COMINCO WORKERS VOL , JULY 24, 1964 2 YOL. 25, NO. 30 FRIDAY THIS WEEK Hany H Hn Monopoly-Socred Gang-up on Labor * Bennett’s Sellout Of B.C. Resources * Ultra-Right Conspiracy To Take Over the U.S.A. —PAGE 2 —PAGE 5 —PAGE 12 ) UBLIC DEMANDS OF VICTORIA —————e re ez”—”: Cancel fare boost, transit Viet ore fOvernment in is ee me under Sharp fire fa “ < its transit policies, Utilities : hem, when the Public : Ommission announced Was bound by a secret X=Council, passed by the Those Some months ago, which Bing eres @ substantial bus crease, Ter j ‘The f rder prohibits the P.U,C, te into consideration Bio. ‘ Tom power and other bus Si ®perations in setting ty Son The P.U,C, hearing in Brea cstion to boost fares ater ‘nag Vancouver and Tide j letoria to 25¢ a single On July os Open in Vancouver A br es Puc °S Telease issued by the aad attention to the “Abin et Ouncil passed by the hang eg May 28, 1964 which Puc. . ® Tules by which the ete arings have been con- y * €Y since 1948, The new probe now’ rule requires the P,U.C, “to treat each class of service furnished by a utility as a ee unit for ratemaking purposes, In 1948 public protest compel- led a change in P,U,C, regula- tions, Until that time the B.C. Electric insisted on separating transit from the lucrative power, freight and gas services in order to foist repeated fare increases on the public, Many years of campaigning by civic bodies finally forced the change, which constituted a big victory for transit users, The announcement by the P.U.C, of the change in regula- tions on the eve of the P.U.C, fare hearings aroused an immed- iate storm and led to changes by many organizations opposing the bus fare boost, andby editor- ials in daily newspapers that ne hearing is “an empty gesture, “9 pointless farce,” See TRANSIT, pg. 3 WIN BIG VICTORY Mine- Mill rolls up historic gains The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union won an historic victory for all labor last week when the: 4,000 workers at Trail and Kimberley com- pelled the giant CPR-owned Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company to grant « substantial wage increase, provide job security in the event of automation, and established the 40 hour work week for the first time in the mining industry in North America. The CM&S contract terms will also ap ply to 500 other Mine Mill membersin smaller operations. Hailing the agreement: arrived at after three days of strike ac- tion as a “terrific victory” Mine Mill national executive board member AI King told the PT the lowest paid Cominco employeé (starting rate) would now get $2.14 an hour, with top rates about $1 an hour more, King placed the value of the total package won from’ CM&S around 35 cents an hour, This in- cluded 10 cents across the. board retroactive to March 1, 1964, a further 10 cents on Mareh 1, 1965 and additional concessions to tradesmen in several cate- gories, But the real substance of the victory is to be found in the key spheres of a defined work week and job security, For the first time in the history of the mining industry, a clearly defined , 40-hour work week was won by the union, This means that 70 percent of Comin- co employees know that for the term of the agreement, they will work from Monday to Friday, For any work done on weekends, they will receive overtime pay— even if they have not put in a full 40-hour week, In the case of continuous, non- stop operation, workers em- ployed on weekends will receive premium pay of 20 cents an hour, representing another break- through, Under the old agree- ment, there was no provision for premium pay, Se RENN AS : HISTORIC PHOTO. Picket line being formed at the CM&S plant at Trail last Friday afternoon. This was the first strike in 45 years. The huge monopoly quickly gave in The contract provides that any worker with 10 or more years of service cannot be displaced by technological change — éither directly or indirectly, Since the average years of service at Com- inco amount to 19, this affects the overwhelming majority of employees, Hails Victory HARVEY MURPHY, National Vice- President of Mine- Mill, who led the negotiations at Trail and Kim- berley. He hailed the union's vic- tory as outstanding in North Am- erica. In the event of a job being eliminated due to technological improvements, the company must find another job for the worker affected, His wage, however, can- not be dropped more than one category, regardless of the type of work performed on the new job, In practical terms, said King, this means that even if a skilled tradesman were to join a labor gang, his cut in pay could never exceed seven cents an hour, In all, the union won practically everything it demanded from the huge monopoly, which was no doubt qualitatively influenced by the solid 89 percent strike vote and obvious determination of Mine Mill to win substantial gains for its membership this year, Indicative of this determina- tion was the meeting of Local 480 at Trail which approved the terms of settlement, Over 3,000 members and their wives jammed the Trail Arena when the 88 per- cent vote to accept the settlement was. taken, The smashing Mine Mill vic- tory assumed particular Signifi- cance in view of press statements attributed to leaders of theSteel- workers union last week. Steel leaders were widely quoted as having stated Mine Mill made a mistake in going on strike Mine Mill national vice-presi- dent Harvey Murphy told the PT the historic breakthrough was made possible by the *tremen- dous solidarity of our members and their wives in Trail and Kimberley,” He added the union wished to thank CPRtrain crews, building trade unions, the IBEW and Pulp & Sulphite in the West Kootenays for their fine solidar- ity while the strike was in Progress, before the determination of the workers. Picture sent to the PT by one of the strikers, shows picket captains hand- ing out “On Strike” placards.