TORONTO—Canada’s largest _ and fastest growing trade union has said thumbs down to the Trudeau government wage freeze and has called on the __ Canadian Labor Congress to im- 4, mediately convene a special con- ference of all of its affiliates to demonstate labor’s opposition to __ this legislation. | At its 7th National Conven- aX tion held here last week, the _ Canadian Union of Public Em- Ployees (CUPE) passed an emer- all CUPE locas to defy the legis- Whatever wage and fringe bene- fit improvements their members ve deserve and democratically de- _ Cide to seek without regard to ‘arbitrarily imposed ceilings.” The resolution, a firm rebuff to the government proposals, Was the subject of a deep and at times heated discussion on ‘the conventiaon floor for three ‘days as it was referred to the | Convention resolutions commit- _ » tee twice before it met with the _ 4pproval of the delegates. ; Collective: Bargaining The mood of the delegates Poof ah Seat ATT - The current campaign by the _ Trudeau government to’ sell its , Wage control program to Cana- dian public is based on the Wrong premise that increased "| _ Wages and salaries are the root || Cause of inflation. It is self-evident that any ‘so- _ Called “attack on_ inflation” x} Which aims its guns at the vic- i} tims of inflation is not going to _ do anything to cure, but rather ay aaa and aggravate, the prob- The largest union in Canada, the Canadian Union of. Public Employees, recognized this fact . in a resolution rejecting the fe- eral government’s approach _ Which was adopted at its recent ' CCnvention here in Toronto. The Federation of Labor bluntly told _ Prime Minister Trudeau to with- draw his program entirely, when . Pects of his anti-inflation pro- gram which were found objec- ‘tonable. The president of the Quebec Provincial Council of Machinists has accused the fede- Tal government of trying to shift the blame for a messed-up eco- Nomy to the shoulders of the Working people and says the Program is totally unworkable and a con job on the public. a What ‘Free Market’? — Prime Minister Trudeau says Controls are meant to put a curb aa the big and powerful” while — 1. ciscipline of “the free market Place” will guarantee that only ; thoderate demands are made by ee. ‘ € rest of the economy. The big | Snd powerful, as described by .°s sign rime Minister, are profes- | ‘nals benefiting from a closed . rae or workers belonging to _ *°Werful unions or government f tkers or others in large com- anies able to establish gains ‘Tough monopoly power irres- 3 tive of the forces of the free Market os ee But all this is double-talk aim- ae cover up the one-sided ap- f0ach taken by the Trudeau Pees , Bency resolution which “urged - : ation by continuing to negotiate - BY BRUCE MAGNUSON Secretary of the Saskatchewan - ’ asked to pinpoint particular as-— CUPE urges all locals: - Defy Trudeau wage freee sioners, anti-poverty groups, Na- was symptomatic of the general feeling of workers. across Can- ada who feel betrayed by the Trudeau government, anger at. the prospects of having’ their wages frozen, and living stand- ards slashed, and a deep desire for action to fight the -legisla- . tion and stop the wage freeze. Declaring that wages are not the cause of inflation the con- vention condemned the wage controls ‘fas being contrary to the basic interests of all Cana- ‘dian workers and contrary to the right of free collective bar- gaining,” and rejected the whole - premise on which the wage- freeze is based. It pointed out that ‘the wage controls. prevent “workers from recovering their losses in real earning power as a result of inflation.” pesg In addition the resolution de-. clared that the national union™ would back any action taken-by the locals to fight. for decent contracts, that it would launch an “aggressive” public relations campaign.to counter. government propaganda trying to sell the wage freeze to the people, and — that it would “join with pen- tive organizations, ‘consumer groups, and other people’s groups to force the federal gov- ernment to withdraw the legis- lation before it can create untold misery through massive unem- ployment, and before it causes irreparable damage to Canada’s economy and the lives of the Canadian people.” : OLYMPIC WORKERS. PROTEST BLACKLIST MONTREAL — Less than one- third of workers at: the Olympic Games site obeyed a court order to return to work Oct. 24. About 3,000 workers walked off the job Oct. 20 to protest the blacklisting of about 300 work- ers. The blacklist was drawn up by police and construction com- panies after a nine-day illegal walkout in May. A group. of about 500 workers gathered outside ‘the gates at the site and refused to enter. One worker said the men were not returning because the black- list still existed. LABOR SCENE A wekie css reply to inflation and unemployment government. Inthe first place, there is no such a thing as a “free” market .place worthy of . mention left in this country and in the capitalist world. It is all dominated by the multi-national. corporations who fix prices at will. In the second place, there is no suggestion in Trudeau’s “attack on inflation” to do any policing of monopoly in any . way, shape or form. The Prime Minister is lying when he calls his program a curb on “the big ‘ and the powerful”. . 4 Surtax Under Study. Federal Urban Affairs Minister Barnett Danson, is opposed to rent review boards because such boards would “place an unfair burden of social responsibility on to one sector of the econo- _ my”. Mr. Danson obviously speaks for big landlords and de- | velopers. : Finance Minister Donald Mac- donald, speaking about Tru- deau’s proposal to tax away “ex- cessive” - wage increases, says the surtax matter is still under study: However, should such a surtax be used, it could well be applied not only to unions, but also to professionals, such as” doctors. At the same time, the finance minister made clear that -as a general principle, no com- ‘pany shall be forced to operate- at a loss. ue Energy Minister Alastair Gil- lespie criticized provinces that froze oil and gasoline prices this summer and fall. “6 All three ministers, together with House header Mitchell Sharp, were in Toronto last weekend to campaign for the fe- deral wage cutting program. It is in the face of such a brazen pro-monopoly and anti- labor stand.on the part of the _ federal government that a broad- based fight-back is developing acrcss Canada. Provincial’ gov- ‘ernments who tag along, or even promote a stronger anti- working class bias, must be made to feel the groundswell of ee opposition from the grass-roots. Evidence is gathering that the postal ‘strike was not only pro- voked, but is being exploited to misinform Canadians about the _ cause of inflation and to fan antagonism in certain anti-labor. circles against this strike as well as strikes in general. .Prosecute the Profiteers The Canadian Labor Congress has put forward.a 10-point alter- . native to the federal govern- -ment’s totally unacceptable scheme for controlling inflation. As an immediate alternative this. program moves in the direction we should move to combat infla- tion and unemployment. , The Communist Party, while upporting this program, feels Strongly. that the time has arriv- ed to curb the big multi-natio- nals and monopolies. This re- quires legislation to prohibit further price increases, along with steps to prosecute the pro- fiteers. é 3 Z It calls for tax reforms that will remove low income earn- ers from tax rolls as well as a meaningful guaranteed annual income. To ensure full employ- ment, it will also be necessary: to cut hours of work to 30 at 40 hours pay, and.to extend our trade with socialist countries, western Europe, Latin America and elsewhere on a mutually satisfactory basis. ated Further than that, we must establish democratic control and public ownership of U.S. branch plants and resources in Canada, as well as the banks, trust com- panies and insurance companies. Such a series of moves would enable Canada to decide its own: - economic policies. It would make | funds available for the kind of economic: . developments that would raise the standard of liv- ing of Canadians and put us on the -path towards .a_ socialist Canada, as the only alternative: to state-monopoly capitalism and recurrent. economic crisis with all its social consequences. Over 1,500 people attended the 7th National CUPE convention . TRIBUNE PHOTO Oct. 20-24. A militant convention, it passed a. strong resolution tack- ling the Trudeau government's wage freeze. Grace Hartman was elected as its new president. ‘QUEBEC MACHINISTS MONTREAL — The 16,000- member Quebec Provincial Council of Machinists added its _ voice yesterday to labor’s rejec- - tion of the federal Government’s wage: control program. Describing the program as “ynworkable” and a “con job,” QPCM president Larry Barrett said the federal government was trying to “shift the blame for our .messed-up economy onto the shoulders of the working people.” re The QPCM, like its parent bodies, the Quebec Federation of Labor and the Canadian Labor Congress, maintained that wages will be restricted while prices. and profits will continue to rise under Ottawa’s program. : “TEACHERS WON'T SUBMIT TO re REVIEW BOARD ~~ OTTAWA — Canadian teach- ers, who constitutionally are ac- countable to provincial ministries of education and provincial col-— lective bargaining control me- chanism, do not want their wage demands to be referred to the federal wages and prices review board, the president of the Cana- dian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) _ said Oct. 24, Ian* Fife, after a day-long meeting Oct. 23 with representa- tives of provincial teachers’ federations, announced that the 215,000 teachers under his juris- diction do not want to submit to the controls of a federal agency when they have no representa- . tion at the federal level: » N.B. FED. TO IGNORE © WAGE FREEZE FREDERICTON -— The New Brunswick Federation of Labor says it plans to continue backing about 45,000 workers in the pro- vince as though the federal gov- ernment’s wage controls do not exist. - son Federation president Paul. Le- Page said at a press. conference on Oct. 25 that the federation would back the guidelines only if a number of points are met. © mcre subsidized low-income housing, rent controls, increased rental accommodation, land banking, and controls on mért-, gage rates, gas and oil prices. | - NURSES' FIGHT FOR BETTER CONDITIONS LEADS TO ‘COURT ACTION ‘MONTREAL — A situation of unéasy' calm’ reigns at Sacre- Coeur Hospital following the ad- ministration’s decision to seek court action against 14 nurses accused of staging an_ illegal work stoppage recently, to pro- test over-crowded conditions, in the -hospital emergency depart-. ment. ; : Nurses’ union spokesmen at the hospital described the charges as “the harshest attempt. yet: to intimidate our nursing staff” and. vowed .to continue pressing for improved working conditions. The nurses, including their union’s eight-member executive, pleaded not guilty in provincial labor court Oct. 23 to charges of having violated their contract by refusing to work Oct. 16-18. They were ordered to stand trial Nov. 20... ; COPS TO ARREST WAGE FREEZE . TORONTO — Metro’s 5,000 policemen will ignore the fede- ral government’s wage freeze when they begin bargaining for a 1976 ccntract, Syd Brown, - president of the Metro Police Association said recently. — Brown said the decision was reached because of discrimina- tion in the guideline and “loop- holes big enough to drive a truck through.” The former president of both the Ontario and Canadian police associations said Metro police intend to negotiate as if the guidelines did not exist. os FIREMEN MAY STRIKE TO BUST WAGE FREEZE > ._ SARNIA — Sarnia firefighters _ may strike if their salary in- crease is limited tothe 10% or less outlined in the federal pro- gram of selective wage controls, a spokesman for the firefighters said yesterday. - The city’s 83 firefighters have been working without a contract - .since Jan. 1. Under the old | These included ' creation’: of’ Under the old con- makes $12,400 a year. The firefighters. were seeking a 21% iricrease and the city of- —- fered 16% before government announced its controls. ‘ tract,’ a first-class firefighter PACIFIC TRI BUNE—OCTOBER 31, 1975—Page 9