-SOCREDS BACK LIBERAL

RIKE-BREARING BILL

Unions rap slave labor rail formula

Socred MPs joined with Liberals in Parliament this week to
support Prime Minister Pearson's strike-breaking Bill against the
railway unions. The Bill would force the 118,000 workers
back to work with less than that offered by a conciliation
board and would impose compulsory arbitration if the unions
don’t come to terms with the railway companies.

Condemning the government's slave labor Bill, Claude
Jodoin, Canadian Labor Congress President, said on a TV pro-
gram Tuesday night that ‘“‘free men cannot be forced to work

against their will.”

A special statement issued this
week by the national executive of
the Communist Party appeals to
the entire trade union movement
and the public to unite to defeat
Pearson’s Bill. The statement
says:

“The Bill introduced to Parlia-
ment by the Pearson Govern-
ment is nothing but a trick to
impose a cheap settlement on

~railworkers and take away their

right to strike,

“The pretense of collective bar-
gaining is maintained but in fact
it is the Government which is
deciding what railworkers shall
earn. The pretense of the right
to strike is maintained but in
fact the Government intends to
impose compulsory arbitration
unless railworkers accept a com-.
pany dictated settlement.

“The Government acts tough

with labor but is very kind to the

rail companies, Freight rates
will be increased, rail lines will
be abandoned, workers will lose
their jobs. Moreover the real
culprits in the inflationary spiral
confronting the country are left
untouched — the profiteers, the
price gougers, growing U.S, con-
trol over the economy and the

the corporations to show cause
before price rises are permitted,

“Railworkers must have the
30% wage increase to catch up
with rising prices and increased
production in the country. Rail-
workers like all workers have a
right to higher living standards,

“Railworkers like all other
workers must have the right to
strike, If the huge corporations
have a right to profit, working
people have a right to strike to
share the increased wealth they
produce,

“Railworkers like all other
workers must have a right to
their job and a voice over tech-
nological change in industry, so .
that they too can be its bene-
ficiaries, not only the corpora-
tions,

“Parliament if it is to really
be the voice of the Canadian people
must defeat Pearson’s Bill and
work for a settlement along these
lines and for. public ownership
of the entire transportation in-
dustry. Thus would justice be done
to railworkers and the democratic
rights of Canadians.

—Edwards photo

U.S, war in Vietnam,

Striking railway workers on picket duty at Vancouver's CN station. “The Communist Party stands

Withdraw anti-union Bill,
Stevens urges Pearson

Prime Minister Pearson was
urged to take a second look at the
railway legislation proposed by
his government “before moving
to plunge the nation into a greater
disaster than any caused by the
Present strike.” The proposal
came in .a wire from Homer
Stevens, Vancouver East Com-
Munist candidate, in a telegram
copies of which were sent to all
B.C. MPs,

Expresssing opposition to the
Bill aimed at forcing railway
workers back to work, Stevens
Said: “The wage increase is piti-
fully inadequate, No real provi-
Sion is made for dealing with the
technological changes which
Occur during the life of the collec-
tive agrrement,”

Stevens charged that the Bill
ignores the recommendations of
Mr, Justice Freedman and that
there is no recognition of the
unions’ demands for improved
conditions of employment and
fringe benefits,

“The suggestion of anegotiated

‘settlement becomes farcial in
view of compulsory arbitration
provisions in your proposed leg-
islation, This destroys free col-
lective bargaining processes and
leaves the railway workers at the

_mercy of a one man dictator ap-

pointed by the government.”
Stevens urged that the present

Bill be withdrawn and be re-

placed by a wage increase in

accord with the Seaway formula, .

“The new legislation must provide
full bargaining rights on technolo-
gical changes up to the and in-
cluding the right to strike. Fringe
benefits must be treated serious-
ly as part of a general settle-
ment,” said Stevens,

He urged that railway workers
have the democratic right to
vote on the terms of settlement
and that threats of compulsory
arbitration or a compulsory re-
turn to work be removed.

“any attempt to by-pass the
unions or club them into sub-
mission is intolerable in Canada,”
said Stevens,

“Tf the Government is seriously
concerned with inflation, here is
where to begin — let it establish
a Price Review Board with labor
and consumer on it and compel

—AFL-CIO News

PEARSON’S SLAVE LABOR LAW

with the railworkers in their
struggle, It appeals to the entire
trade union movement and all Ca-
nadians to unite to help railwork-
ers win their demands,”

The Pearson Bill has been
roundly condemned across the
country for offering the railwork-
ers only a six percent increase
this year, It also provides that
this interim settlement would re-
main in effect up to December
1967 if no other settlement is
arrived at inthe meantime, Com-
pulsory arbitration is provided
for in the Bill if no agreement
is reached between the union and
railroads,

Another far-reaching step
which would have wide re-
percussions is-the provision re-
quiring that compulsory arbi-
tration procedures be built in to
any new agreement,

Although no penalties are in
the Bill itself for refusal by
workers to comply with the Bill
once it becomes law, the Crimi-
nal Code provides for a two
year sentence for any person
disobeying a statute where no
specific penalty is detailed,