—Mauldin, Chicago Sun-Times

CUPE support grows

While there are some slight
indications of a possible
settlement of the Canadian
Union of Public Employees
(CUPE) strike now in progress
in Vernon, Kelowna and
Kamloops, CUPE workers in
these three Okanagan centers
are ‘standing solid on their
demands for an improved wage
contract and a speedy return to
the bargaining table.

The CUPE strike at Vernon is
now in its seventh week, while
Kamloops civic workers downed
tools on October 21 and Kelowna
on October 24.

A major obstacle to an early
settlement is that CUPE
negotiating committee must now
bargain on a regional basis
through the Okanagan Mainline
Phab ie Municipal ‘Association (OMMA)

pe ee through its hired -professional

or mouthpiece, a Mr. R. S. S.
Wilson of Vancouver, instead of
with their own municipal
administrations.

It is reported that this
individual has dominated
municipal affairs in these
Okanagan centers to the point
where CUPE spokesmen are

TENANTS

Cant’d from pg. |

Tenants Committee, lists the
following principal shareholders
besides Arthur and Henry Block:

John Greer Chaston, an
investment dealer and director
of Pemberton Securities Ltd.,
secretary-treasurer of Columbia
Natural Gas and a director of
Western Acceptance Corp. and
North West Life Assurance Co.

Clayton Delbridge, president
ie of Burrard Building Operations

os 'Ltd., chairman of the Sun

a4 Publishing Co., and a director of

Lucky Lager Breweries and
Pacific Press Ltd.

Morely Koffman, secretary
and. director of Gill
Interprovincial Lines Ltd. and
secretary of Panco Poultry Ltd.

* * *

The brief outlines an extensive
program for housing
development, for a Charter of
Tenants Rights, the first point of
which is for the setting up of a
Rental Appeal Board. It urges
the federal government to enter
the housing field in a greatly
expanded role so that ‘‘this
second most important necessity
‘of life be provided on a secure
and reasonable basis for all
Canadian citizens.”’

prompted to ask whether Mayor
William Halina of Vernon and
Mayor Peter Wing of Kamloops
are the real mayors of their

‘respective cities, or has Mr.

Wilson ‘‘taken over that job
also?”’

According to Interior press
coverage and paid
advertisements, Mayor Halina
of Vernon (hitherto allegedly
‘‘sympathetic’’ to organized
labor ), is quoted as telling CUPE
that it will be ‘‘Springtime in the
Rockies’’ before they return to
their jobs. Apparently OMMA
and its chief negotiator Wilson is
having a bad effect on this
erstwhile ‘‘labor’’ mayor.

Meantime, the public in all
three Okanagan centers have

and are demonstrating their:

strong support on behalf of
CUPE strikers, who are also
‘their own people’’. Last week’s
convention of the B.C.
Federation of Labor also pledged
full support to CUPE in its
struggle for a new _ wage
contract.

More aid
tor Vietnam

The Canadian Aid for
Vietnam Civilians announced
this week that the 14th
shipment of goods for
Vietnam from its Children’s
Committee left Vancouver
on November 12 on the Soviet
S.S. Orekhov. Total value of
the shipment is $7,826.

Consisting of 16 crates, the
shipment contained the
following items: 3,872
garments and bed covers, 580
ounces of knitting wool, 1,102
First Aid surgical com-
presses, 12 artificial limbs
for children under 15 years of
age worth $1,750, $200
surgical bandages and
sponges and bolts of hospital
gauze, school supplies and,
many incidentals.

Since launching a nation-
wide campaign seven months
ago to raise funds for the
purchase of artificial limbs
for child amputees, contri-
butions received amount to
$8,775. To date, over $71,000 of
the Committee’s overall
objective of $100,000 has been
realized.

Contributions to Canadian
Aid for Vietnam Civilians can
be sent to Box 2543, Van-
couver 3.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 15, 1968—Page 1)

READMIT UFAWU URGED

Demand for unity shakes
labor federation parley

In the 5-day convention of the
British Columbia Federation of
Labor (BCFL) which ended its
sessions last week, most of the
sessions were marked by a
routine dullness, with the
leadership brass on the platform
in full control.

On the other hand, there were
sessions with moments of
brilliance during which the
delegate body from the floor took
the initiative, with the platform
brass showing obvious
amazement and discreet silence.

Thursday afternoon’s session

was one of those moments, and
could even be termed ‘‘Trade
Union Unity Day”’ in the BCF LL.
- A number of resolutions from
BCFL affiliates all over the
province stressed the general
need for greater unity. There
were also some fine but very
general speeches on the subject.
But one resolution from the
Victoria Labor Council spelled it
out specifically, ‘‘ . . . that the
Canadian Labor Congress (CLC)
readmit into affiliation the
United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union (UFAWU) with
no strings attached.”” _~

Those last three words had an
alarming effect upon the brass,
so the Victoria resolution along
with the other general
resolutions were turned over to
the convention Resolutions
Committee to bring in a
“composite’’ resolution on the

‘subject.

This ‘‘substitute”’ or composite

resolution urged the CLC“...
“to increase its efforts to obtain

the reaffiliation of such unions as
the Fishermen, Teamsters and
other non-affiliates.”’

Sensing a stale odor in the
“substitute’’ resolution the
delegate body took over with a

continuous barrage of hard home,

truths. The UFAWU had applied
for readmission to the CLC over
a year ago, together with the
customary pledge of strict
adherence to constitutional
provisions. A delegate pointed
out that the Teamsters Union
hadn’t even made application to
return to the fold, ‘‘so why in hell
drag them into the Fishermen’s
application . . . if the purpose
isn’t to delay and muddy-up the
UFAWU application ?.”’

Delegate after delegate took
the floor to express their
admiration of the UFAWU, its
solidarity with every union
struggle in B.C., its high
principles and examples of trade
union uniiy so often
demonstrated over the years in
action.

A delegate from Powell River
recalled many occasions, some
dating as far back as 25-years
ago during the Blubber Bay
strike, when UFAWU members
had placed their boats at the
service of striking workers, had
manned the picket lines, and
gone out to sea to catch
boatloads of salmon which they
donated to many struck unions,
then and since; a record of trade
union unity and solidarity ‘‘of
which this body can well be
proud.”

And to the flabbergasted brass
on the platform a new style of
address, ‘“‘What are you guys
afraid for, your jobs, or is it that
you might have to get off your

E. T. STALEY, returned to the post
of BCFL president.

CHARLES STEWART, of the
Amalgamated Transit Union, was
elected third vice-president,
defeating the administration’s
choice, Len Guy of the Typos.

fannies if the UFAWU and its
leaders like Homer Stevens were
back in the CLC ?.”’ And from E.
P. ‘‘Paddy”’ Neale, secretary of
the Vancouver Labor Council, a
defence of the right of any union
to elect its own leaders,
Communist or non-Communist.
“In Canada the Communist
Party is a legal organization,”
stated Neale.

Veteran Mine-Mill trade union
leader Harvey Murphy’ (Steel),
making his ‘‘farewell’ speech
(as that special Thursday was
the day of his official retirement
i ion), declared

o%oe%e%e%e%e%e%e%etetetetete%

Peacemakers at Cenotaph

After the military parade
came the peacemakers on
Vancouver’s Remembrance
Day.

The signs said ‘‘World Peace—
When?’’, ‘‘1914-1918-— War to
End All Wars; 1968 — War May
End All,’’ and ‘‘Peace in.
Vietnam’”’, and the wreath, laid
at the Cenotaph by the Rev. Jack
Kent, was white roses in the

‘form of the nuclear
disarmament symbol.
The Rev. Kent, North

Vancouver Unitarian Minister,
told the hundred or so people
who stood around the Cenotaph
in the drenching rain that our
commitment on this day of
remembrance must be to stop
giving human and natural
resources to the war machines of

the world. He said that while it is .
fitting that we should never

that trade unionism could only
survive by the maximum unity in .
the face of government-
monopoly attacks upon labor,
and the sooner we learn that
basic lesson, the better able to
meet all attacks. ‘“‘Look at me,
you all know my politics, yet I
am here, but my friend Homer
Stevens and the great union he
leads, must sit in the gallery and
look on in silence. Isn’t it
crazy?.”’

At the close of his appeal for
unity and the readmission of the
UFAWU into the CLC, the
veteran Harvey Murphy
received a prolonged standing
ovation from the convention,
demonstrating in no uncertain
manner that his message of
trade union unity had come
through, strong and clear.

In the fast moving and pointed
debate, BCFL president E. T.
Staley, as a member of the CLC
Executive Council, was
compelled to verify for the
delegates the UFAWU
application and pledge, the time
it was made, etc. and why the
CLC procrastination and
evasion.

Staley stated that the UFAWU
application had been ‘‘laid on the —
table’’ pending some rumors on
the possibility of a UFAWU
“merger” with another CLC
affiliate, etc. etc. Staley’s
explanation did nothing to allay
the fears of the BCFL delegate
body that the delayed action on
the part of the CLC brass, or the
rumors of any ‘‘merger”’ was not
just a coincidence, but part of a
top-brass policy to delay:
UFAWU readmission as long as
possible. The roar of approval
for action ‘‘to .bring in the
UFAWU now” by the BCFL
delegate body was unanimous.

Thursday was unquestionably
the BCFL Convention’s ‘‘Trade
Union Unity Day’, confirmed
the following day by Quebec
Federation of Labor vice-
president Louis Laberge. ‘‘We
have got to learn to live and work
with the CNTU in Quebec —
otherwise we wouldn’t be in

forget the major sacrifices of
previous generations, this must
not blind us to the realities of the
present.

-He went on to stress that we
must not be paralysed by the
present but must look beyond it
to find a way to eradicate hunger
and poverty in every land and
establish the universal dignity of
man. ‘‘Let this be our
commitment on this day of
remembrance,”’ he concluded.

Most of those taking part then
walked silently along Hastings
and up Granville to Georgia
where a one hour Vigil was held.
Leaflets were distributed by the
Peace Action League, organizers
of the demonstration, appealing
for action to secure the peace of
the world and particularly to end
the war in Vietnam. oa