> > ae LPP takes issue with Gee The i : wing statement on hae Stice J. O. Wilson’s ae oe an the George Gee aed Ssued by the Labor- oe ve party here this Any. illusi Ure of ca been d tons as to the na- is Pitalist courts have Pelled by Mr. Justice Uson in hi x 1S Jud - € case, gment in the The ; legeq een ironically al- ' Gee was the victim € clos uilt When Nternation ES shop he had pcelly it was the al and its officials : officials shop Hee berverted the closed dalous _ berpetrate the scan- famity ‘Njustice on Gee, his bership, 4nd the union mem- Thr uote" the union trial con- % Wel) Y the International, ings a 4s the court proceed- ec stood out—Gee’s agent, | ility as a business ame yn view of this it be- tice ety for Mr. Jus- for “a to look elsewhere ; ASI for his judgment. oS Source of the judg- Wclaratn the International’s oe of 1954. This dec- he Was compulsory in Hart) under the ‘Taft- e om: Act, which distorts " Nist aims and is used tre att for witch-hunts Militant Smmunists and other Worker j * Vement. S in the labor ci : Ted in Justice Wilson concur- that [ong union trial findings in OSes been working tion oy nterest of an organiza- Cause detrimental to the findings union” (namely the LPP).” It is true that many of these incidents were not by them- selves of a consequential na- ture. But added together when proved they would creat a pattern...” Incidents referred to were Gee’s attending a Paul Robe- son concert at the border and the funeral of Bill Bennett, a labor journalist, which was also attended by two Vancou- ver Sun columnists. This evi- dence Mr. Justice Wilson en- tertained. He did however, opine that union trial proceedings left a jot to be desired. And he found that “ihe provisions for final appeal are unreasonable, impracticable and ineffective.” Nevertheless, he claimed no power to redress the admitted injustice to Gee because of the closed shop and Gee’s alleged subversion. The LPP takes strong ¢X~ ception to the distortions of its aims and objectives made in the Gee case. Mr.. Justice Wilson compares unions under capitalism and socialism and draws the conclusion that unions are incompatible with a socialist economy. The reverse is true. Unions are incompatible with capital- ism, as shown down the years by repeated attacks upon them, on the picket lines and in the courts, and the LPP warns the labor movement of the dangers of witch-hunts 1n- herent in Mr. Justice Wilson's judgment. PROBLEM Color Film Showing CAPITOL HILL COMMUNITY HALL FRIDAY — APRIL 25 AT 8 P.M. © HELP SOLVE UNEMPLOYMENT ®TRADE POSSIBILITIES (Chinese Tea will be Served ) ESE A UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL RELEASE RIDGE THEATRE—16th and Arbutus—CH 6311 2 Complete Shows Nightly: 7:00 and 9:00 Adults .75 Students .50 Children .20 ' Court ‘critical’ of IBEW trial hut dismisess George Gees suit one When Mrs. Justice J. former IBEW Local 213 business as a B.C. Electric lineman, he inc Although in an earlier stage of couldn't care less if Gee “was, 18, another view: “J think I may safely say that Communism is inimical to free trade unions,” he de- clared. “The primary func- tion of a trade union is to bargain for its members wiih employers and ultimately, if the bargaining jis unsuccess- ful, to invoke the supreme sanction of a strike with its concomitant of picketting which nowadays means in aes cases a cessation of work not only by the employees involved but by other trade unionists employed by the same employer. “The known history of all Communist ruled countries clearly demonstrates that the existence of free trade unions, with practice of employer-em- ployee bargaining, the cessa- tion of work in an attempt to obtain better wages or work- ing conditions — all these are unknown, impermissible and indeed inconceivable in these countries. All industry is owned by the state. A work- ers’ strike is therefore a strike against the state and a form of revolution or treason. Events in East Germany in 1945 provided a good example of what I mean of the cruel repression which followed the workers’ attempts to assert their rights. Official Store Opening and Clearance Sale FRIDAY and SATURDAY — MAY 2 - 3 9 A.M. TO 9 P.M. PEOPLE'S CO-OP BOOKSTORE 307 WEST PENDER @ Free Pamphlets and Periodicals @ Free Coffee and Cookies LARGE SELECTION OF BARGAINS GEORGE GEE ‘Tt is quite possible. that a Communist could appear superficially to be a good business agent for a union. His allegiance to Communism, his belief that capitalism must be destroyed, would cer- tainly not lead him to amelio- rate his demands on capitalist employers. They might in- deed,induce him to exaggerate those demands to the break- ing point in the hope of des- troying, in the person of the employing corporation, a unit of capitalist society. His un- derlying beliefs must, for the reasons I have stated, make him ultimately inimical to free trade unions which flourish most luxuriantly in the atmosphere of capitalism. ‘JT have no difficulty in finding that the domestic UDl= O. Wilson last week dismissed with costs the suit of George Gee, agent, against the union for refusing him the right to work luded in his reasons for judgment an attack on communism. the court action Mr. Justice Wilson had indicated he or is going to be a communist,” the judgment exxpressed bunal might (not must) fairly find that when Gee worked, within the union, in the in- terests of Communism he was working in the interest of an organization or cause detri- mental to the union.” (The Labor - Progressive party, in a statement issued this week, these anti - Communist .arguments advanced by Mr. Justice Wil- son). answered Gee was removed from his job as Local 213 business agent, International Brother- hood of Electrical Workers, in February, 1955. He got a job as a BCE lineman, was jJaier fired on the grounds that the union’s agreement with the BCE provides that only union men can be hired. Mr. Justice Wilson noted that Gee’s trial by union of- “left much to be de- sired” and that provisions for a member’s final right of ap- peal before an international convention are “unreasonable, impractical and ineffective.” “While I think that he was legally expelled from his union I have, insofar as his desire to work at his trade is concerned, the heartiest sym- pathy for the plaintiff and this despite the fact he is ironic- ally the victim of agreements which he negotiated. If it lay in my power to give him the right to work he would have it today. But it does not lie in ficers my power.” Commenting on the Gee case William Stewart, secretary- treasurer of Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union, said: “Mr. Wilson has used the whitewash and the tar brush with equal dexterity. He sympathizes with Gee on the loss of his job with the B.C. Electric and blames the closed shop agreement; by in- ference and innuendo he brands Gee as a Communist, and justifies an IBEW inter- national official’s actions against Gee in an anti-com- munist witch-hunt to pre serve our ‘free trade unions.’ ” Justice April 25, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 7% ENS ay a ag |