By RAE MURPHY
= HAT matters most is the

pupils,” said Jean-Paul

Charbonneau, director of
information of the Alliance des
Professeurs de Montreal, speak-
ing to me late Monday after-
noon as the teachers returned to
work.

Charbonneau was quick to add
that the struggle to defeat Bill
25 will continue, and indeed be-
come sharper in the period ahead
as the full implications of the
restrictive features of the legis-
lation become known among the
rank and file teachers. and
among the public at large.

Asked about mass resigna-
tions of teachers when the
school term ends, :iCharbonneau
indicated that the prospect was
somewhat different with French
teachers than with English. He
said, however, that there would
be many attractive teaching of-
fers for French teachers in other
parts of Canada and no doubt
some would leave Quebec. He
also pointed out that French
Canadians do not emigrate easi-
ly and that he expected the mass
of the French teachers would
stay and fight for their rights in
Quebec.

It has been made to appear
that with the decision of the
teachers to return to their ¢lass-
rooms the political crisis in‘Que-
bec has passed. In the immedi-
ate sense this may be true, al-
though even now public outrage
over Bill 25 is such that Premier
Daniel Johnson is already try-
ing to backpedal, saying the
bill “isn’t dogma,” while Oppo-
sition Leader Jean Lesage is
talking up such a storm, that
Quebec looks as if it is already
in the middle of an_ election
campaign. : ;

In any case, whatever the im-

sible demands for social pro-
gress which sparked the “quiet
revolution” in 1960, and of which
the unprecedented actions of the
teachers is a part, cannot be
thrown into reverse in 1967.

Something new has been born
in Quebec during the struggle
against Bill 25, this is a feeling
of solidarity between English
and French Canadians against a
common threat to their inter-
ests. :

Speaking to a meeting of the
Provincial Association of Pro-
testant Teachers, Dr. Gerald
Nason, secretary of the Cana-
dian Teachers Federation, said
the struggle has brought teach-
ers across Canada closer to-
gether than ever before.

“Mr. Johnson knows that the
teachers are united,” he told the
group which organized a one-
day study session to protest the
bill as well as generally solidar-

mediate outcome of the battle, -
it is clear that Daniel Johnson ~
has lost the war. The irrepres- -

ized themselves with the strik-
ing Catholic teachers. “He has
tried to split the unity within
Quebec, if he can split you on
English-French lines, he will; if
he can split you on Catholic-
Protestant lines, he will.”
Echoing. these sentiments,
Miss Anne MacLeish,. president
of the 6,200 member PAPT, said
the government is trying to “‘iso-
late the Protestants” by giving
them a privileged status. ~
Johnson had said that “most”

Protestant teachers in the pro-.

vince are exempt from Bill 25,
which removes the right of all
other teachers to strike between
now and June 1, 1968.

Miss MacLeish said the as-
sociation does not want any spe-
cial status because it considers
“this is a calculated move on the
government’s: part to separate
the Catholic and Protestant
teachers... to isolate the Pro-
testants.”

I discussed this solidarity with
Jean-Paul Charbonneau who
said he was not greatly sur-
prised, “outside of cultural dis-
putes teachers are teachers in
Alberta as in Quebec.” Charbon-
neau went on to state that more
and more. all teachers’ groups
would tend to unite in Quebec,
and such unity was a conscious
policy of the Alliance des’ Pro-
fesseurs, which. has - recently
dropped the word Catholic from
its name, in order, I gathered,
to facilitate this process.

“Events like Bill 25 favor new
and growing solidarity,” I was
told by a teacher who was a par-
ticipant in our discussion. ‘‘Al-
though,” he quickly added, “this
was not Johnson’s intention.

.of the past

EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER

English-French solidarity
~New dimension

added to struggle
in Quebec

Speaking on this aspect of the
struggle in Quebec, Sam Walsh,
chairman of the Communist
Party of Quebec, said the events
week marked a
“watershed in the evolution of
the class struggle in Quebec.
French Canadians have over the
past number of years tended to
regard the entire English-speak-
ing population as being the
‘privileged’—‘the enemy.’

“The action of the English-
speaking teachers, Catholic and
Protestant, in joining forces has
already evoked strong responses
among French Canadians and
serious re-thinking on the con-
cept of the solution of the na-
tional problem. They know there
are allies.” :

Perhaps this element of the
struggle will emerge as one of
the main lessons of the crisis.
If so, a new dimension has been
added to the whole struggle for
social progress in Quebec.

Meanwhile, and as part of the
general struggle for social pro-
gress, the fight against Bill 25
goes on. As the Montreal Star
editorialized on Monday:

“The scars of this legislation
will take many years to eradi-

cate, Teachers are now rightfully.

suspicious of the government’s
actions and intent. They no
longer have confidence in effect-
ing reform through consultation
and: cooperation. They will re-
turn to their classrooms because
they recognize—as they have all

along—that children must not

suffer. But they have been
taught a lesson that they will
not forget until this law is
changed and their rights restor-
ed.”

LINING

DELEGATES from local unions of the Mine Mill and
Workers Union in Canada and the members of the staff, }
with the National officers in Edmonton, voted unanimously
the National Executive Board a mandate “To cotinué di
with the United Steelworkers of America and other unions
question of labor unity.”

* * * i

SIX INTERNATIONAL UNIONS with a total membel
about 85,000 in Canada have agreed to form a council ¥
bargaining and cooperation in organizing. j

The new group is to be called the Petrochemical an©
tics Union Council. It includes the Textile Workers of AP
United Textile Workers, International Chemical Work
Chemical and Atomic Workers, United Rubber Workers, #
and Ceramic Workers.

* * *

THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL of the Canadian Labot

has accepted the affiliation of the 115,000-member CIV a”
Alliance. The CSA represents the civil servants employe .
federal government. -

* * * “4
AN EXAMPLE of the “impartiality” of justice in Ca”
a $2,000 fine levied against the Terrazzo Mosaic and Tl
pany recently in Toronto. The fine came because the ©
didn’t properly ground an electric grinding machine w
responsible for the death of a worker in the factory. Them
who passed the sentence didn’t even see fit to impose !
imum fine provided by the law. These are the same courls |
easily. toss out jail terms for injunction violations.
* * k Z
CLIFF PILKEY, president of the Oshawa and Dist
Council, told the last meeting of the council that more t Ke
Oshawa families will be on relief within the next few mod
cause of layoffs at General Motors. City welfare costs Mi i
creased 70 percent since last September when GM Jaid oo
workers.

ric

* * * :

THE UNITED STATES Department of the Interior
nated the home of Eugene Debs as a National Historic La i
declaring it of “exceptional value” in illustrating a phase ~
erican history. of

Debs, five times the Socialist Party candidate for fl !
is singled out in the citation as the founder of industrial
and head of the American Railway Union.

The Debs home is maintained by the Eugene V. De
dation, which also carries on an educational program 1)
tion with Indiana State University. The home was desigh
year as a State historical site by the Indiana legislature

* * *

LABOR, NEGRO, CIVIL RIGHTS, political and |
groups were represented at a meeting in Detroit which f
committee to combat encroachment on civil rights, particl
government agencies, through the use of bugging, st0®
and’ other invasions of privacy. :

‘ k x *

A UNION TRIBUNAL is hearing.the case of 20 mé
the United Steél Workers Local 1005, Hamilton, charge
their constitution with distributing material “of a slan a
misrepresentative nature” to the membership. The met st
found guilty last November by a three man committeé i,
by president John Morgan, and their memberships weré i
for four years. This decision was outvoted at a members!
ing. If the ruling-is upheld by the International tribunal
members of a group working for Canadian autonomy of
will be cut from all union activities.

* * Stade ;

MONTREAL’S 5,000 STRIKING outside workers U4
accepted a new one year contract with the city. The-
Union of Public Employees who negotiated the settlemen
a secret ballot when the members heartily endorsed thé %
by a voice vote. Montreal is still negotiating with 4,500
workers and 2,300 firemen. :

” * * 5

BREWERY WORKERS shut down operations of
plants of O’Keefe and Dow breweries, in a dispute: OVf
the two plants which would put 255 men out of work.
udian Breweries Ltd. had originally planned to move the! is!
operations into the Dow plant. When negotiations over Ue
with Loca] 304 of the Union of United Brewery, Flour, cer je
Drink and Distillery Workers broke down the company ig
to move both plants, O’Keefe and Dow, to the O'Keefe
in Ottawa.

a
iy 4

* * *

GUESS WHAT Dave Beck, former president of
sters union, is doing since he was sprung from pris
evasion charge? He’s giving lectures on labor econom!
University of Washington.

ihe
n of

March 3, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE