The Rand —

inquisition

By RAE MURPHY

OYAL commissions are
many splendored things.
By their nature, they are
the most flexible instruments de-
vised by any government. They
arise as a solution to an imme-
diate crisis for they are a form
of not doing anything about
anything while appearing to do
something about everything. The
crises may fester and the solu-
tions become ever more obscure
but royal commissions go on
forever seeking ‘impartial truth,’
‘justice’ and, above all, time.
Royal commissions are also
an excellent means for govern-
ments to send up trial balloons,

to test the ground for new legis- _

-lation as they provide a guise
-of impartiality to cover precon-
ceived ideas.

Commissions are also useful
devices to allow. the public or
democratic opinion let off steam.
A commission’s findings is not
binding on anybody and, if need
be, can be referred- to another
royal commission, as for exam-
ple, the Freedman Commission’s
findings have been referred to
the Woods Commission.

The versatility of royal com-
missions are remarkable, as a
rule they are like soft putty in
the hands of the government
that brings them into being.

None of this is new to any-
body in’ the labor movement and
when the Royal: Commission In-
quiry into Labor Disputes (the
Rand Commission) was estab-
lished’ by the Robarts gov-
ernment to take the heat off
the injunction battle in Ontario
it was greeted with a lot of ex-
_pressions of “gosh” -and other
four letter words.

The scepticism of the Ontario
labor movement when this com-
mission was established was
based on both long and bitter
experience with commissions in
general as well as on the parti-
cular instance and background

on which the commission “came.
into being. There had been a-

widespread and developing cam-
paign to abolish the use of in-
junctions in labor disputes. The
legal and moral case for their
abolition was beyond question
and the last ditch argument in
defense of the use of injunctions
was simply that “the law, any
law, had to respected until
changed.”

The legal cloak for the use of
injunctions could be removed
by amendment to the Juridicure
Act of Ontario. Democratic opi-
nion both within and without
the labor movement was forcing
the issue. The establishment of
the Rand Commission at this
time. was seen correctly as a
means to short circuit this cam-
paign and, in effect, take the
heat off the whole situation.

From the first day of its hear-
ings the Rand Commission went
beyond this. A sweeping terms
of reference and the attitude of

IVAN C. RAND
Former Chief Justice

Justice, the Hon. Ivan C. Rand
himself set the stage for a real
inquisition against labor.

Justice Rand said at the open-
ing of the hearings that he
wanted a frank exchange of
views to “tear the clothes off
ideas and see them in their

nakedness.” He has gone from.

this position to tearing a few
strips off the back of labor
which enters into the realm of
challenging the very existence
of an independent trade union
movement.

“What is so sacred about the
union treasury? asks Rand in
relation to the idea of making
the trade union movement a
legal entity and responsible as
a whole for the actions of indi-
vidual members.

“Why not a law that would
prohibit the dropping of charges
as part of the settlement of a
labor dispute?” he asks in mock
innocence. And so on and on.

Meanwhile those lovely exam-
ples of modern labor relations,
the scab-produced Toronto dai-
lies, were having a field day.
The Toronto Star, for example,

_editorialized one day that ‘‘The

Labor Movement Has Some
Warts Also.” This was in rela-
tion to a point developed in one
of the hearings about the ex-
tent of American control over
some unions operating in Can-
ada. Naturally this is a problem
for some unions, yet one is
forced to ask if there is any-

thing wrong with the present

structure of the trade union
movement in Canada that either
Justice Rand or the Tory Rob-
arts government is going to cure.

The Ontario Federation of
Labor, while critical earlier of
Robarts for evading the issue of
injunctions in the appointment
of the commission, has particip-

February 17, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 4

ated in the hearings, as have
most other unions in the pro-
vince. The OFL brief was a
masterpiece of understatement
and legal rationale for labor’s
position, the only mistake be-
ing that that wasn’t what Rand
was looking for. Most of the
ground covered in the OFL brief,
and this appears to be true of the
other union submissions to the
commission, has been covered
before, and Rand has made it
quite clear that he isn’t inter-
ested in the briefs presented to
him or in their argumentations.

What Justice Rand is probab-

ly looking for in this commis- ©

sion was expressed by the
Teamsters Joint Council 52 in
Hamilton when they decided not
to participate in the hearings.
In a statement to the press the
joint council said:

“Based upon the performance
(of the Rand Commission) so
far, it is our opinion contrary to
what we understood as its ori-
ginal purpose, it is nothing but
a sounding board from which
various management associa-
tions are spreading anti-labor
propaganda and calling for even
more restrictive legislation than
we have at the present time.
Based on the record of the On-
tario government, it appears
that the labor movement has
been hoodwinked and the com-
mission is merely setting the
stage for changes in the labor
and other Jaws that will make it
even more difficult for workers
to organize and negotiate effec-
tively.”

_ Whether the labor movement
has been hoodwinked or whether
a good section of it is merely
being fitted with the noose at
the inevitable end of its own
rope of legalism, the plot is
thickening. The Rand Commis-
sion has already accomplished
one thing: it has submerged the
anti-injunction fight until after
the next election, which by itself
will be a demobilization factor
in labor’s struggle to unseat the
Tory government. But there are
even more serious consequences

for the labor movement shaping.

up. When the venerable. Justice
returns from his jaunt in the
land of compulsory arbitration,
Australia, his report could con-
stitute the framework for a dis-
astrous attack on labor, which
will fit Ontario into a nation-
wide pattern of restrictive legis-
lation.

A British lord who faced the
chopping block once uttered
these last words before the axe
fell: “Put not your faith in
kings.” We could well up-date
that: “Put not your faith in
Royal Commissions.” The axe
Justice Rand is sharpening may
well be aimed at some of the
root problems of labor relations,
but it Jooks more as if he wants
to use it on the body of organ-
ized labor. No doubt the Justice
could later be persuaded to also
do an autopsy.

‘ers, to have Rabbi A. Feinberg address the council On”

GE workers strike}

Zero weather welcomed striking United Electrical W?
the picket lines around General Electric plants in the @
Guelph, Barrie, Peterborough, Trenton and Brampton reek
members went on strike at 12 p.m. Monday night to back ut
demands for a 35 percent wage increase over two years
elimination of geographical wage differentials within the ©
and for job and wage protection in the event of tech” |
changes. They rejected an earlier company offer of 13 per”
four cents over three years. Negotiations between union oe
pany officials are continuing. a

HAMILTON Labor Council delegates almost unanimo ;
ported a motion by Ted Powel, of Local 1005 United a
ty

trip to North Vietnam. :

Another motion by Don Stewart, of Local 105 BE”
demned Premier Robarts’ policy on education costs. It was
shown, he said, that the province should take over educall
because the money should rightfully come from the bib
interests and the province is the only one who can carly |
poration tax. = i

* * *

_ FIFTY SIX percent of West Germany’s working pa
enjoy a five-day week. Only 29 percent had this Juxuly
Between 1957 and 1961 this number increased by 23 per

has only increased by four percent since.

* * *

PROMPT APPROVAL by the U.S. Senate of the “4
consular treaty was urged by the International Executive
the United Auto Workers as a further step “toward 4 9
of world tensions and greater mutual understanding if (4
ests of world peace.” Other top labor leaders made stat
favor of the treaty and said they will urge their unions —
the UAW’s example. : :

* * * 4
THE AMERICAN Guild of Variety Artists finds itself

divided over a matter of policy. Owners of burlesque thea
night clubs have proposed that strip-teasers take off if
they used to take off. Some of the girls are in favor 7
exposure, some are opposed. As a result the union doe
what to do. According to American columnist Bill SlocuM
pers have always been a major problem for the AGV®
they are the last of the free souls. AGVA can handle a
tenor with ease or even a German weightlifter, both note
temperament. But strippers brook no interference. Matt,
AGVA would rather forget all about strippers. But it cal
that luxury because there are virtually no Italian tenor
man weightlifters working. But there are hundreds ant |
of strippers gainfully employed.” Aa

To date this problem has not arisen in Canada, but ty
experts predict that it will be referred to the Canadl
Congress’s committee on structure.