By RAILWAY WORKERS

mace again Canadian railway
% aa are at the bargaining
ha = faced with a hard-nosed
ae attitude on one side
ad Ntense disunity of the rail-
y Unions on the other.
€ Situation that the railway
ae find themselves in is
eae Represented by 17 differ-
inn ss, there is little or no
a Communication  be-
oe unions nor is there any
hana the union negotiating
Men and the membership.
if ae contract settlements
and h Past have been inadequate
sive) ave been getting progres-
Y Worse and worse.
ye the years the leadership
; fen successful in soft-sell-
Tea Settlements to the
TallwaeeP with the result that
from wy, Workers have slipped
bighest e Position of the second
Seventh P14 workers to twenty
ve year workers who are
Ber AY earning $3.04 have
cease fered a six percent in-
have y ~, 1S 1t any wonder they
®gistered their disgust?

men -R. as well as the switch-
Char nN the CNR have been
a with an illegal stop-
When thee charges came about
ent wis union made an agree-
itstang ith the company— in one
~ Wi the to reduce the train crew
Sut consultation with the
reduot pseu When the crew
On was effected, the

e :
bookec ship objected and

the addition the engineers on

Off work. Writs were

| Wit THEY’RE FIGHTING MAD
Railway workers lot has
got progressively worse

quickly served and the railways
are now challenging the right of
an individual worker to book off.

Another instance where the
company and the union made an
agreement without consulting
the membership occurred be-
tween the Brotherhood of Loco-
motive Engineers and the CNR,
in implementing a training
program called E.S.B.— engine
service brakemen.

With this new program the
railway intended to train an
engineer in eight weeks using the
present engineers as instruc-
tors. The engineers opposed the
program, stating that ti was
inadequate training time and
certainly was unsafe to put a
man withinsufficient training in
sucha responsible position. And
the engineers were not even
informed that they would be
carrying out another duty—as
an instructor.

In the Vancouver area there
has been an overwhelming
response toanactioninvolving
the withholding of union dues
from those unions in the running
trades. The dispute is over the
reluctance of the union to move
on pension demands and other
related matters, and the dues
““strike’’ is intended to put pres-
sure on the union leadership in
whom the membership is

rapidly losing any confidence.
On April 18, 1973, the Van-
couver Railway Council spon-
sored a mass meeting where the
workers were told that the fight
was now in the hands of the rank

making serious attempts to unite
themselves on common issues
and have called on the railway
councils to give them leader-
ship. Disorganization and
disunity must be a thing of the
past.

Because there are so many
issues involved in railway
bargaining and many unions,
the companies can enjoy the
confidence of knowing that dis-
unity exists as a direct result of
the unions only being concerned
with maintaining themselves
as bargaining agents.

The railways have made no
meaningful offer for a settle-
ment and negotiations are now
entering the fifth month— with
no end insight. Militant united
action by the rank and file
appears to be the only means of
‘making the talks more decisive.
In whatever action the railway
workers must take to win their
demands they are going to need
all the support of the trade union
movement and the public.

FILM ON
DR. BETHUNE

Renew your
acquaintance with
Dr. Norman Bethune
— outstanding Canadian.
National Film Board Biography

GREEN TIMBERS HALL,
14210 - 88 Ave. Surrey
Sunday, May 6th — 8:00 p.m.
Refreshments — Adm. $1.50
Proceeds to PT Drive
Ausp. Surrey Club

and file. Railway workers are

ly
es i . . .
tome Sttiotic fighters are shown training their gunson U.S. bombers as President Nixon continues his

"9 in Indochina despite world protest.

he
dotnet Vancouver Tenants
Coun ..,80es before the City
On Ci] SS
nl Soo;

ate“ Changes it will ask for
‘
A

Mth a8Be in the composition
“ang oad to provide for one
Nd re, Presentative, one land-
tag. sentative and a chair-
_ “€ptable to both.

tr

e Provision to be made for an
inspection staff to enforce the
rental regulations.

e Elimination of all security
deposits and to immediately
return them to tenants.

e Landlords to be required to
show just cause for eviction, as
per the by-law ineffectinSurrey
municipality.

e Landlords to be required to
justify rent increases before the
Board, in terms of actual
increases in costs.

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lenants urge changes in city board

Hundreds of affected tenants
are expected at the city hall hear-
ing which will be the first time
since September 1969, when
representations by the Van-
couver Tenants Council led to
establishment of the Board.

‘“‘We are confident that the
committee under the chairman-
ship of Ald. Rankin will take the
necessary steps to provide these

long overdue democratic
reforms,’’ said Bruce Yorke,
VTC secretary.

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Lat

Fish price spread
shows huge profits

The following article appears
in the current issue of the Fish-
erman, newspaper of the United
Fishermen and Allied Workers
Union, and notes the reaction of
fishermen to the high prices
being charged consumers for fish
as compared to the price return
to fishermen. It is reprinted here,
slightly abridged.

Food industry profiteering is
threatening to push fish prices
across the country far beyond
the reach of many working
people, as already is the case
with all except some of the cheap-
est cuts of meat.

A sampling of fish prices at
two major downtown Vancouver
retail fish outlets this week
showed sole filets selling at $1.25
a pound and cod filets at 85 cents
to 98 cents.

By comparison, fishermende-
livering the same species to
Campbell Avenue fishdocks at
Vancouver in mid-April re-
ceived 11to12centsapound for
sole and nine to 11 cents a pound.
for grey cod.

At the same retail outlets this
week, fresh red spring salmon
steaks were selling at $2.09 to
$2.29 a pound. White spring sal-
mon was $1.69 a pound for steaks
and $1.65 by the piece.

Whole frozen chum salmon
from the 1972 harvest — for
which net fishermen received
17 to 20 cents a pound — were
going for 99 cents a pound at one
store.

As reported last week, open-
ing prices paid to B.C. salmon
trollers this month varied consid-
erably, with B.C. Packers at,
Ucluelet paying $1.09 a pound
for large red springs, 74 cents for
medium and 59 cents for small.
White spring were fetching 64
cents for large and 40 cents for
small.

Norpac Fisheries last week
was reported paying $1 a pound
for large red springs, 66 cents for
medium and 46 cents for small,
and 56 cents a pound for large
whites.

Meanwhile, Pacific Coast Pick-
ling and Processing, Ladner,
was paying $1 to $1.05 a pound
for all red springs and 80 cents a
pound for all whites.

A survey of Toronto retail fish
prices conducted by the Globe
and Mail last week revealed

other glaring examples of
rampant profiteering.

While most prices quoted were
for Atlantic coast fish. Alaska
black cod was mentioned as
selling for $1.90 a pound. Mid-
April price to fishermen for
black cod delivered at Van-
couver was 25 cents a pound.

Other Toronto retail prices in-
cluded a record $2.10 a pound for
haddock and $1.60 a pound for
cod. Landed price for haddock
at Halifax on April 18 was 8.75
cents to 17 cents a pound for
large and5.5. centsto11.25 cents
a pound for scrod. At Lunenburg
the same day the price was 17
cents for large and 12.5 cents for
scrod.

Also on April 18, cod was being
landed at Halifax at 5.5 to 10
cents a pound for steak, 5.25to10
cents a pound for market and
3.25 to 8.5 cents for cod. Lunen-
burg cod prices were 8.5 cents
for steak, eight cents for market,
5.75 for scrod.

A vice-president of National
Sea Products, Halifax, toldthe
Globe and Mail that demand for
fishinthe U.S. and Europeisso
strong that his firm ‘‘can sell
anything that swims.’’ The com-
pany reported a profit of
$1,156,000 on sales of about $39
million in the six-months period
ending March 3. :

And the outlook is very good,”’
the Globe and Mail added.

By any yardstick, though, itis
clear that consumers and fish-
ermen alike are being squeezed
tighter than ever by food in-
dustry giants. Still, readers of
the Globe and Mail were
presented with the spectacle of
Denis Monroe, president of
Fishery Products Ltd. of St.
John’s, one of the dominant com-
panies which set prices in the
fishing industry, shedding
crocodile tears and professing
concern at seeing prices ‘‘going
as high so quickly. . .”’

When haddock can be landed at
dockside in Halifax for5.5to17
cents a pound and retailed in the
same city for $1.39 a pound—and
when cod is landed at Van-
couver for nine to 11 cents and
sold to customers in the city for
98 cents— thereisnodoubt about
who is pocketing that ‘‘long over-
due”’ increased return.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1973—PAGE 3

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