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d ou Close the envelope,
| Stick a stamp on the up-
bipihe Tight hand corner,
€ Uncle Ben’s address

Lake) and drop your

“We in the little red box at
Corner,

te is up to the postal
is, and you never give the
th 4 @ second thought. That
My, 2MP means First Class,
You know that in the short-
Possible time Uncle Ben will

ie :
% "ceived your message. No’

bon tomtoms, smoke signals or
tivale Press. \Today’s mail
a jet speed. But before
inte €tter takes flight, human
tt
he 8 Way; and at the end of
Une ne human feet carry it to
Ben’s door,

tk jeht of the skilled and
‘Nag Orking postal workers
tio Tought sharply to the at-
he, 4.0f the public last July,
ty of | € overwhelming major-
pest carries, postal clerks
bry handlers were on strike

r :
, higher Wages —.and won.
| ty © Strike climaxed a long

tnggel® inside the unions -be-
tang nalitant locals and a hesi-
§} “ational leadership. Van-

.

6€nce is needed to start’

weet
Nieatigs® Summer’s militant strike of the postal worke
Qs the article on this page shows. Above:

couver branch of the Canadian
Postal Employees Association in-
itiated the struggle several
years ago; the success of strike
action in July proved the cor-
rectness of their campaign; and
the election.of a more militant
leadership at the union’s conven-
tion in Toronto last month point-
ed the way ahead to further vic-
tories. :

Ww

Back in July 1962 the Van-
couver branch of the CPE pub-
lished a booklet called Second
Class Citizens. It took readers
behind the scenes to prove its
point—that postal workers real-
ly are treated as second class
citizens in most respects.

- For instance, wages: Look at
this Vancouver table:

1939 1960
Postal Clerk ..... $1,740 $4,110
Pireran: sce cr 1,748 5,477
Office Employee 1,746 5,007
Street Cleaners., 1,202 4,186

“And we are also second class
citizens on the political front,”
the brochure contended. “None
of us can be nominated for Par-
liament where our problems

should be presented in their true
light... :

“Second class in wages, in
politics, and without the rights
that all other workers in indus-
try enjoy through collective bar-
gaining and the right to strike
when an employer creates in-
human ‘demands on the em-
ployees.

“We are at least $1,200 a year
behind other comparable work-

Toronto ‘carriers
make changes

An election for the new
executive board of the Toron-
to branch of the Letter Car-
riers Association, demanded
by the membership as a result
of the recent militant postal
strike and the failure of the
old officers to back it, result-
ed Oct: 4 in a clean sweep of
the table officers for the “new
guard.” Alex Power, chair-
man of the recent strike com-
mittee, is the new president-
elect.

rs has had a profound effect within their union orga-
scene from a Toronto picket line during that strike.

ers in Canada .. . How have we
got so far behind? Possibly be-
cause we have been divided.
Postal clerks are but one-half
of the working force of the pos-
tal services; the balance being
carriers, railway mail clerks, ad-
ministrative and maintenance
and such-like. What to do? We
call on all postal workers to join.
us in one postal organization.
In unity is strength.”

Wage increases revised these
figures upward during the en-
suring years, but the- postal
worker remained low man on
the totem pole, as these January
1965 Vancouver figures illus-
trate:

Jan. 1965
Firefighter, Ist Class ....... $5,940
Electrician, street railway 6,055
Carpenter, building trades 6,974
5,941

Boilermaker, shipyard .....
Postal Clerk 2. ..............
Eetter: Carriers 333

The debate between the Van-

’ couver branch CPE leaders and

the national officers of the union
became sharp and at times acri-
monious. It centred around the
amount of wage boost needed,
and how it should be won. The
Vancouver branch wanted a size-
able pay hike and was willing to
take strike action. It pointed to
the British postal. workers. who
staged a national three-day
strike in 1964 and won a smash-
ing victory.

At no time did the free-wheel-
ing -Vancouver leadership dis-
pute the integrity of their na-
tional president, Les Hood, or
the good intentions of the na-
tional CPE leadership. But they
hotly demanded a more militant
stand and a willingness to take
action if necessary.

Bill Kay, secretary-treasurer
of the Vancouver CPE branch,
pleaded with Hood and_ other
national leaders to take a bolder
stand: “When our national pre-
sident was a regular delegate to
conventions, he always urged
the national leaders to adopt a
militant policy,” he wrote in a
union bulletin in October 1964.
“Now that he is a national lead-
er, responsibility seems to out-
weigh militancy . . . National of-
fice has obviéusly rejected our
policy. We therefore must look
to the field for potential national
officers that will support our
policy in the future.”

st

Bargaining for postal workers
is done by the Postal Workers
Brotherhood, made up of repre-
sentatives from the .Canadian
Postal Employees Association,
Federated Association of Letter
Carriers and the Railway Mail
Clerks. 2

oye July 1965 strike is recent

history and does not have to be
reviewed in detail here. Ot-
tawa offered $300 and $360 an-
nual wage boosts instead of the
$660 asked; warned that a strike
would be illegal; appointed a
commissioner to “review” sal-

t Unity * Highe? wages * Better working conditions
ostal workers look ahead

aries in a last-minute attempt to
keep the men at work.

Montreal kicked off the strike
July 22; Vancouver, Windsor,
Hamilton, Toronto, Kitchener
and dozens of smaller communi-
ties followed suit; the strike won
wide public support and Ottawa
saves in and granted a $550 pay

ike. :

Militant strike action had won
the victory, and it was only na-
tural that a continuation of this
militancy found reflection in the
election of new national officers
at the CPEA’s ninth triennial
national convention in Toronto

‘Sept. 22-24.

William Kay of Vancouver de-
feated incumbent Leslie Hood
for the presidency, and the na-
tional union leadership setup
was revamped. In place of the
former three national paid offic-
ers and 12 unpaid regional vice-
presidents, there are now three
national full-time officers and
eight full-time (paid) regional
vice-presidents.

The vote for the position of
president was: Bill Kay, Van-
couver, 148; Rene Cote, Mont-
real, 72; Les Hood, Toronto, 55;
Dan Cross, Kingston, 10.

Ww

_ The postal workers have won
a round, but not the battle, in
their struggle to become First
Class citizens. ;

What lies ahead?

First, unity is needed to win
further wage increases within
the next year. Legislation must
be adopted granting postal
workers the right to collective
bargaining including the right to
strike. A government commit-
tee’s proposal recommending
“compulsory arbitration” must
be defeated.

Second, greater organic unity
between the three postal unions,
leading as soon as possible to
the setting up of one all-embrac-
ing union of all postal workers.
Steps in this direction’ will pro-
bably be considered by the
leaders of Postai Workers Bro-
thérhood.

Third, better working condi-
tions; efficiency without speed-
up.

AS A REWARD FoR 35 YEARS OF
FAITHFUL SERVICE, THE COMPANY.
WILL REFER To You IN THE FuTURE

AS A.B is

October 15, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7

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