N.B. FED TO DISCUSS GENERAL STRIKE SAINT JOHN — A resolution to support in principle the concept of a national general strike against wage controls will be brought be- fore the New Brunswick Federa- tion of Labor at its convention next month. The resolution was passed at the monthly meeting of the Saint John District Labor Council May 7. The resolution said that the general strike was needed because federal and provincial governments have not taken seriously traditional methods of protest. NABET —1 cBC—0 MONTREAL — CBC techni- cians on the Hockey Night in Canada telecast May 11 forced the broadcasting corporation to cancel commercials during the second match Stanley Cup finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers. The technicians, members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Tech- nicians (NABET), told the CBC prior to the game that the only condition. under which they would transmit the telecast of the game would be if the corporation cancelled all commercials. NABET took the action in pro- test of an AJB roll-back of a con- tract settled in February provid- ~ ing the union’s 2,700 members a 15% and 10.5% settlement over two years. ONT. SMASHES © FIFTH TEACHERS’ STRIKE TORONTO — Windsor’s 770 secondary school teachers became the fifth group of teachers to have their strike smashed by Ontario Government back-to-work legisla- tion when it was passed in the legis- lature May 7. Teacher spdkesmen say they “will do all in (their) power through legal means to bring about: retribution,’’ and are angry at the school board’s refusal to abide by the provision in the legislation and pay a monthly cost-of-living allo- wance provided’ in the 1975 pact. LOCKED OUT WORKERS SIT IN MONTREAL — About 400 employees of the Quebec-owned Sidbec steel company, members of the United Steelworkers, oc- cupied the firm’s Montreal plant May 10 after the firm declared a lockout during the weekend. The workers are said to have entered the factory after breaking a padlock on the plant’s front gates. The union is seeking wage par- ity with its Stelco Canada coun- terpart, which would mean a. 27.7% increase in a three-year. contract. COMMUNIST PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cana- da, which includes elected members from across Canada, will meet May 28-30 in Toronto to discuss Canadian and inter- national economic and political developments, and to project the political work of the CP up to its 23rd Convention in October. CLC RESEARCH HEAD DIES OTTAWA — Russell Bell, re- search director for the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC), died here May 6, after a three-month ill- ness. He was 53. CLC president Joe Morris de- scribed Mr. Bell’s death as “‘truly a tragic loss to the Canadian labor. movement.” CONTEMPT CHARGES DROPPED QUEBEC — Contempt-of-court proceedings against 40 union officers for disobeying an injunc- tion forbidding strikes by hospital workers were suspended May 3, pending a ruling on a defence mo- tion for a delay. The charges are against 39 union locals which staged work stoppages at five Quebec City hospitals and two Montreal institutions despite the injunction. ay in our lives... WeGaT N's ene Marck " What are _ complaining about.. .We haven't worked PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 21, 1976—Page 8 Mine safety brief hits hard TORONTO — ‘The concerns of miners and their union for health and safety have been ig- nored by managemient and gov- emment. The result has been a sense of frustration and for many a sense of fatalism.”’ So says a new 142-page report prepared for the Royal Commis- sion on Health and Safety: of Workers in Mines, released May 9 by the United Steelworkers of America. The report reviews 30 years of union attempts.to get safety laws passed by the provincial and fed- (A new type of society — Socialism — gives rise to a new type of trade unionism. Inasmuch as political power in a socialist society is exercised by the work- ing class, it stands to reason. that the role of trade unions will be enhanced. Conversely, since political power in a capitalist soc- iety is today exercised by monopoly capital through its state and governments, trade unions are under severe pressure and at- tack. Since many readers of this col- umn have raised this question, I thought that, perhaps, the follow- ing brief comments on this matter > | would be both informative and useful. — B.M.) * * * A worker in the West is always thinking about soaring prices, the threat of unemployment, high rents and taxes. The Soviet worker has no such fears. For more than 45 years there has been no unemployment there, because socialist produc- tion is planned; the prices of the main consumer goods and food products have been stable, while rent is about 3% of the family budget. Wages are increased and work- ing conditions improved through state plans, together with economic progress and national income growth. Every person knows beforehand how much the earnings in his or her wage brac- ket will go up in a year or in five years. Trade unions under a socialist system have vast protective pow- ers in this respect. They make sure that state policy is strictly observed in the interests of the people, and that it benefits not only ail workers as a whole, but each one individually. Legally all _ wage questions can be settled only with trade union agreement. Management cannot alter work quotas or wage rates without con- sulting the trade union commit- tee, nor can it arbitrarily change a worker’s classification or wage level, deprive him of a premium or transfer him to a lower paid job. ; Control of Prices ‘The trade unions keep watch over price stability. Existing prices cannot be changed nor new ones set without trade union par- ticipation. Representatives of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions are involved in the eral governments, and though safety protection is negotiated in all steelworker contracts, the or- ganization representing 25,000 mine workers in Ontario alone says that bargaining is not enough. The brief says, ‘‘in the field of health and safety it seems wrong that workers should be forced to’ settle for less than necessary protection . . . powerful companies do not consider a safe workplace to be a worker’s right’’. ‘‘“Government’s,’’ the brief points out, ‘“‘have not seen fit to challenge this area of manage- work of the State Committee for Prices, and trade union represen- tatives in the Republics, Ter- ritories and Regions supervise the operation of local price-setting bodies. Volunteer inspectors, workers, make sure that retail prices are observed. As for working conditions, the trade unions have really large powers. They supervise labor legislation, labor safety and in- dustrial hygiene standards. This gives trade union inspectorates the power to stop production (with the TU Council’s sanction) at an enterprise where working conditions endanger the health or life of workers. Individual machine tools and aggregates can be stopped by the inspector on his Own without such sanction. He: can also veto anew enterprise ora continuous production line from beginning production or an ex- perimental machine from being mass-produced. The veto is lifted only when hazards to safety or health have been eliminated. Management cannot fire a worker without the consent of the trade union committee, while the trade unions can demand that the manager be dismissed for failing to observe the terms of a collec- tive agreement, for violating the labor code, for being rude or ig- noring the staff. All this is legally guaranteed. Unions Draft Legislation Under Soviet legislation, workers participate in production management through trade un- ions and other organizations. There are different ways to exer- SOVIET TRADE UNION POWERS. Soviet trade unions have vast powers and responsibilities to p and advance the interests of working people. plans and programs. The /2 those who took part in = ment’s rights. Only the movement is doing so.’ Government apathy, says ¥ . Steelworkers has resulted | tragic consequences, and the bil points out as an example the! ion’s battle to establish adel j uranium radiation levels” uranium mines, which over th years required to approach ! levels, have led ‘‘to tragic bers of Elliott Lake workers § veloping lung cancer.’ : i The establishment of a g0) ernment department specific responsible for occupa health is one of the union’s cise this right — first of all thro 0 the All-Union Central Cound! Trade Unions’ legislative im! tive and the same from t union bodies at the Repl! level. q This means that trade unl can draft and submit bills mee¥) ; the interests of the wo people to the USSR Sup Soviet and the supreme orgall state power in the Union R' lics. Several years ago the CCTU organized the drafti and country-wide discussio} | the Fundamentals of Labor lation. The bill was passed session of the Supreme SO’ The Union Republics drafted and promulgated based on that document. Soviet trade unions are volved in drawing up econ plans and in approving five- example is their work in elab ing the social and economic ram of the new 10th Five- Plan. It was done on two le first, the AUCCTU and othe! bodies helped draw up the & jointly with the planners; se country-wide discussion, “ mented and made suggestio the press and at meetings. Likewise, participation in F duction management is very dent at the enterprises. Man: report to general trade meetings on how plans are pe ressing and how Collective | reements are being fulfilled. \ ridged — from Moscow No. 18, 1976.)