BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE

TORONTO — “We are going
to use the boycott again in our
battle for justice in the vinyards
in California. Last. time we
fought and beat the growers.
This time we are fighting the
€rowers, the Teamsters and the
Nixon administration,” United
Farm Workers’ president Cesar
_ . Chavez told the 1,000 delegates
_ Of the Oil, Atomic and Chemical
Workers Union who were meet-
ing in Toronto for their annual
: Convention.

UJPO letter

In the course of the Canadign
National Exhibition in Toronto,
Some demonstrators attempted

Portugal attacks

Portuguese security forces are
Teady to launch a_ full-scale
dragnet operation in the Tete
district of Mozambique, the
South African. Press Associa-
tion reported last week from
Beira,

An unusually heavy movement
Of troops passed through Tete
a their way to areas where
TRELIMO (Movement for the
Iberation © of | Mozambique)
Buerillas are believed to have

ir bush camps.

‘e € report said it was under-
. Od that the large forces

Ould seek out and destroy
ae camps. It also said an
avican special group had killed

e 8uerillas and removed a
entity of arms in the north-

Stern part of Mozambique.

New grape boycott commit-
tees have been re-established in
many of the larger centres in
Canada, including Vancouver
and Toronto and plans are now
under way to make the boycott
national in scope.

Chavez implicated the Nixon
administration in the union-
busting tactics of thé Teamsters
and said, ‘‘Charles Colson, one
of the Watergate defendants,
and Nixon’s hatchet man against
unions, made the arrangements.

to the CNE

to interfere with Soviet repres-
entation there, supposedly on
behalf of Soviet Jewish citizens.
The United Jewish People’s Or-
der, of Toronto, on the contrary,
sent this letter to Mr. D. Palmer
of the CNE management:

“We are a Jewish Organiza-

-tion which did not participate

in and does not condone the
actions of some groups who de-
monstrated against the perform-
ance and trade exhibition of the
USSR.

“On the contrary, in this age
of detente, we congratulate the

CNE for obtaining both the cul-

tural and trade cooperation of
the USSR. Someone has said
“we do not throw babies into
the fire, but we drop fire on
babies.” Increasing culture and
trade between countries is one
important round to world
peace.”

The letter. was signed by
UJPO president, I. Fine.

ae

on

EDITORIAL

Parliament and the rail strike

Following much manoeuvering by
both the railway companies and the
government, Parliament has finally
been called to legislate a return to
work of the striking railway work-
ers. This is what the companies have
been working for. This is why they
have refused to bargain in good
faith. The government too has acted
in a manner which has, in fact, en-
couraged the railway companies to
stubbornly refuse to budge after
nine months of fruitless so-called
negotiations.

the question is what now? Clearly
the workers are in no mood to have
a cheap settlement forced down
their throats. Nor can the or

accept any such gross injustice.
Profits are sky-rocketing. The rail-
way companies are no exception to
this rule. There is no reason to force
a settlement at the expense of
either the workers concerned or the
general public.

The responsibility for the present
impasse in the railway tieup rests
with the companies involved, pri-
marily CP and CN. It is high time
the CP be nationalized. The govern-
ment has. refused to use its power

nized
workers and the pects of Canada .

the kept press to gather up mil

they be made to feel their respon-
sibility to place the blame where it
belongs and take action to meet the
legitimate demands and needs of
the railway workers.

There is no reason why the rail-
way workers should meekly have to
accept a cheap and ambiguous
settlement offer.and return to work.
This position has the support of all
the working people of this country,
who feel the pinch from monopoly
profiteering. This, and not the de-
mand for a living wage, is the rea-
son for, and the cause of inflation.

The mass media's effort to blame

the workers is so much clap-trap by
Bas
in advertising. profits from their
monopoly bosses. ee
In the final analysis, this particu-
lar session of Parliament will serve
to show where each and every Mem-
ber of Parliament has his or her
loyalty and allegiance; whether to
monopoly interests or to the interest
of the working people of this coun-
try. At stake is the right to free
collective bargaining.
The question is whether working
people are to be the helpless vic-
tims of inflation, or be in the posi-

to force these companies to enter
into serious collective bargaining. onl
Now that the matter is in the lap
cr the M.P.'s, it is imperative that

means

wages.

tion to defend themselves by the

seeking more income through higher

available to them, by

Rail workers: 'We won't go back

By RICHARD ORLANDINI

BP ONTO — Chanting “We
back» 80 back, we won’t go
sae More than 1,500 railway
a Staged a mass demon-
sa Aug. 28 in front of To-
oh City Hall. The demon-
oe Was organized as a re-
ments’ to the Liberal govern-
meat S call to reconvene parlia-
M an effort to force the
an non-operating railway
nates, who are now on a
Work. mide Strike, back to
ea demonstrators, represent-
ay orkers from all the rail-
- ile in che Toronto area
Os Ha as from Hamilton and
“" 8, carried signs reading,
« NO—we won’t go back,”
forced Labor,” and one
forca °, *Mticipating the use of
force aby _the government to
a Sign e Workers back, carried
Army pets simply said, “No
© government’ I -
Co nt's call to re
fiyaene Parliament came after
yee of successful rotat-
of €s and after four days
Clos National strike which
Parjj a a4 pure industry down.
Ng the S supposed to meet
rg interyj Week and the work-
all said €wed by the Tribune
didn’t a that if the strikers
ent 10 Ceive at least the pres-
ly over Wage demand year-
they the next two years then
uld def inj i

ely the injunctions.

a Feeling of Unity
Canagi Shop Chairman from a
Way =" Brotherhood of Rail
Work. 2Sport Gpasta
tg tkers on _ and General
me t penal Said in reference
Sturn, ‘Jaili les for refusing to
and p nae is pretty harsh
Coking forward to

by Andrzej Borkowski

it, but if the members of the
local vote to stay out, then I
will pay that price to see that
they get a decent settlement.
The proposed “back to work”
legislation from the government
will probably cover all of the
railway unions presently in bar-
gaining. While the non-ops were
the first to strike, strike dead-
lines for the other unions were
fast approaching, and the feel-
ing of unity was high with all
of the demonstretors. “I don’t

know how long it has been since
everyone seemed ready to sup-
port the next guy. Look at it,
there are engineers, switchmen,
freight-handlers, maintenence
of way workers, telegraph ope-
rators, everyone, all together.’
Not Isolated

The demonstration, organized
in Toronto by the Joint Area
Council of Railway Workers,
was not an isolated incident. In
London, Windsor, Winnipeg,
Thunder Bay, Edmonton and

Vancouver reports to the Trib-
une indicate that the workers
there feel the same about the
“back to work” order from
parliament. In the Maritimes,
where some of the union leader-
ship originally had doubts about
the militancy of the workers, the
strikers — for the first time in
the recent past— closed down
the ferry services to New-
foundland and Prince Edward
Island. And reports from Monc-
ton are that the workers there
are also contemplating defying
the back-to-work order.
As-soon as the strike became
national, the editorial pages of
the ccountry’s dailies began to
scream in rage and demanded
that the railway workers be
forced back to work. And not at
all surprisingly, they demanded
that the workers go back no
matter what the settlement.

Solidarity

Trying to add ammunition to
their already weak arguments,
the yellow dailies began to cry
for sympathy for the workers
in other industries laid off by
the strike. But when the Tribune
interviewed auto workers from
the Windsor Chrysler plant and
the Talbotville auto plant, it
found that most of the auto
workers, in a show of solidarity,
sympathized with the striking
railway workers and felt that
their lay-offs could lead to a
better settlement for ‘the rail
workers.

The striking railway workers
and the other railway workers
who are not on strike are not
yet unanimous in a demand for.
a single wage before going back
to work, but they. are almost
unanimous in their demand for

considerably more than _ the
most recent company “offer”.
The wife of one striking worker,
who was carrying a sign read-
ing, “It’s mainly because of the
meat and the milk and eggs”
told the Tribune, “I don’t want
my husband to return for any-
thing less than a living wage
and what the company is now
offering doesn’t even come close
to that. I won’t see the family
go hungry for two years.”

Test of Leaders

If the majority of the railway
workers across Canada do de-
cide not to return to work in
the face of the “back to work”
order, then it will be up to the
national leadership of the unions
to support their demand. That
test of the leadership may well
be the sharpest test of the work-
ers’ solidarity. And the workers
at the Toronto demonstration

gave their leadership a clear _

message: “Support us in the ac-
tions that the membership de-
cides on, or face outright defeat
in your next election.”

Russian Choir

Admirers of the Beryorka
Russian Women's Choir in the
area served by Toronto's City
TV, Channel 79, Cable 7, will.
be able to see and hear the
choir on the program, . The
Peoples Who Sing Together,
on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 5:30 p.m.
The choir, conducted by Anne
Shworak, will be seen on a
repeat performance, Saturday,
Sept. 15 at 4:30 p.m., produc-
er-director Viad Handera an-
nounces.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1973—PAGE 5