HARRY BRIDGES TELLS UNION PARLEY:

U.S. must get out of

““One of the largest and best attended conventions in the history of our union” is how
a delegate describes the 16th bi-annual convention of the international Longshoremen and
Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) which opened its four-day session in Vancouver's Bayshore

Inn Monday of this week.

From this 65,000-member
union, 308 delegates from 73
locals are in attendance, A total
of 121 delegates have come from
Hawaii while the delegate bodies
come from key ports in Alaska,
the U,S, West Coast and British
Columbia, This is also the first
time the ILWU has ever held a
convention outside of the United
States,

A large streamer banner in
the ILWU convention hall best
illustrates the prevailing’ senti-
ment of this militant longshore-
men’s union: “An Injury to One
is an Injury to All,”

Following convention opening
formalities the ILWU delegate
body heard two fraternal guest
speakers at Monday’s* session,
Secretary-Treasurer Pat O’Neal
of the British Columbia Federa-
tion of Labor (BCFL) and NDP
National Leader T, C, “Tommy”
Douglas,

‘Speaking on the challenge of
the computer and automation,
O’Neal said union structures need
changing, He suggested that union
mergers was one example of such
necessary change, “Lack ofunity
and solidarity among all unions,”
said O’Neal, “is the root of the

problem in the Toronto printers’
strike, on since last July,”

Referring to anti-labor legis-
lation in B,C,, O’Neal said that
“Bills 42, 43 and 123 give man-
agement a decided advantage in
bargaining talks and in the
courts,”

On the Vietnam crisis O’Neal
told the delegates that some of
us signed a citizens’ petition
calling for peace in Vietnam, For
this we were branded as “Com-
munist dupes” by The Province,
“But,” declared O’Neal, “we
won’t turn yellow to prove we
aren’t red,” :

©

In a stirring address to the
convention NDP national leader
Tommy Douglas stated: “Next to
the danger of nuclear war, the
greatest issue in the western
world is that we have entered the
great era of the scientific revo-
lution,

“Automation is not a tragedy;
it can be a blessing, It could give
us a higher standard of living,
It could rid the world of poverty,
ignorance and disease, It could
end scarcity and give us abund-
ance, The task facing us right
now is to make the benefits of
the scientific revolution available
to every person,

* At present 40,000 jobs aweek
in the U,S, and 4,000 jobs in
Canada a week are being wiped
out by automation, We are in-
evitably destined to greater un-
employment,

“In Canada and the U,S, 20
percent of the people live in a
state of poverty, with an income
under $2,000 a year, Another 20
percent get less than $3,000, and
are on the edge of poverty, These
bottom 40 percent of the people
are unable to buy goods, Our

affluence is not distributed
equally,”

To provide employment and
purchasing power for that 40 per=
cent, Douglas stressed the need
of a massive social capital ex-
penditure, to provide for low-
cost housing, slum clearance,
the building of schools, hospitals,
recreational centers, reforesta-
tion and water conservation,

“There is no excuse for an
idle person on this continent, We
have starved the public sector of
our economy, We spend more on
advertising than we do on educa-

HITS THE PROVINCE. Pat O'Neal, Sec-
retary-Treasurer of the B.C. Federation
of Labor lashed out at the Birchite
Vancouver Province newspaper while
addressing the ILWU parley. Referring
to an editorial attacking his signing a
petition to the Prime Minister on Viet-
nam (which was published in full in
the PT), O’Neal said: “We won't turn
yellow to prove we aren't red.”

tion, We will get no prosperity
out of low wages, .. .” we

The speaker dealt at consider-
able length with the vital issue of
medicare, declaring that “a medi-
care program is needed to pro-
vide all necessary health serv-
ices to all people, Health ought
not to have a price on it,”

The NDP leader received a
standing ovation from the ILWU
convention delegates, while ILWU
President Harry Bridges de-
clared: “Mr, Douglas’ remarks
alone were worth the price of
admission,”

In his few brief remarks in
Monday’s session President
Bridges stated: “We need medi-
care, It is away»overdue in our
country, Mistreatment of our U.S,
Negroes is a matter of divide and
rule—the better to exploit both
Negroes and white workers, to
secure higher profits,

~

“Canada has a different posi-
tion than the U,S, in world affairs
and in Southeast Asia, That is all
to the good—we welcome it,

“Our. President should an-
nounce that we will get the hell
out of Vietnam, That would be
hailed throughout the length and
breadth of the United States,”

South Vietnam’

Sen. Gruening hits
U.S. Vietnam policy

Senator Ernest Gruening of
Alaska, introduced to the ILWU
convention by President Harry
Bridges as “one of the few cour-
ageous voices in the U,S, govern-
ment,” received a rousing ovation
from convention delegates,

Gruening traced the history of
Indo-China up to the time of
partition and the-Geneva Agree-
ments in 1954, This is neces-
sary, he said, in order tocorrect
the official version of why we
are there,

“This is civil war and we have
taken the wrong side of it, I find
myself in total disagreement with
our policies in Southeast Asia,

“We have violated the spirit
and the letter of the Geneva
Agreements and the Charter of
the United Nations, I maintain
this is a war we can’t win—you

can’t lick an ideology by militay
means, dee

“Our security is in n0: way |
threatened or jeopardized py wh?
happens in Southeast Asia.
countries of Asia want to est@? |
lish socialist regimes, that? |
their business, ;

“We are making the war wide!

all the time, If we continue i

policy, only disaster lies an .

Sooner or later the matter a
be settled by Asians, as itsh0™
be.

“T have received more mail |
this issue than on all other iss
combined for the last six ye
It is 100-to-1 in favor of the P®
tion I have taken, And it }
very representative mail. e
public has got to continue
protest until we stop this killin

| Death

Highball and speed-up inB,C,’s
forest industry equals industrial
slaughter, says a front page
article in the Marchissueof*“The
Barker,” publication of Local
1-217, International Woodwork=-
ers of America, —

The article by editor BobClair
is printed under a stark draw-
ing of death in the woods whichis
produced below, Inserted on the
drawing are the figures for fa-

talities in the woods, These show
that in 1963 there were 71 killed;
in 1964 it had jumped to 80,

Clair writes: “Yes, manage-
ment is -concerned with safety,
but it is more concerned with
production! This preoccupation
with production . . . often causes
unsafe working conditions to be
overlooked or ignored, This ap-
proach by management creates
a condition called speed-up. ...

Fatalities

A

B.C.’s Woodworking

80 killed |
71 killed |

stalks our forests

*“Speed-up results in an in-
creased workload, more work per
worker, The more workers that
can be eliminated, the cheaper
the cost, the higher the profit!
Machines that are sped up be-
yond their capacity often break
down,

“The same principle applies
to humans, Employers, who inthe
course of speeding up their oper-
ations, push their employees be-

Stark drawing at
left is from the
March issue of
“The Barker,”
organ of Local 1-
217, |.W.A Inset
figures show the
number of deaths
in B.C ’s woods.
An accompany-
ing article by
editor Bob Clair
put the blame for
the rise in fatal-
ities on speed-up
and highball to
get more produc-
tion for more pro-
fits for the boss.

Ry

yond thelr capacities, are Mm.
ing with industrial accident
Workers who allow themselve?
be pushed beyond their aphr
are the employers’ plaything.

Pointing out that the worketh :
concern over economic sect? ag
replaces concern for his ‘
sonal safety, Clair charées ie
management are masters ei
work overload and resort t0%
ting out the spare man so that de
men now do three or four mé@ ;
work; and to speeding-UP ot :

machine and increasing thea

“The quota system is oe
management’s favorites,”
Clair, “The worker is expe
to produce so much in Py)
ticular day, Who sets the am0W
Management, Who increase? |
amount? Management, who &
pects the same amount every | |
in spite of poor stock, inexP®, |
enced help, etc,? Manageme™

Appealing to woodworke!? q
take action against speed”
Clair writes:

“Workers must learn to eit
management’s arbitrary “jae
mands, They must help ay
what the workload will be. Ke
must help decide how many wae
ers per job, the speed ® tne
machines, the way in which
work is Concluded, becaus® |, |
of these factors contribute '°
cause of accidents which PF
human bones and bodies.”

April 9, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page | |