ch ye | Wag _ By WILLIAM BEECHING- panne attack on labor — and + nce on all working people — eee in intensity and vic- a ness. In BC the bosses are sing the Courts and Bill 33, to ave injunctions issued against tite ereers, which are immed- ean followed with jail sen- ea 7 and terrible fines, design- © Smash the unions. atin: Ontario government has ml faced that it is contem- ad additional _anti-labor emer Ross Thatcher of SKatchewan is using the reeency Services Act of that cana to try to bring the Ing plumbers to heel. : eee restrictive anti-labor a are designed to give con- BiG Of the situation to the em- hse What the working peo- eg and must fight for, are i to guarantee their right to Te in the abundance created ee own labor, through the “Nolo modern science and tech- cise 8Y—not laws which exer- Control over the trade union Movement ge. thro h_ punitive Measures, ee Th Fight Legal Setup Compe y NeW. anti-labor laws epel the unions to fight law- fo oeend judges. It all adds up theneater state interference in Sica affairs of unions, thente © the procedural agree- ‘S and giving them the force ie ane laws seek to confine : inion activity to the job - levey Only, and give union agree- busing the force of commercial at SS contracts, as binding as boy mere were goods to be : ten t and sold over the coun- ; aN Workers, seeking econmic last - &0 on strike only as a erat. The struggles of the Ree ners for the right to tio aa to\take effective ac- liticay 0 Strike, to engage in po- harg action, -is centuries old, ” leg Won through class strug- lenge and under constant chal- : by the bosses: e Bests i a “oneg (ADN) — Catholic end laymen from 19 ly Countries have sharp- the’ sotested in a resolution at Bais aeeression of US imperial- : lina res the peoples of Indo- “eq ,, the resolution was adopt- Siy,, 22 international sympo- Congo, Tanged by the Berlin lips €nce of European Catho- curity. here on European se- el : Pant the resolution the partici- : People assure .the Vietnamese Wi we their solidarity. They - tions Wvely support all aid ac- tte “OF Vietnam in their coun- : mor 120 representatives of Coun. ss!ve Catholics from 19 €s warn in a declaration ich those forces in Europe u oe working towards the ; Patio; ing of a third world war. - Step Pants hold that a first «eet — the creation of a col- {De w Security system in Eur- — aRai Wh Mst Cc 3 + ‘€public and a European Y conference, Laws cannot heal nor hide the conflict of interest in capitalist society between the workers and the capitalists. Laws which protect the interests of the capi- talist minority require the use of coersion and force against the majority. Are They Equal? . How can anyone seriously at- tempt to equate the preferred position of, say, the Weston Food Trust, with the position of the trade union movement, hedged in with restrictive legis- lation, under constant attack through the capitalist media. Workers and farmers are con- for wages, or a price, through a sometimes long and painful process, of which the strike is a final and vital part. The argument mainly used to justify the anti-labor actions of capitalist governments is that workers are paid too much, or are asking for too much. What are the facts The Trade Union Research Bureau in BC has shown that output per man hour in the Canadian economy has increased by 118%. It asks, “Who in the labor force has 118% more real purchasing power than he had in 1949?” Using MacMillan-Bloedel as an example, the bulletin reveals that 39% more workers pro- duced 70% more lumber, 78% more pulp and paper, 110% more logs, and 165% more cor- rugated containers between 1961 and 1969. Real wages of MacMillan- Bloedel workers increased by 14.8% during those 8 years. Taxes increased by 12% in the -same time. On the other hand, J. V. Clyne, who is Chairman of the Board of MacMillan- Bloedel, realized an increase on returns on personal sharehold- ings in the company of 73.8%, of which three-quarters was tax free. Union Strength To meet the enormous strength of the giant monopolies, the trade unions need to grow in The declaration further says, “We Catholics from European states want to take care togeth- er with all people of good will that never again can war Orig- inate from European soil, that peace and security determine the future of our continent. The recognition of the status quo in Europe by all states is termed an indispensable pre- requisite for European security. The declaration also points to the importance of the GDR draft treaty on the establishment of equal relations between the GDR and the FRG on the basis of international law. s The admission of all European states, including the GDR and West Germany, to the United Nations is demanded. Security and peace in Europe required cooperation with the non-Chris- tians peace forces, with Com- munists, Socialists and all other people of good will. Catholics should call on the church author- ities in West Germany to cease supporting revanchist and mili- tarist aggressive circles. strength. By doing so they will not only be protecting the rights of the majority in our society, but also the rights of the minor- ities, such as the pensioners. Their gains help non-union workers, and favorably influ- ence the conditions of the aged and youth. What is wrong in our society is that trade unions have too’ little power. The restraints that are really needed are those that will curb profiteering and place a ceiling on prices. Labor Rights The defense of trade union rights is not an abstract ques- tion. The right to freely nego- tiate, to organize, to strike or to threaten to strike, and to run their own internal affairs, is the essence of the struggle between the bosses and the workers. The rights of trade unions have to be defended and extended to gain wider employment and to overcome the negative conse- quences of growing taxation and rising prires. Collective bargain- ing and the right to withdraw labor must go together. Other- wise collective bargaining be- comes a farce, taking place only on the employers terms. More power essential for British unions By JOHN WILLIAMSON LONDON — It is many times said that Britain was the birth- place of trade unionism, since the British working class, as Karl Marx said, were the “‘first- born sons of modern industry.” Yet today the Trades Union Con- gress (TUC) has just decided to assist all its affiliates to launch a national recruiting campaign. Of the 2314 million who qua- lify for trade union membership today—15¥4 million manual and 8 million non-manual, only close to 10 million—or 42%— actually belong. While half the manual work- ers are in unions, only a quar- ter of the non-manual workers belong. While non-manual work- ers’ unions have had a greater growth.rate in recent years and have demonstrated considerable militancy, union membership generally has not kept up with the structural changes in the working class. Today non-manual workers constitute at least 35% of the work force and within the next decade will reach 50%. Close to 9 million women are today em- ployed (half of these are in non- manual jobs) but only slightly over 2 million of them are in The trade union movement is; trade unions. not a “protest” movement. The right of the workers to organize and struggle for a better life is part of the struggle to widen democracy. There is a need for a new and comprehensive charter of La- bor’s Rights, into which certain basic guarantees are written for the working. =people. Such a union act should include the right to strike and picket as a right fundamental to the defense of one’s family; the right to a shorter work week, a higher minimum wage; the right to a job; the right to collective bar- gaining; for programs to create jobs; for labor to be consulted on main questions affecting the lives of the people of our coun- try. India Communist deputy murdered NEW DELHI — More than 100,000 Indian workers in Bom- bay and other cities of Mahara- shtra State in India staged a 24- hour protest strike to demon- strate their anger against ultra- rightist. groups. The workers’ ac- tion was taken just after a gov- ernment team investigating the June 6 murder of Krishna Desai, Communist deputy in the Maha- rashtra Assembly, made public its findings that the slaying was a “planned and prepared in ad- vance criminal act” by reaction- ary groups. Give up war The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has appealed to all countries, which in the past have not taken corresponding steps, to. take measures for exposing all war criminals, for their extradition and punishment. The Council condemned war crimes and crimes against hu- manity committed in wars of aggression and through racial- ism, colonialism, and apartheid. There is also a big discrepan- cy between union membership in the private and public sec- tors (nationalized industries, local government, civil servants) as far as non-manual workers are concerned: 75% are union members in the public sector compared to 15% in private in- dustry. Union Mergers Another step forward in strengthening the unions to meet the constant increase in _company mergers, was the re- cent: vote of the draughtsmen’s and construction engineers’ unions to amalgamate with the Amalgamated Engineers and Foundrymen’s Union (AEF). Last year the foundrymen had alrea- dy taken this step. The union will now be known as the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, with a membership of 1,364.00 It will Appeal for unity ‘Make Tory LONDON — “Make this Tory Government short-lived!” This was the militant ‘call of the- Communist Party of Great Bri- tain immediately the returns showed that the Conservatives had won a majority in the gen- eral election. The CPGB executive commit- tee issued a statement which said that the Tory win confronts the working class and progres- sive movement with the greatest economic and political chal- lenge. criminals—UN It demanded that those respon- sible be called to account. This and other important pro- visions are contained in a draft resolution which the UN Human Rights Commission has propos- ed to ECOSOC and which the Council has passed on to the 25th UN General Asembly fo: decision. . . The USA and Britain were the only countries to vote against the draft resolution. have four sections—engineers, foundry workers, construction engineers and draughtsmen and technicians. Hugh Scanlon, left- wing president of the AEF, de- scribed the action as “an his- toric ocasion,” bringing to frui- tion the dreams of the pioneers of the trade union movement. The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), still the largest single union with one million and a half members, continues to grow and is also trying to incorporate various smaller unions into its ranks. Right Wing Tactic The growth of these two larg- est unions parallels their vigor- ous struggle on behalf of the rights, wages and living stand- ards of their’ members, even when this means taking sharp issue with the right-wing Labor Government. The National Union of Gene- ral and Municipal Workers, the other large general union, held a special conference to consider an amalgamation policy, as well as the possible imemdiate merg- er with the Electricians and Plumbers Union. The leaders of both these unions are virulent right wingers and their concern was how to establish a right wing counterbalance. While they argued that its purpose was to achieve “large powerful unions able to give their members a wide range of services” and received the en- dorsement of the conference, lit- tle has been heard since. There ‘are such obvious wide variations of industry with little in com- mon, that its factional political motives becomes obvious. Im- portant as the everyday trade union ‘struggle is, its weaknes- ses'was also sounded by CPGB General Secretary John Gollan: “We will always be in the forefront of the wages struggle and for immediate democratic demands. But unless that strug- gle broadens out to much more far-reaching objectives on the way to socialism, we can go on for years with the capitalist system still around our necks, and with it the perpetual fight for the next wage increase.” rule short!’ “An onslaught on the trade unions, wages and democratic freedom, and a reactionary line on the foreign affairs, is Heath’s aim. “And in the backegroun Powell and Powellisar we “This Tory victory is the handiwork of Wilson and the Labor right wing and the poli- cies they represent. Unity Appeal “The Communist Party ap- peals for the utmost mass strug- gle now against the Tories and for the maximum unity of all left, labor, and. democratic for- ces for what must be the great- est political and economic strug- gle that lie ahead... . “For a great anti-monopoly movement; for opposition to en- try to the Common Market, and for an all-European Security Conference; and for massive support for the Vietnamese struggles. “The Communist Party pledg- es an all out effort on these liness. = PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1970—Page 7