The militant struggle conducted by Nanaimo laundry workers, here shown parading through the streets

of: the Island city, showed what can be accom

islation.

JFFEBRUARY 8 will be a day of some importance to the working

people of B.C. For on that day the legislature will convene at
Victoria providing an opportunity for the people to replace the bad
legislation now on the statute books with legislation that serves their

interests. High on the list of the
good legislation necessary are
amendments to the Industrial
Conciliation and Arbitration Act.

Prior to 1937 the trade union
movement of this province had no
legal status, and consequently no
protection by. law. In that year
the Pattullo government, under
the pressure of a growing labor
movement, enacted the first draft
of the ICA Act which was slightly
amended in favor of labor the
following year. The 1937 Act,
though extremely weak, did give
the trade union movement legal
Status and thereby gave impetus
to organization of the basic in-
daustries, :

However, the new and growing
industrial unions were still faced
with the stubborn refusal of the
lumber and mining operators to

bargain collectively with the un- ~

ions, and their constant inter-
ference in the organizational ac-
tivities of the workers. And in
1943 and 1944, as a a result of un-
ited political action on the part
of CIO and AFL unions, import-
ant amendments were won to the
ICA Act.

These amendments instituted
certification procedure; guaran-
teed the workers the right to or-
ganize; and provided that em-
ployers must * bargain in good
faith with a view to concluding
a collective ,agreement with the
union certified as the bargaining
agency for the employees.

The 10-year period from 1987 -

to 1947 marked a great period in
the history of British Columbia’s
militant labor movement. It was
during this period, under Com-
munist leadership, ‘that the coal
miners were organized and won
the closed shop; that the wood-
“workers won the first industry-
wide agreement; that the hard-
rock miners were organized; and

the fishermen won the protec-
tion of union agreements.
e

The big employers were seri-
ously alarmed at the growth and
strength of the trade union move-
ment. They demanded, through the
Manufacturers’ Association and
the Boards of Trade, that the Co-
alition government act to curb la-
bor’s steadily growing power.

The Coalition acted at the bid-
ding of its masters. In 1947 the
government, over the vigorous
protests of the labor movement,
steam-rollered through the dying
session of the legislature the

, Sweeping: anti-labor amendments

to the ICA Act embodied in its
notorious Bill 39.

Bill 39 was carefully designed
to fit in with the general overall
offensive of Canadian monopol-
ists against the living and work-
ing conditions of the working
class, It aimed to do this by curb-
ing the workers’ bargaining pow-
er through the long drawn-out
conciliation procedure; through
direct interference into the af-
fairs of the unions by the super-
vised strike vote; and the named
offenses and consequent fines up-
on conviction of individuals and
trade unions,

But Bill 39 almost died aborn-
ing. The assenting signature of
the lieutenant - governor was
scarcely dry upon the bill when
a handful of laundry workers,

some 23 in number and mainly .

young girls, challenged the new
law in all its majesty. -

The Nanaimo Laundry Work-
ers’ Union, striking in defense of
trade union rights, precipitated
a Campaign against the bill which
rocked the very foundations of
the government.

Under the leadership of the B.C.
Federation of Labor, an aroused

plished by a union rank and file in fighting anti-labor leg-

Amend the labor act |.

—By ALF DEWHURST

and united labor movement forc-
ed Labor Minister Gordon Wis-
mer, in his dual capacity of at-
torney general to quash legal

charges laid against the laundry .

workers and likewise those laid
against striking steel and furni-
ture workers. Wismer, who at that
time was campaigning for the
leadership of the Liberal Party
and consequently ‘the premiership
of the province, also promised to
introduce amendments to the act
at the next session of the legisla-
ture, /

e

When the legislature met in
1948, however, Wismer was no
longer the contender for Liberal
leadership courting labor with

demagogic promises. Big Busin-—

ess had preferred Byron Johnson
to head the Coalition and Wis-
mer was labor minister in the
Johnson - Anscomb government.

Ignoring his promises, Wismer
brought down even more string-
ent amendments to® the Act at
the instance of the big employers,

His action of betrayal was fac-
ilitated by the right-wing CCF and
Liberal machine in the AFL which
succeeded in blocking a united
AFL-CCL labor lobby to win fav-
orable amendments to the Act;
and by the right-wing CCF’ers in
the CCL who, under the leader-
ship of Mahoney, CCL regional
director, split and wrecked the
CCL lobby that did get over to
Victoria.

The new amendments to the
act are embodied in Bill 87. This
anti-labor bill gives sweeping
powers to the big business-dom-
inated Labor Relations Board;
it establishes unions as legal en-
tities for the purpose of prosecu-
tion; it provides for the de-certifi-
cation of unions violating the act;
it forces workers, on pain of
prosecution, to cross picketlines
established by sister unions; it
provides that the board, may or-
der a supervised vote taken on
any offer made by an employer
during the course of negotiations;
and that the board may intervene

{

and set wage rates and working
conditions irrespective of collect-
‘ive bargaining.

Bill 87 is a particularly bad
piece of legislation. It is so de-
signed as to place the trade un-
ions completely at the mercy of
the big employers. Tt oS pre-
crisis legislation that aims to
pave the way for wage cuts, long-
er hours and speed-up.

Bill 87 must, and can be,
wmended at this session of the
legislature, provided the work-
ers, taking a leaf from the pages
of history, start a campaign
among themselves, the rank and
file for amendments to the act.

The ‘demand for a campaign to
win favorable amendments should
be raised in every local union
meeting. And LPP and CCF clubs
should endeavor to win the widest ,
public support for the campaign
to restore the’ freedom and dig-
nity of the trade union move-
ment. It can be done, if it is
“tackled in the fighting spirit of
the Nanaimo laundry girls.

Three months’ wages buys Soviet car

[t costs a Canadian worker living

in British Columbia and earn-
ing the average industrial wage
of $40 a week a year’s wages to
buy a 1949 model of one of the
three popular “low-pricea@” cars,
Plymouth, Chevrolet or Ford, and
not much less to buy the smaller
British Austin or Morris. It costs
him six months’ wages or more
even to buy the eight to twelve
year old car now owned by a
majority of workers in this pro-
vince,

It costs a Russian worker, earn-
ing an average skilled wage, three
months’ wages to buy the Mos-
kovich,’ the low-powered four-
seater sedan produced by the
Moscow auto plant which is now

the most popular car in the Soviet
Union.

This is not to say that the
family auto is as yet as much a
part of the Soviet scene as it is
of the Canadian and American.
But the number of car owners in
the Soviet Union is growing. So-
viet auto plants turned out near-
ly twice as many cars in the third
quarter of 1948 as they did in
the same period of 1947 and the
rise in real wages is bringing
them within the reach of more
and more Soviet workers.

In Canada, by contrast, the
higher price of 1949 models, com-
pounded by federal excise and
Provincial sales taxes, is placing
them farther beyond the reach
of ordinary Canadian wage éarn-
ers, and the perspective for Can-
adian auto plants is one of re-
‘duced output. Falling exports,
reflecting the effect of the Mar-

shall Plan on the auto industry,
have already led to layoffs in the

Windsor plants of Ford and
Chrysler.
Sales records at the Soviet .

Automobile and Tractor minis-
try’s showrooms in Moscow and
other cities disclose that most of
the new cars are being bought by
industrial workers and collective
farmers of Siberia and Central
Asia.

Records for a ten-day period
showed that 18 percent of the
buyers were workers in factories
of Moscow and -other cities; an-
cther 18 percent were physicians
and teachers; 34 percent were en-
gineers and research workers; 19
percent actors’and artists, and

_ the rest people in miscellaneous

professions.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANURY 21, 1949 — PAGE 4