FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1967

VOL. 28, NO. 38

¢ Tribune

LAWYER AT UFAWU APPEAL SAYS:

Court injunction cannot
order people to work

Civil rights
issue raised

SPECIAL TO PT
The injunction issued by Mr. Justice Kirke Smith on
March 23 ordering the United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union to send a telegram to its striking Prince
Rupert members stating that the union was giving per-
mission to unload and process fish and at the same time
ordering them to the work was a “‘nullity.”’

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h.
STEVE STAVENES
T

HOMER STEVENS

JACK NICHOL

hei eppeal is now being heard before the B.C. Court of Appeal in Victoria.

Communists support call

Cent
Comm, Committee of
atttng ay Party of Canada,
aot Sed °ronto last weekend
‘the Co; following statement
bee tay Muni st Party of Que-
Aion, Ting 4 Quebec Consti-

to solve the
ti Potton “deration, which is
Og itis a TiSis in th

‘hag bety, e rela-

dy lan fen the French-
‘tins, and English-Can ‘sala
Sug)

uy a

hen Assen, UePEC Constitution
tan of the Control of the
Mops all Over their own
Neg le d Cal, social ec-
" “Ssary Cultural questi

tin, 7 the F the free develop-
tet tus: ect -Canadian na-
the limited
Pro, PPOvin,

Cea DOseq b Cial constitu-

aq Y the Fren =
bo; eOlsic, ch

Me Minor theEnglish-
Schools and
ug t ther, oat See cul-
guage, It
‘eat Omous self-
nes tn to Indian elf.

cratic rights including the use
of language and culture to all
ethnic groups. It must assure
to the working people full free-
dom to organize, strike and
Picket, abolishing all anti-labor
legislation, including that en-
acted by the present Johnson
government, It must guarantee to
all the right of gainful employ-
ment,

or Quebec Constitution

It must provide for the right
to nationalize all monopolies in
industry, transport, finance, es-
pecially those that are foreign-
owned, which are essential to

the development of the economy ~—

free from outside domination.

Such a Constitution would make
it possible for Quebec to enter

See QUEBEC, pg. !

This contention by union lawyer
John Stanton highlighted the
second day of the appeal of the
union and its three top officers
against their convictions before
the B.C. Court of Appeal in Vic-
toria. Hearing the case are Mr,
Justice W.H, Davey, chief justice
of the B.C, Court of Appeal, Mr,
Justice C.W. Tysoe and Mr, Jus-
tice A.E, Lord.

Last June Mr, Justice J. Dohm
fined the union $25,000 and sen-
tenced president H. Steve Stave-
nes, secretary treasurer Homer
Stevens and business agent Jack
Nichol to one year each in jailon
contempt of court charges,
Justice Dohm ruled that the ac-
tion of: the union in taking a vote
of its membership on whether or
not to send out a telegram as
instructed by Justice Kirke Smith,
and other statements made by
the union and its leaders consti-
tuted contempt,

.The referendum ballot of the
membership resulted in a 86,5
percent vote instructing union
officers not to send out such a
telegram,

UFAWU OPENS NEW HALL IN RUPERT. The new Fi
a ceremony by union president H. Steve Stavenes. T
headquarters for the north and is here seen a

Brian Baldwin photo, courtesy The Fisherman.

The telegram instructed “the
union to tell an untruth,” said
union counsel John Stanton, “be-
cause the union never gave any
such permission.” Furthermore,
he said, the order was bad be-
cause it is not lawful to make
an order directing people to do

.work, It can’t be enforced and no

legal consequences can flowfrom
it if it is not obeyed, Stanton
contended,

The refusal of the judge to
let the union know whether the
contempt charges were civil or
criminal deprived his clients of
fundamental rights, Stanton argu-
ed, This lack of information about’
the actual charge prevented a
full answer and defence because
the accused and their counsel
did not know where the onus of
proof lay, he said,

He contended that it violated
the right of equality before the
law guaranteed by the Canadian
Bill of Rights,

Stanton also argued that con-
tempt proceedings cannot be
launched against a union as such,
The General Executive Board of
the union, he pointed out, does

not have the power to calla strike

or to settle a strike; this power
by the union’s constitution is vest-
ed exclusively inthe membership,
If a union can be punished, he
said, “innocent persons find
themselves in the position of
being punished for the sins of
others.”

Stanton also informed the court
that a further argument of union
counsel would be that the appel-
lants were denied an impartial
hearing because the judge who
laid the charges also tried and
convicted the accused,

Earlier union lawyer James
Poyner argued that there is “no
evidence or alternatively not suf-
ficient evidence” to support the
convictions. The actions of the!
inion and the statements attribut-
ed to it do not show contempt, he

shermen’s Hall was opened in Prince Rupert at said, when considered in their
he impressive looking hall is to be the union's context.

t night under floodlighting.

See APPEAL, pg. 12:

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