junction

Hon of the case
Bae

HERE is a story about an

elderly judge who fell asleep

at a baseball game. The old
man was slumbering peacefully
until awakened by the umpire
Calling: “Strike!”

“Injunction granted!’ roared
the judge.

_ An exaggeration, perhaps, but
it appears to be just that simple
for an employer to get a court
injunction and thereby, in a le-
gal sense, render impossible
effective picketing or any other
demonstrative action striking
workers may. engage in.

_The injunction, as a legal de-
Vice, originated in Roman law.
It is a court writ which has
Many applications.

It may forbid the commission
of certain acts of a civil nature
which are charged with injus-
tice. It may be framed to protect
the civil rights of an individual
Or corporation which seem to
be threatened. It may order the
restitution or restoration of such
rights as, have «unlawfully been
taken’ away"from: ‘an individual
or corporation. Thus, the court
injunction as applied to common
aw is a very important legal
Measure to protect against the
Violation of civil rights.

_ However, when an injunction

7S used in ‘the field of labor dis-

putes it ceases to be a protec-
tion against legal abuses, and

’n fact becomes a potent weapon
J

Jn the hands of the employers

to circumvent justice.

_To gain a temporary injunc-
tion, an employer is not called
upon to prove anything. He need’
Only suspect something illegal
will or may take place. With
such Supicions, affidavits may
be used which can be, and in
™MOst cases are, based upon hear-
Say evidence. Temporary in-

Junctions may be gained without

the Participation of the union
Mvolved,

Such “ex parte” injunctions
Confront the union with an im-
Possible handicap. If, for exam-
Ple, the boss decides to herd
Scabs he can apply for a tempo-
Fary injunction to prevent pick-
€ting under the guise of impend-
ng violence,

Even though the union was
not present at the hearing, it
4S no legal recourse and must
abide by the injunction until
Such time as a further hearing
Js held,

By the time the hearing on
€ injunction takes place, the
amage to the strike has been
ae But even at the hearing
'S difficult. The men can either
Aes to a limited picket or
ae to challen se the injunc-
the, Mm the court. To challenge
injunction invariably  in-
volves a lengthy legal battle
ing which the original interim
final is extended to the
al legal decision and disposi-

ve | SE bes “Sa

€ legal position of the strikers’

Injunctions

By Rae Murphy

The ease with which employ-
ers can obtain an injunction to
break a strike can be illustrated
by the Tilco Plastic strike in
Peterborough, Ontario. On Dec.

14, 1965 the employees of the

Tilco plant called a legal strike
to support their demands for
better conditions and wages. The
company decided to herd scabs
to break the strike, and on Dec.
17 was granted an injunction
which prohibited picketing alto-
gether. By Dec. 20, it was grant-
ed a second injunction limiting
the picketing to 12 people.

-The reason for the injunctions
was simply to break the strike,
and the courts complied to the
extent that when trade unionists
from Peterborough demonstrat-
ed against the use of injunctions,
and in support of the strikers,
25 workers were charged with
contempt of court. They were
charged though both the local
authorities and the provincial
attorney-general’s office agreed
the demonstrations were peace-
ful.

The Tilco situation is not
exceptional. The B.C. Federation
of Labor, for example, has listed
300 instances in which a court
injunction has been applied to
labor disputes during the period
of 1955 to 1965. The Ontario
Federation of Labor has com-
piled 53 such injunctions in what
is termed a “partial list.” Dur-
ing the same period there were
only two instances where in-
junctions had been refused.

The use of injunctions to
break a strike is nothing new.
A study of industrial relations
titled ‘Evolution of Industrial
Society,” by R. T. Ely, quotes
a report of the Industrial Com-
mission of the U.S. Congress as
follows: “It is undoubtedly de-
sirable that this extraordinary

process of injunctions should be —

employed with greater conserva-
tism than has been the case
during the past decade.
This report was made in 1898.
The legal underpinning of the
wide use of injunctions in labor
ies

disputes rests upon a_ studied
vagueness in the Criminal Code.
Section 366 of. the code states
that it is an offense to watch
and beset, and goes on to say
that in a labor dispute attending
at, in or near a residence or
place of employment to obtain
or communicate information is
not watching and besetting,
within the meaning of the sec-
tion, and therefore not a crimin-
al offense.

Thus, under the concept that
a picket line can only be a
means of communicating, or
finding out information, any
demonstration that could con-
ceivably go beyond this is there-
fore liable to be considered
against the law.

This narrow, anti-labor law

places an intolerable shackle on
the workers and makes a mock-
ery of the cumbersome and

complicated labor legislation
which exists ~in all provinces.
The labor legislation is supposed
to guarantee the recognition of
unions as bargaining agents, and
the regularization of industrial
relations which includes the

‘right to strike. However, the

Criminal Code, which super-

‘sedes provincial labor manage-
ment regulations, in effect ac-

cepts the right to strike but
makes it almost illegal to win
a Strike.

The Canadian working class
is making it quite clear that it
can no longer live with such
laws. The widespread use of
injunctions has long been pro-

tested by the trade union move-
ment. Now in the new upsurge
of struggle something has to
give. Unheeded briefs and depu-
tations are-not by themselves

the answer and will no longer
suffice. a

This mood of the labor move-
ment is expressed in the resolu-
tions of labor federations, indi-
vidual unions and in the last
convention of the Canadian La-
bor Congress. But it is expressed
better on the picket line itself,

The victory of the Newspaper
Guild in Oshawa was an exam-
ple of the kind of united action
that is required to meet the
threat of anti-labor legal manip-
ulations. Last week the labor
council in London, Ontario,
agreed to take the first step to
set up a mutual aid committee
to fight injunctions. Such a com-

mittee would unite the entire —

labor movement to come to the
aid of an individual union slap- —
ped by the courtswith an in-
junction. The movement toward
the formation of similar com-
mittees is also developing in
other councils.

With this trend to united
direct action we can all be pre-
pared to hear a lot of pious
declarations about law and or-
der, and respect for the courts.
But it is the law itself and the
archaic interpretation of it that
must be changed.

The point was well made by
Reid Scott (NDP; Danforth) in
the House of Commons: “Let
no one be under any illusion.
Far from holding people back
from violence and breaches of
the law, the present law on
picketing in Canada encourages —
and creates situations which
ignite this type of violent con-
duct.

“What we should be trying to
do is to modernize this law and
bring it up to date.”

Those who wisk to do just.
that, will receive a big boost
from the unity and direct action _
being developed by the trade ©
union movement today. gd

May 27, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5