
of smelterworkers who still support
the Steel “smelter union” here.

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TRIBUNE — MAY 19, 1950 — PAGE 7