VOL. 27, NO. 48

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1966

Waterfront bosses
shut down ports

E. M. STRANG:

In the short time since E.M,
Strang has been president of
the B,C, Maritime Employers’
Associations (since early this
year) labor-management re-
lations have gone. from bad
to worse,

Strang was the man who en-
gineered the attempt early this
year to force longshoremen to
work on statutory holidays

_Which led to trouble on the
waterfront and to court in-
junctions and the imprison-
ment of top officials of the
ILWU,

\

At that time Strang and the
B.C, Maritime Employers’
Association (f{ormerly the
Shipping Federation) had to
back-track and recognize the
right of shipyard workers to
legal holidays. Now he has
returned to the attack,

Strang comes by his anti-
union attitudes from a long
experience in attempting to
force “management’s rights”
down the throats of workers,
Throughout his career he has
been known as a “hard-nosed”
bargainer and one who firmly
believes labor must learn its
place — under the heel of
management,

Between 1946-65 he was_
Manager of Saguenay Shipping
and Terminals in Montreal,
Along with the C,N, Steam-
Ships, Strang is credited with
having been one of those who
led the-attack on the Canadian
Seamen’s Union (CSU) in 1949,
Since 1958 he was chief
Spokesman for the Shipping

The man who wants
_to STRANG le labor

E. M. STRANG

Federation in East Coast ne-
gotiations with longshoremen,

Coming to B,C, at the same
time as Strang was another
anti-labor official, T.A. John-
stone, former chief of per-
sonnel for the CNR and also
belonging to the school which
believes that ‘‘labor must be
taught its place,”

One of the first actions of
Johnstone on arriving on the
Pacific Coast was to organize
big business into an associa-
tion known as the Commercial
and Industrial Research Foun-
dation (CIRF) of which he is
president.

_. CIRF was first exposed by
the Pacific Tribune as being
a gangup by the financial es-
tablishment in B,C, against
organized labor, If Strang is
in the middle of the present
waterfront situation, it’s a
good bet that CIRF has its
hand in it too,

Shipping companies have brought all major B.C. ports to a near standstill this
week, threatening economic disaster to the province, rather than agree to recognize
and bargain collectively with about 190 foremen who are seeking to negotiate with
the companies. The shipping companies have locked out.some 3,500 members of the
International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen's Union and have threatened {o sue
the union for millions of dollars.

The longshore foremen struck
‘November 17 and set up picket
lines at all ports in B,C, after
more than 3 years of fruitless
efforts to achieve their demands
and gain collective bargaining,
Port activity along the coast came
to a halt as members of the ILWU
respected the picket lines,

A court injunction issued on
November 22 by Judge W.K, Smith
forced the removal of the picket
line. ILWU members returned
to work while the striking fore-
men stayed off the job, (See
earlier story, page 5.)

On November 23 mass firings
and suspensions were imposed
by the employers on longshore-
men in all B.C, ports and the
firings continued until this week
when nearly all port activity
halted.

E.M, Strang, president of the
Maritime Employers Association
(see article on this page), wired
ILWU president Roy Smith charg-
ing that ‘*A number of men have
been discharged. . .for failing to
perform work in a manner satis-
factory to the employers because

of slowdown tactics,”

Strang charged the ILWU was
involved in a conspiracy and said
he held the ILWU officers re-
sponsible in law for “complete
fulfillment of the terms of the
collective agreement,”

In reply Smith repudiated the

conspiracy charge and said:

«There was no conspiracy. . .
only principled support by the
longshoremen for the foremen in
the hope that the foremen will
achieve their just and reasonable
demands. . . .This support... .en-

“Recognize China NOW’

“The Canadian government
Should now at once recognize the
People’s Republic of China,”
This was the stand taken last
Friday in a special statement
issued by the Communist Party
Of Canada, The statement said:

“The Canadian Government
Should now at once recognize
_ the People’s Republic of China,

“‘This is the only logical con-

clusion to be drawn from the

position taken by External Affairs
Minister Martin in the United
Nations on November 23, and by
Prime Minister Pearson in the

House of Commons the following
day, Canada’s action to recognize
China cannot be made dependent
on further action by the United

Nations, following “study” by a
committee,

“Paul Martin’s statement in
the UN that China’s seats in both
the General Assembly and the
Security Council should be oc-
cupied by the government of the
People’s Republic of China in-
stead of by the Chiang Kai-shek

See CHINA, pg. 12

tailed only a refusal to cross
Picket lines (and) that refusal is
not contrary to the collective

agreement,”’

Smith further added: “I suggest
that if you have any problem. ..
concerning alleged infractions of
the agreement, . .you refer them
to the normal grievance pro-
cedure.’’

Referring to the charges of

slowdown, the ILWU president
said: “I can only conclude that
if there is not the normal pro-
duction and efficiency on the
waterfront in B,C, at this time
it is due to the incompetence
and inefficiency of the super-
visory personnel now employed,
I further suggest that in an effort
to eliminate this problem you ar-
range negotiations between your
Association and the foremen,’'-

The 190 foremen involved have
been denied collective bargaining
by the shipping companies on the
grounds.they are “management
personnel,’’ The Federal Labor
Relations Board has twice re-
jected their appeal for recog-

nition because the employers
have opposed the application,

Longshore foremen on the Pa-
cific Coast, except for B.C., are
members of the ILWU and bar-
gain with the shipping companies,

The foremen work for an hourly
rate, and are consequently not
salaried personnel, The fact
that they have organized together
and sought collective bargaining
is proof of the fact they consider
they have conflicting interests
with management,

It ‘is widely known in the labor
movement that B,C,’s longshore
foremen are discontented with the
long hours of overtime they are
compelled to work and with lack
of adequate pension plans and
other conditions,

Strang’s answer to the demand
of the foremen for negotiations
was given Monday when he re-
jected their plea and said: “The
question is who is going to run
the waterfront, the union or us?”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the
B.C. Federation pledged full sup-
port to the striking foremen,

STRIKING LONGSHORE FCREMEN. In their fight to win bargain-
ing rights men siruck on November 17 and picketed approaches —
to all docks in B.C. An injunction on November 22 forced them to

‘men.

738

remove their line. Shipping companies refuse to negotiate with the