$ LABOR FRONT s © By WILLIL4M KASHTAN portant ruling in The growing preoccupation with job security in trade union ranks stimulated by the uncertain economic situation can be seen in the various settlements arrived at in the recent period. This is particularly the case in the railway where thous- ands of workers have been displaced and where the concilia- tion board has unanimously proposed, in addition to an eight- cent-an-hour increase spread over two years, the establish- ment of a compensation fund to provide severance pay for the industry. those on temporary layoffs and for retrain- ing and reallocation of employees within An important principle has been es- tablished for the railway industry even though the proposed settlement falls short of the original demands advanced by the non-op unions. It may be recalled that the non-ops ‘ had advanced the proposal for a job freeze for all railway workers having at least five years employment in the industry. This has been with- drawn by the negotiators and there is the real danger that the railway companies will, as the Globe and Mail has editorially suggested, make the workers “pay for higher wages with fewer jobs and increased productivity.” * * ad It would be disastrous to the jobs of railway workers were the compensation fund to be interpreted as giving the green light to the companies for wholesale dismissals of work- ers. The railway workers would therefore be well advised to give close study to the proposed settlement, and while using the principle of compensation which has been established, op- pose any proposition which in the name of ending ‘’feather- bedding.” ‘is calculated to streamline railway operations and increase prOfits at their expense. In making this point it must also be emphasized that no union or group of unions can by themselves safeguard the jobs of their members without safeguarding the jobs of workers generally. The basic problem which still remains unanswered is the implementation of policies of full employment based on an expanding economy and until this is fought through to a successful conclusion, the trade union movement will, at the most, be faced with a defensive fight, striving for some mea- sure of job protection, job security and compensation for lay- offs, all of which are useful in themselves but none of which are really job creating. . cS * This is' the basic shortcoming of the proposed railway settlement as it is of other recent settlements. For while they strive to achieve a measure of job security, they give no assur- ance that such will be achieved. What is missing so far is the refusal or failure of the official leadership of the trade union movement to mount an effective and united struggle for reduced hours of work, with no reduction in take home pay, which in large measure is the key to creating new jobs. And as long as this continues the trade union movement will continue to conduct a defensive struggle for job security without being able to realize it. Not that resolutions haven’t been adopted on this issue by the Canadian Labor Congress and by many unions. But paper re- solutions have no great value unless they are a guide to action and in this case, with the possibility of another serious down- turn in the economy shaping up very shortly with its resultant . mass unemployment, such action is long overdue. * The pressure ‘of events has finally compelled the AFL- CIO executive council to agree to undertake a drive for the 35-hour work week with double time for all time over 35 hours. In this case the AFL-CIO is setting an example the CLC could well follow. True enough many unions have al- ready negotiated settlements here But 1963 will be an opener for many key unions. Isn't it time now for the CLC together with all unions in Canada, whether in or outside the Congress, to map out effective plans for through on this key issue? a nationwide effort to battle This is one way, a rather important way, in which the struggle for job security can be advanced, particularly if it is merged with the struggle for an expanding economy, world trade and an end to the cold war which would make that possible, Thaelmann honored Mac-Pap vet dies A veteran of the Mac- kenzie-Papineau _ Batta- lion of the International Brigades, Walter Nelens Some 400 West German. trade unionists, Social Demo- crats and Communists slip- ped through the Bonn mesh to attend a mass memorial meeting honoring Ernst Thaelmann on Sunday, Aug- ust 19. Doukhobor decisio! BY JUSTITIA OMNIBUS When Magistrate Brown, in New Westminster, recently refused to send up for trial some sixty-five Doukhobors his courageous act was note- worthy for several reasons:— — It brought to the fore the evil uses to which charges of “conspiracy” can be put by a reactionary government which seeks to avoid the con- sequences of its own blund- ers; — It again brought to the fore the vicious manner in which for far too long, many Doukhobor citizens -have been treated; — It was a sharp blow at the provincial government, and particularly Socred At- torney-General Robert Bon- ner, whose department lacks any constructive policy for the Doukhobor people; — It was a warning to all citizens never to assume any member of an unpopular min- ority is guilty, despite a hos- tile press; — It was a blow against “trial by newspaper’. The Doukhobors charged before Magistrate Evans were accused of having entered in- to a conspiracy to intimidate the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of ‘B. C. FAMILIAR CHARGE The word “conspiracy” it- Murder of e Communist. A group of Syrian inter- rogation officers have been charged with torturing to death a secretary of the Leb- anese Communist Party and disposing of his body in an acid bath, An indictment issued by a military examining magis- trate said the secretary, Far- ajella Hellou, was arrested in Damascus on the night of June 25, 1959, after he cross- ed into Syria from Lebanon, under the assumed name of Assaf Mansour. _ He died next morning after nearly 12 hours of physieal torture, it added. The accused officer’s bur- ied Hellou’s body in a des- erted part of a Damascus suburb, but later dug it up, sawed it into pieces and dis- solved it in an acid bath. The acid solution was then poured into a river. The Damascus authorities had repeatedly denied that Hellou had ever been arrested. self has a sinister ring. Many assume it to be a very grave crime. Actually, the long his- tory of the loathsome uses to which charges of conspir- acy have been put are far worse than the crime itself. “Conspiracy” had its origin 350 years ago, in the infam- ous Court of Star Chamber which functioned in the early 1600’s in England. That court sent many men to their death or to penal servitude on con- spiracy charges, after noth- ing more than a mockery of a trial. Most of the offences charged were political in na- ture. In fact, one modern legal text claims that conspiracy was mainly the “invention” of the Star Chamber, which is just another way of say- ing that the crime came in- to being as a method where- by the reactionary govern- ment of the day put down its political opponents. WEAPON OF REACTION Charges of conspiracy have repeatedly been used against progressive and _ forward: looking citizens and organiz- ations to prevent them from pressing for reforms, and from organizing for social] betterment. In 1832, the famous Tol- puddle Martyrs, who foundec the English trade _ union novement (they were the an- zestors of the Canadian unions) were convicted oi conspiring to raise wages, anc sentenced to penal servitude In Canada too, conspiracy charges have often been used against labor and left-wing political individuals and or- ganizations as a way of send- ing them to jail, or intimi- dating them. Although s0nspiracy for these illegitimate pur- poses, the crime itself is very often trivial. It is one of the few crimes of which a man can be guilty without having done a single overt act, with- out in fact having even lifted a finger. All that is neces- sary is that he should agree with some one either to com- mit a crime, or to do a law- ful act in an illegal way. Once the agreement has' been made, the crime is com- plete without any actual step having been taken to accom- plish the proposed act. The “conspirators” may change their minds and do nothing. accusations of are- freely used They may have no opportun- _ GOP AH A . ity. Their proposed be prevented or Me Nevertheless, the Ct conspiracy was CO when they agreed. INTIMIDATE PARLIA In the case of the Y bors, the charges them were serious They had been acc! conspiring to intimidat liament and the Leg! If convicted, they cou! drawn a sentence 0% fourteen years in PF In order to substanti charge, the governm| B. C. went to great © (one estimate was 3 in its efforts to say parade of witnesses before Magistrate © I a growing mountain of & | its accumulated. yers took three days sent their argumen the Magistrate the? more time to considé verdict. 4 He did not have 1 whether the accused were guilty or innoc? task was to decide Crown had made out 4° ? ient case to justify * the accused to a highet for trial. The fact he decided - the Crown — held ©° ig Crown did not havé i K facie case — is of ™ z portance in showin 5 flimsy were the gov® a charges, and how Ww? for sensational news like the Vancouvel ~_ { the basis of \ charges, to whiP o af public feeling again® ical or religious mine without even waiting whether the c° na charge had any sub a When the sixty-fiY