noe

ee

|_| 116 ai el ii la a lin liek iii

lanadian backing for. TUNNEL WORKERS JUDGMENT

“Fort

tid to tests sought

Y countries have officially called for a stop to

aie

fr hydrogen bomb tests; may Canada become the forty-
Bo! 1S the theme of a new campaign embarked upon by

tnt eace
mum here

tines & majority opinion
Rese the tests has been ex-
a by Canadians,” Ray
Nistin chairman, told the
the The United Church,
Be W Canadian Labor Con-
Common the Cooperative
tong pecath Federation ate
tp a se who have appeal-
lin ~~ SOvernment for ac-

ig! cast three major Can-
Onto Stan Papers — The Tor-
ahd mo? The Vancouver Sun
~ hay, ancouver Province
tardy © Condemned the fool-
tty ; Policy of the great pow-
tous “ontinuing these dang-
The -Periments.”
StitdaePaign will. open
tists? October 13, with a
Ution in Vancouver of

Council at a weekend meeting in Pender Audi-

the B.C. Peace Times, a broad-
sheet that tells the whole story
of the tests and why it is im-

perative -they be abandoned.

The council appeals to citi-
zens and organizations to ap-
peal to MPs for action by the
Canadian government.

A telegram, urging a peace-
ful solution of the Suez. crisis,
was sent to Dag Hammar-
skjold, UN secretary-general,
on the motion of Carl Erick-
son, vice-president.

“May we appeal to you at

=this time to use your esteemed
office . . . to assure that the
present - Suez crisis will be
solved peacefully: in complete
conformity with the letter and
spirit of the United Nations
Charter,” the wire read.

liberals ask Britain
Mstpone new tests

LONDON

Ih waitin is to explode five hydrogen bombs one after
bles ga an forthcoming tests at Christmas Islafid, 1,200
Nth itt of Hawaii in the Pacific, according to a report
a Ourne newspaper The Age. :
Macotj ‘Port said that these tests would be the costliest

i defense project un-
‘itia) by Britain with an
li, ~*Penditure of $35- mil-

i bombs would be

om me latest type
-bombers and
fag Phlode SOme thousands
fe ty = © the ocean level.
Mts a the British scien-
en ta ctvicemen who have

tong 48 part in the current
jul eae at Maralinga
wito rect to the British
fap -omb test range

tg gp tistm,
of 88 Island at the
tiga “Ctober, the report con-

“While

be

» in Britain last

Rous:
K remove co
Oq
Meervegelect
"aly Itimat
ed
ek to * the job Friday last
pite ae Up demands that
4p fop 1 $2.55 an hour to
te "tron lourneymen should
of me 4 April 1 in-
es er se
tide 4 : 8nd other arpenters,

reg tradesmen
Mey pect their lines.

electricians

m

\ Pan

*etyee™any Y, the Alum-
1 subsiq

Idlary, a

week a resolution was passed
by the Liberal Party Assem-
bly calling on the Eden gov-
ernment to press for the “ban-
ning of all future H-bomb tests
by all nations.”

Delegetes applauded loudly
as a London doctor said: “You
people have the power in your
hands, and you are forcing the
scientists to do something
which is. morally objection-
able.”

The resolution also _urged
that Britain should give 4
very much desired lead i to
other nations” by postponing
the H-bomb tests planned for
early 1957 in the Pacific.

i Ctricians remove
mat picket line

KITIMAT, B. C.

nstruction work resumed here this week follow-
of picket lines by the striking International Brother-
tical Workers,Local 344. Some 3,000 workers had
.- Picket lines Monday.

“The union’s dispute is with
Alcan rather than Canadian
Comstock,” said Jack Ross,

IBEW international _repre-
sentative. “In our opinion Al-
canis trying to break the
trade union movement in B.C.
Meanwhile 900 inside wire-
men, members of Local 213
IBEW, completed a strike vote
in Vancouver on Wednesday.
A walkout will take Dee
Friday and will tie up. 8
major construction jobs unless
settlement. is reached.

“Surely solution can

be found, says judge

Mr. Justice Sullivan in Supreme Court last week dismissed an application
for the committal to prison of eight striking members of the Tunnel and Rock Work-
ers Union of Canada, and concluded his judgment with the comment that surely the
international union, the union on strike and the government labor officials could ‘“‘work
out a solution of this.unfortunate affair without placing further strain upon the al-

ready over-taxed facilities of
Oakalla.”

In a written judgment, he
cited the legal principles upon
which he dismissed the appli-
cation, and then went in to
sketch the background of the
case.

Tunnel and Rock Workers
Union of Canada distributed
leaflets containing this part
of Mr. Justice Sullivan’s re-
view, along with union com-
ments, to delegates attending
Vancouver and District Labor
Council meeting Tuesday
night this week.

“The events leading up to
this unfortunate labor dispute
were made apparent by the
material ‘filed,’ wrote the
judge.

“Most of the rock’ and tun-
nel workers in this province
formerly belonged to an inter-
national organization known
as International Hod Carriers’
Building and Common Labor-
ers’ Union of America, with
headquarters in Washington,
DCs

“The B.C. branch was known
as the Tunnel and Rock Work-
ers Local 168, and the defen-
dants herein, Arthur Andres
and William Hunchuk, were
president and secretary, re-
spectively, of such Local 168.

“Trouble arose when the
Washington headquarters is-
sued an edict requiring B.C.
union members to conform to
an all-Canada wage scale
which they had fixed at Wash-
ington (for certain types of
work) and which was consid-
erably below the scale then
in force (with the approval of
the Labor Reiations Board and
all affected employers) in
B.C.”

(Union comment: “In other
words, Washington ordered
that wage scales for Canadian
workers — negotiated in Can-
ada, for work in Canada, and
approved by the Canadian
workers, employers and our
own B.C. government — were
to be swept aside and sup-
planted by lower wages 1m-
posed from a foreign country.,
Canddian workers at no time
had any say in these negotia-
tion, between the international
union and the Pipeline Con-
tractors’ Association, but nev-
ertheless were ordered to ac-
cept a wage cut of approxi-
mately 50 cents an hour. )

“When the members of Local
168 protested,” continued Mr.
Justice Sullivan, “the head
man in Washington (presum-
ably in the exercise of his con-
stitutional authority) expelled
the officers of Local 168 and
appointed one Stacey Warner
as ‘trustee and administrator

The Liberal government

of Premier Joseph Small-
wood (above) won a third
term of office with an in-
creased majority in the New-
foundland. elction this week.
Liberals* took 32 of the 36
seats, the Conservatives 4. All
11 CCF candidates were de-
feated, their leader, Michael
Drover, losing his own legis-
lative seat.

of the local. The great ma-
jority, if not all, of the former
members of Local 168 there-
upon terminated their mem-
bership in the _ international
body and formed a union of
their own which is known as
Tunnel and Rock Workers
Union of Canada, with the said
defendants Andres and Hun-
chuk continuing in their for-
mer offices of president and
secretary.

“The men continued to work
for the plaintiff employers
with whom they have no dis-
pute as to wages and working
conditions, but they asked for
“recognition’ of their new
union. ;

“Seemingly this matter of
‘recognition’ is considered to
be of great importance and I
suppose that one of its inci-
dents would be the payment
of the employees’. check-off
union dues to their own union
rather than to Stacey Warner
as ‘trustee’ for the men in
Washington.”

(Union comment: “This is
true, the payment of check-
off dues is involved. However,
the matter goes far deeper.
At stake is the democratic
right of Canadian citizens to
negotiate their own wage and
working conditions in their
own country and according to
Canadian law, free from for-

eign dictation. Under B.C.
labor 1aw an agreement with
an employer is not valid un-
less it is approved by a ma-
jority of the workers concern-
ed. The Canadian workers al-
most unanimously rejected the
Washington - negotiated scale
but in defiance of B.C. labor _
law, Washington took drastic
action to force its acceptance
by the men.”)

“When, in this state of af-
fairs, the plaintiff employers
chose to throw in their lot
with the international offi-
cers,” continued Mr. Justice
Sullivan, “the members of the
new union left their jobs for
the avowed purpose of induc-
ing the employers and the
Labor Relations Board to re-
cognize the independent status
of their new Canadian union.

“In consequence, as Mr.
DesBrisay (counsel for the
companies) has forcefully ar-
gued, the plaintiff employers
find themselves in a most dif-
ficult situation and through no
fault of their awn; but one
wonders if a solution cannot
be found short of putting a
number é@f workmen behind
the bars of Oakalla Prison.

“It is recognized that the
various construction projects
upon which plaintiffs are pre-
sently engaged are of great
economic urgency and impor-
tance, but the liberty of Cana-
dian citizens is also of impor-
tance, and I doubt that the
imprisonment of the entire
membership of the new union
would solve the existing prob-
lem.

“Surely something could be
worked out in accordance with
the. democratic principle of
majority rule.”

This week Alf Dewhurst,
LPP provincial organizer, wir-
ed Labor Minister Lyle Wicks
as follows:

“Present disruption of vital
construction work occasioned
by the contractors’ stubborn
refusal to recognize the work-
ers’ chosen bargaining agency,
Tunnel and Rock Workers’
Union of Canada, necessitates
firm action by your depart-
ment to establish contractual
relations between the em-
ployers involved and the org-
anization enjoying the confi-
dence of the workers involved.
The LPP agrees with Mr. Jus-
tice Sullivan’s contention that
the provincial department of
labor has the responsibility to
work out a solution in accord-
ance with the democratic prin-
ciple of majority rule.”

OCTOBER 5, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 9