é

: Business

‘No union’

T he price tag at the big -
chain store said “red salmon—69
cents per lb.’’. Just to illustrate
the point a fisherman, not long off
the picket line, bought a 5-lb. pink
salmon (dressed) for $2.55 or 51-
cents per Ib. As a fisherman, the
packers’ monopoly paid him 10-
cents per lb. for the same fish. So
he gets 55-cents as a producer for
the same fish which cost him $2.55
asaconsumer. _

Continuing its vendetta against
the UF&AWU The Pr-vince in its

_ August 12 edition wails about the

“high price of fish’’, gives some 34-
column inches to its popular anti-
_ Communist red-herring smear of
the fishermen’s union and its lead-
ership, then makes the discovery —
that “Washington (USA) has no.
union” so consequently “few
“strikes”.
The price spread between what
‘the producer receives and what
the consumer is clipped is of no

EDITORIAL PAGE

target

interest to The Prdvince. With a
dividend interest in the packing in-
dustry as well as “news” distortion

ar, that is understandable
and smear, that is understandable.
The Old Gal has one key “solu-
tion” in mind—“no union.”

In similar vein, The Sun got its
“Paynes” mixed by featuring an.
anti-union tirade by monopoly!
spokesman R.L. Payne as the
views of UF&AWU former presi-
dent R. H. (Reg) Payne.

Tying all these tag ends togeth-
era definite pattern emerges; a
pattern in its desired objectives,
not unlike the Norris- SIU “trus-
teeship.”’

A pattern which has as its ulti-
mate aim, restrictive legislative
measures, not to “save” B.C. fish-
eries but to hamstring and destroy
the effectiveness of a union which

-has fought to conserve fisheries ad

fishermen against a ruthless fish
packing monopoly.

Editorial comments

According to the latest bul-
_ letin issued by the Vancouver Tra-
fic & Safety Council on its “citi-
zen” “squad assigned to “observe”’
-errant motorists, a 2-day total of |
35 infractions covering 10 categor-
ies is reported.

. While the aim to cut down on
the appalling accident rate is a hig-
ly laudable one, this method em-

_ ployed by the VT&SC is quite the

contrary. It smacks of “vigilante-
ism,” initially directed against the
motorist, but easily extended to
‘other fields. .

In the first place, who keeps’
track of the “driving excellence” of
the citizen “vigilante” while he |
drives around snooping on others?
And what are his major qualifica-
tions for such an assignment?

In the public mind this is prim-
arily a police job. Hence, if the big
_jand difficult job of slowing up
death and mayhem on the streets

~ and highways requires more police,

{by all means let us have them. -
‘They have a big job to do.

| But the “services” of the snoop |
“vigilante” driver should be term-
inted forthwith, no matter how
“respectable” his sponsorship may
e, since he too becomes an addi-
“ional read menace, as well asa

7 ‘Pacific Tribune

Anecite — TOM McEWEN |
Editor—MA ICE RUSE,
Mgr.—_OXANA BIGELOW
lished weekly at:
€.— 426 ay oo
ancouver
Fhone MUraal’ $6288
Subscription Rites

{Canadian and Commonwealth coun

ies (except Australia): $4.00 o:
Rear Australia, United States be
all other countries: $5.00 one fear:

[Authorized as scong class Avail by.
et Post Office Department, Ottawa

ee are of postag: in “cash ¥%

‘menace to the right ofa citizen
to face his accusor.

_ Vigilanteism, under any pre-
text or form, is not in the Canad-
ian tradition.

* * *

The Dept. of Agriculture in Ot-
tawa has okayed Mexican jumping
beans for entry into Canada. Neither
the beans, nor the larvae in some of
them—which makes them jump —
are a danger to Canadian agricul-
ture, the department finds. The
only ‘danger’ will be the price —

likely to make the housewife ‘jump.’

Sauce for

The recent “wage’’ hike from
ten to eighteen thousand dollars
annually to MP’s has opened up
quite a wide discussion.in numer-
ous “schools of thought’.

For instance there is quite an
“old school” which never tires of
expounding the “fair day’s work
for a fair day’s pay.” This “‘school’’

. generally runs into a snag when:

expounding who or what determ-
ines what is “fair”?

Measured by that yardstick’
however, it could readily be argued.

that 75 or 80-percent of our MP’s

weren't even worth half the $10,-

000 they were being paid before it
was jacked up to $18,000.

Another “school of thought”

very popular under capitalism, in-
sists that a man should be paid
“for what he is worth.” If that
yardstick were applied to M.P.’sas
it is to other basic sections of the

‘community, a goodly percentage of.

Belsky in the London Spang Herald
“I’m looking forward to leaving
school and being unemployed.”

the goose

MP’s would be collecting their p
diem at some social welfare office
rather than at the public treasur:
wicket?

It would appear however, th
the determining factor for |
salaries, stipends, wages or what
ever semantics may be used, do nl
come under either of th
“schools of thought”, but rath
jupon what he (or she) “needs”
stay in Ottawa and do whatev
they are presumed to be doin
and of which it may be said, is 0
ten very much at variance with
what they “promised” to do, in or
der to get elected?

However, since the principle 0
“need” has now been establishe
‘by an almost unanimous vote
our partisan MP’s, about the o
issue they have “‘united”’ upol
that lesson shouldn’t be lost upg
working class Canada.

It is indeed a worthy “school?
thought” which should enlist a na
.tion-wide enrollment, dedicate
eo the sterling principle, “To ea¢

'according to his ‘need’ ”. If the 80
percent jump in MP wages is goo!
for the “needs” of MP's, a similal |
jump is also good for the “needs |
of the people who voted for them —

Nowhere is this “need” so sharplY
felt as among the vast majority %
‘Canada’s senior citizen pensioners:

But.
with indecent speed to fill
monetary “needs”, those of th'
OAP’s appear to be doomed tae
snail’s pace. Probably being put ©
ice for next election bait?

while Parliament

Tom
McEwen

“

tution known as “the law”,
with a few exceptions, is an hon-
_ourable profession. For ourselves
we always seem to have run into
ae “exceptions. sed
' Others, like the jaanortal Dick-
ens’ famed ‘Mr. Bumble’ are
strongly of the opinion that “the
law is a ass, a_ idiot’. It’s prob-

ed on a varied experience. Lenin,
who studied law in his university
_ days with the probable intention
| of becoming a lawyer, once des-
_cribed that profession as ‘a con”

that pretty well sums it up when

_ today’s “law” jugglers. /

| - Without getting too scientific on
_ the subject,
all laws, feudal, capitalist or social-
ist, are instruments for the pre-
servation and advancement of that
particular social order. The com-
mon and widely-held illusion that
the “law” is a sort of impartial
entity standing aloof and above
class interests is effectively ex-
ploded in Lenin’s State and Revo-

SA Fut. yatortonnlen everyone

© most people that historic insti-

ably all a matter of opinion, found- —

science for hire.” By and large

one studied the antics of many of

it may be noted that —

as yet doesn’t read Lenin, so the
illusion persists.

A brief look at “the law” as it
applies to working men and women
in their respective trade unions is
possibly the best media of study
in order to expose this alleged
“aloofness” and “impartiality.”

Today there is scarcely a strike
of working men anywhere for in-
creased wages or improved work-
ing conditions that is not beset by
innumerable court injunctions or
similar “‘legal’’ restrictions, where-
as injunctions against belly - rob-
bing monopolists are as rare as
hen’s teeth?

Then there is “the law” on the
picket line, now augmented in our
“free-way-of-life”’ by police dogs. °
If violence ensues, which it invar-
iably does because of company or
police-herding scabbery, the scabs
are lauded as pillars of “good cit-
izenship” and the striking workers
pictured as Al Capones or worse?

Then there is “the law” in the
inter-union “jurisdictional” arena.

_ Here it pursues a more subtle role,
-yet adhering to a “principle” which

seldom if ever varies; that of pro-
viding a judicial “go ahead” to

~ that union, which, in its “wisdom”

can be most. serviceable to cepitol:

ist exploitation. |

A case in. point ‘of just a few
weeks ago. An eminent judge, rul-.

- ing on a B.C: Labor Relations

Board decision to authorize a vote
for bargaining rights in an indus-
try certified , and. served BY a a longi

’ “rights” in ordering such a vote. —

summersault; first byupholding the

bers being, ‘ipso facto,”

~ equality of the law plays no favors
‘by having doubts

' “applicant” union has been. “den-

established union, upheld the
Board’s decision on the grounds
that the said Board had a “doubt” |
and was therefore quite within its

His Lordship was careful to note |
however, that the union deprived
of jurisdiction by this vote had
been denied a_ hearing by the |
Board, obviously because it had n0_
wish to have its “doubts” altered?
- In this His Lordship was able tO”
execute a ‘most intriguing “legal!

Board’s. “right” not to have its
“doubts” tinkered with - or throw? ’
out of kilter by any hearing, and
secondly to concur, although “2
make no pronouncement on this:
that Mine-Mill was not given 3
hearing . .. in accord with princl
ples of natural justice’’? :

- In short the Board has a “doubt”;
well shored up by One of its mem:
as the
lawyers say, a member of the raid
ing union. This “doubt” is the piv-
otal axis of its ‘“‘right” to order 4
vote. The Board and the presiding
judge hold this “right” to be invio-
late, but just to show the majestic

about the
“doubt”, it is— conceded that the
ied natural justice,” while the
other gets what is often conceded
to criminals, —‘“the benefit of the
doubt.” Thus is union raiding
crowned with a “Mesatt halo?

- Next ‘case? dette

a

‘ ee
Sey Sey eee

- August 16, 1963—PACIFIC. TRIBUNE Pa