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- STRIKE VOTE =

“We don’t intend to be push-
ed around, and we are going
to move fast. To be effective,
a strike should be called be-
fore July 1 — but the union,
Of course, will determine where
and when we strike.”

IWA district president Joe
Morris outlined the current
Situation to VLC delegates.

“A. dispute developed be-
tween the IWA and the coast
lumber operators which in due
Course was referred to a con-
Ciliation board. . . . Through-
Out the proceedings the em-
Dloyers remained adamant in
tejecting every one of the
Union’s demands.

“Within a few days after

€ hearings, chairman Gor-

‘don Wismer and the em-
Ployers’ nominee on the board,

George Robson, presented a
Majority statement to Labor
Minister Lyle Wicks. It re-
Commended that the proceed-
Mgs be adjourned until Sep-
tember 30 on the grounds that
(1) there was insufficient evi-
dence to justify conclusions,
(2) the industry as described
by the employers,.was in a
Somewhat depressed condition,
and (3) that pending develop-
Ments might be better consid-
fred at a later date.

“The procedure followed by
the majority of the board was
Mmediately protested by the

 Uhion’s nominee, Robert Smeal.

. “The protest was answered
™ a letter from the chief ex-
cutive officer of the labor re-
lations branch to the effect that

the majority statement is to -

be regarded as a report with-

| the meaning of the Act.

“The IWA is submitting the

| Teport to our members with

Ne recommendation for rejec-
ion. We are also asking the
Members to give the district
Policy committee authoriza-
lon for strike action, as and
When it may be deemed neces-
Sary,

“I now turn to the probable
“fects of this precedent if the
Tade union movement fails to
act with vigor in regard to the
anger,

1 “If this precedent is al-
- lowed to stand, concilia-
tion boards dealing with any
‘etious dispute will be free to

Adjourn. the - proceedings to

Suit the convenience of the
*mployers.

L. Sholdice, Nanaimo
dies at Ladysmith
_ LADYSMITH, B.C.

1 An active worker in the
tbor movement for more than
years, Len Sholdice, died in
adysmith Hospital following
heart attack early last Sun-

“€Y morning. He was a promin-

*nt member of the Brother-
Sod of Railway Trainmen and
°r some years he was a mem-
€r of the old Communist party
' Canada.

© is survived by his wife,

ny, at Nanaimo, and two
Qs in Vancouver.

Jen

“Tt enables anti - union

chairmen to manipulate
the timing of the submission
of board reports so that unions
contemplating strike action
will be forced to take such
action under the most unfavor-
able circumstances. If in this
instance Wismer gets away
with his proposal, the IWA
may be expected to conduct a
strike vote in the Christmas
season.

“Whenever such  docu-

ments are issued by the
majority of board: members,
the membership of every union
concerned will be voting for
acceptance or rejection of ex-
actly nothing. If they vote
for or against a point of pro-
cedure, such as the extension
of the board’s hearings, they
cannot be certain as to the
outcome of their voting. Fur-
thermore, they will be voting
to determine their wishesson
points which can be altered
overnight by the minister of
labor. What is legal today
may be made illegal tomorrow.

“T have no hesitation in

condemning the procedure
outlined by Wismer as a trap,
for our union and for any
union. It is a trap to delay’
and confuse a strike vote to
suit the interests of the em-
ployers. It is a trap, which
may be sprung to expose any
union to the charge of illegal
strike action,:and to invoke
the severe penalties now writ-
ten into the Act.

“It is a trap which sounds a
plausible appeal to the mem-
bers of the public likely to be
inconvenienced by a strike,
and who are unaware of the
facts. They can quite readily
be convinced by the employers

‘that a few months’ delay is of

no consequence,

“It is a trap to save the em-
ployers on the wage bill. In
this instance, if Wismer suc-
ceeds, the lumber operators
will save several million by a
four months’ ‘stall,’

“IT tell this council that it is
a trap intended to deprive all

Want pensions paid

anywhere in world

Canadian old age pensions
should be payable to those
qualified anywhere in the
world, This has long been the
opinion of the Senior-Citizens’
Association of B.C. and at its
fourth annual convention here
this week the association ad-
dresse da resolution to the
federal government asking for
the . necessary legislation to
make it possible.

The conventon adopted reso-
lutions submitted by Haney
and Princeton branches in
praf€rence to one from Kerris-
dale which would have res-
tricted payment to Common-
wealth countries and North

America.

JOE MORRIS
His union avoids ‘trap’

of us of any real bargaining
strength, because it is intend-
ed to steal away our rights to
strike at a time when we can

strike with a chance of success.

“Wismer has developed a

method of accomplishing for
the employers that which they
have failed to secure by their
proposed amendments to the
Labor Relations Act.

“We must fight this sort of
sneak attack on the, trade
unions with everything we've
got.”

Following Morris’ report
delegates voted full support
to the IWA and condemned
the conciliation board majority
proposal for a four-month
“hoist” to negotiations.

IWA demands include a 20
percent increase og the cur-

rent basic wage of $1.59 for .-

coast woodworkers, plus union
shop and a number of fringe
benefits.

TORONTO

Civil servants are demand-
ing that the federal govern-
ment, act at once on their
overdue salary increases, and
that their case be taken out of
politics.

«Moré than 2,000 civil serv-
ants. in a mass meeting here
last week sharply condemned
the efforis of politicians to
make a political football out
of their salary demands

F. W. Whitehouse, president
of the 70,000-member federa-
tion, said that the federation
resents the fact politicians
have made a political issue of
their salary schedule.. “We
don’t like it, and we are not
going to stand for it,” he said.
(Prime Minister St. Laurent
first mentioned civil servants’
wages at a political rally: in
Cobourg, May 17, when he said
in reply to repeated requests
for action that none would be
taken until after the June 10
elections.)

On May 9 the government
announced salary increases for
professional civil servants.
Since then protest meetings
have been held by civil ser-
vants’ chapter across the coun-
try, demanding an overall in-
crease.

Stressing that the Toronto
meeting was not a_ political
rally, Whitehouse urged civil
servants to refrain from mak-
ing political utterances that
might find their way into the
newspapers.

Commenting on an estimate
made in an Ottawa newspaper
that civil servants’ wages
would be increased from 4.5
to 7 percent, Whitehouse said,
if the estimate is accurate, the
federation would never accept
it.

ivil servants ask
immediate action

“We have asked for a 10
percent interim increase, and
if we do not have that by July
it will have to be 12 percent,”
he said.

He added that the federa-
tion has aothing against the
present government. It has
done much for civil servants
in the past 15 years, ‘he said.

“Too littie, too late,’ some-
one shouted from the audience.
“I expected to hear that,” he
replied.

Kenneth Green, national
secretary-treasurer of the Na-
tional Defense Employees’ As-
sociation, told the civil sery-
ants*they were.called together
to stop a political football
from bouncing.

“We are now just a huge
football being bounced be-
tween opposing teams. We'd
have stopped the game ‘if we
had a 90 percent membership,”
he said. He urged all civil
servants to join the federa-
tion if the group is to have an
influential voice.

Green noted that in Britain
civil servants are able to nego-
tiate with the Crown for bet-
ter conditions and wages. “Why
are we denied the right of ne-
gotiating with the Crown’s
representative in Canada? We
are no different from the civil
servants of oiher countries.”

Canadian civil servants
should have the right to con-
ciliation, arbitration and col-
lective bargaining. “We _are
simply asking the cabinet to
assume its responsibilities in
granting us this,” he said.

Green said the problem that
exis'ed was one between em-
ployer and employee, nothing
more. “To us the government
is an employer, not a govern-
ment,” he said.

Ald. Orr assailed hy delegates
for slur against organised labor

Ald, Bill Orr, the man who last month referred to union members as “donkeys” during a
debate in Vancouver City Council on a plan to buy non-union firemen’s hats, was the ‘target of
some verbal blasts’ at Tuesday’s» meeting of Vancouver Labor Council. ;

Debating a motion to make a VLC donation to the YMCA building fund, delegate Bill
Stewart (Marine Workers) said that all organizations requesting labor’s support should be re-

quired to answer,.the question
“Where do you stand on la-
bor?” Many of the patrons of
these organizations are anti-
labor, he suggested. ~

Stewart referred to city
council’s stand in buying fire-
men’s hats from a non-union
firm, and its more recent de-
cision to buy bread from a
non-union bakery. He cited
Ald. Orr’s support for these
anti-labor actions and recalled
the alderman’s “donkey” re-
marks.

“The way to hit back at a
man like Ald. Orr is to defeat
him at the polls,” suggested
Tom Alsbury. “We shouldn’t
take it out on the kids who
need the services the YMCA
provides. But I agree with
delegate Stewart that all or-
ganizations should be asked to

state their stand towards
labor.”
Later Alsbury distributed

some YMCA appeal literature,
then took the. microphone
again to remark that Stewasrt
had pointed out to him the
absence of a union label on
the material. He said he would
“be down at the YMCA first
thing in the morning to take
up the question with them.”

Sam Jenkins (Marine Work-
ers) raised the question of
unions under trusteeship in
Vancouver “some of which
haven’t held membership meet-
ings. for one, two, three ‘or
four years’ and said he had
been instructed by his union
to report that Marine Workers
“officially dissociate ourselves

from this type of union.”

B.C. Library Association
wrote VLC that it was dis-
continuing i‘s official affilia-
tion with the council and the
Canadian. Labor Congress, but
would continue to cooperate
through its committee on labor
relations.

Secretary E. A. Jamieson re-
ported that International Union
of Operating Engineers, sus-
pended from the CLC for raid-
ing, will be allowed to con-
tinue its affiliation with VLC
while efforts are being made
to reach agreement in the dis-
pute.

Council decided to cancel
its second meetings in June,
July and Augus‘, the holiday
months.

JUNE 7, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 5