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IMPORTANT LABOR PAMPHLET:

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a Bee among workers
everywhere to restore
"the: practice of solidarity and
- put an end to civil war in the

_trade union movement’ is

let ‘by William Kashtan, ex-
-, cutive secretary of the Com-
4 -munist Party.
Titled, Stop Union Raid-
“ing, the pamphlet sells for
_ five cents and is available at
the People’s Co-op Bookstore,
. 307 W. Pender St.;
ver.
"With logically - developed
- argumentation, Kashtan mak-

- Traiding within the trade. un-
-. 102 movement.

His point of departure is
DS the growing amount of anti-
i labor legislation throughout
t Canada, and that “employers
“are uniting in this attack on
~ labor with the aim of smash-
ing Wages and destroying un-
ions. Common sense would
“therefore dictate’ that the
‘trade union movement also
unites to’ defend itself.”

‘OFFICIAL POLICY’
~ But, says Kashtan, despite
_ the high hopes that formation
~0f the Canadian Labor Con-
 €ress would lessen. jurisdict-
- ional rivalry. between craft
; and. industrial unions, ‘raid-
ing “has again become offic-
* jal policy in a number of un-
3 SIONS?) =.
AS examples, Kashtan cites
- dismutee, between the Carpen-

- “tional ‘Woodworkers of Am-
; eVica, ‘the ‘Seafarers -Interna-

P ian * ‘Brotherhood. of Railway
. Transport and. General Work-
-€rs, with the CLC setting up a
| Rew maratime: ‘union, ‘and the.
3 - Confederation
_ Trade Unions in Quebec by
_ CLC affiliates. ©
: He notes that the Team-
:. Sters and Operating Engineers
'. have heen expelled from the
_ CLC for raiding while the
_. Lithographers are suspended.
But the most glaring ex-
3 ne a of raiding, he says, is

called for in a recent pamph- |

Vancou-:

_ ©S-a compelling argument for |]
ending the “cannibalism” ‘of | Mae

- ters’ union and the ‘Interna-'

3 tional, Union and ‘the Canad- |

of © National |

WILLIAM KASHTAN

the present effort of the CLC
leadership to destroy ~the
Mine Mill union through call-
ing on all its affiliates to back
the leadership of the Steel-
workers’ union in their un-
ion-wrecking drive on Mine
Mill.

“Union wrecking,” Kashtan
declares, “through anti-labor
legislation, and union-wreck-
ing. through raiding — these
twin evils explain.-why. the

trade: union movement: is re-
treating instead of ..advanc-
ing.” .

U.N. assembly |
plats Portugal

UNITED NA TIONS,
N.Y. — By.a vote of 99.
to 2 the General. Assembly.|
s-woted Tuesday to. call. ont
Portugal to cease “vepres-
sive. measures against the
‘people of Angola.”

The. resolution was .in-
troduced by Afro-Asian
countries. A stronger reso-
lution proposed by Bul-
garia and Poland urged
‘sanctions against Portugal.

“Stop union raiding’
shows way fo unity

Some jurisdictional and
raiding activities stem from
decisions arrived at in U.S.

}/ and Kashtan notes the rift in

the AFL-GIO between the
building trades unions and
the industrial unions.

:| WORKERS DON’T BENEFIT

In no cases, he writes; “have
such raids benefitted the
workers concerned... All they
accomplish is to ‘set one group
of workers against another.
In no case -has- it strength-
ened the trade union. moye-
ment. On the contrary, it has
dissipated its strength. In no
case has it resulted in an in-
crease in union membership.

“All it has © accomplished
was to ‘transfer’ ‘workers
from one union into another,
in effect building one union,
by wrecking another. The. net
result of all such activities has
been a constant weakening of
the strength and influence of
the entire trade: union. move-
ment, :

“Proof of this is to be seen
in the fact that: the trade un-
ion movement is not growing
and this at.a time when the
labor force in Canada is grow-
ing...

“The unpleasant fact is
that raiding’ has ‘become. a
substitute for the organiza-
tion of the unorganized and
for co-operation -among un-
ions. .The --results are to be
‘seen all around -us, in grow-
ing division, stagnation and
retreat where there should be
unity, growth. and advance.”
‘DOUBLE STANDARD‘

None of the: reasons’ for:this

lies. in the double standard

pursued’ by: the leaders ofthe
Congress. To its affiliated un-
ions it says: ‘please don't raid
each other.: Its: not nice.’ But
in the same breath it also
says, ‘raiding: of unions not
affiliated to’ the Congress ‘is
quite alright. In fact it is
legitimate trade. union busi-
ness’.”’

The most pouENe use of this
double standard. has- been
against the Mine Mill union,

See RAIDING, p. 10

ORPORATION propagan-
da for years has tried to
convince workers and con-
sumers that labor costs are
the main determinant of
prices. If only the workers
would take less wages goes
the argument, prices would
be lower, life would be better
and everyone happier.

Under modern monopoly

conditions, prices are not
based on costs.
They are -set to get all

the consumer can be made
to pay, by using massive pro-
motion and advertising which
the consumer obviously pays
for.

When publicity over the
mushroom growth of dis-
count houses was so plenti-
ful last spring, the Toronto
Globe and Mail published
some interesting material on
the pricing of electrical ap-
pliances.

Government relaxation of
anti-combines legislation gave
manufacturers the chance to
force dealers to maintain
suggested list prices. The
Globe and Mail article cited
several examples of price
policy on electrical ap-

pliances — among others a
Canadian General Electric
toaster:

“CGE in August offered a
toaster ‘to its dealers .at .a
purchase price of $18.29. The
manufacturer’s suggested list
price was $27.50, the mini-
mum efficient retailer price
$22.

“As a result. of some pedut
tion in heavy competition
from a foreign manufacturer,
CGE cut its list price from
$28.50 to $23 .95, 14 percent.
The price. to the dealer fell

from $18,29 to $15.91.” (Globe!

[ DO LABOR COSTS |
[DETERMINE PRICES?

and Mail, March 18, 1961).
For actual cost breakdown
for this toaster see Table I.
After the price reduction
to dealers amounting to $2.38
the total factory cost (includ-
ing overhead) was less than
one-third of the retail price,
and less than one-half of the
manufacturers’ selling price.
Factory labor cost amounted
fo only six cents out of the
retail sales dollar. The fac-
tory overhead burden alone
was 1% times the labor cost.

Wo doubt the manufactur-
er’s and dealer’s profits were
several times the amount
spent for direct labor. In fact,
there is probably a nice pro-
fit to the parent company in

the United States buried in _

the CGE cost for materials.

Lest anyone think the
toaster is an extreme example
of low labor costs, the figures
for a number of other typical
electrical appliances made by
CGE are shown in Table II.
If manufacturer’s list prices
had been used instead of
Eaton’s, the ratio of labor
cost to retail price would have
been even smalier.

Now, what becomes of the

argument that “high wages —

are pricing goods out of the
market?”

It is clear that the place to
get price reductions is to
squeeze something out of the
other 95 cents making up the
sales dollar — not out of the
average of five cents going

to the workers who produce -

electrical appliances. For if
purchasing power is not sup-
plied in wages, where will
the: mass market for ap-
pliances or any other con-
sumer goods be found?

CGE Appliances

Dry Tian. eae is. Ss
sleam: trons =
BWP ans oes 5 a eS
Mixer
Can Opener
Percolaior

Table |!

Here is the actual cost breakdown for this toaster:

Percent
Materials 2 __-___- St Sti on eS $3.71 15.5
Direct labor. 2es ES Ae Se 1.44 6.0
Bactory; overhead: = 4 °> 3 hee es 2.41 10.1
Tofal Factory Gosh sa5 7.56 31.6
Administration, selling, transport’ expenses
and manufacturers’ profit — Rapin eee a 8.35 34.9
Prite.to.cdealer: 4.3 eee ae 15.91 66.5
Dealer margin _______..- Bf a, eee ea 8.04 33.5

Pieters Pricey re ee $23.35

Table BE

Eaton’s Present Factory’
retail labor labor cost
price cost per retail

~ sales dollar
$11.44 $0.55 4.8 cenis
21.00 0.26 p Ee ade
19.68 0.94 ABs
21.85 1.14 We Aero
21.47 0.93 4,3. .77
£53 oe

100.0

A leading member of the
Steelworkers’ union in
Thompson, Manitoba, who
had publicly threatened to
“get” the Mine Mill union,
was arrested early last week
with dynamite in ‘his poss-

path

ession.

Police arrest Steel leader

Robert Fulton, a member
of the Steelworkers executive
board in Thompson, was tak-
en into custody with dyna-
mite strapped around his
waist. He had made verbal
threats against Mine Mill fin-

‘}ancial secretary Ken Woods:

February 2, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7

—UE Research Bulletin. $3