Lm Lh 2 oor I. Se 1s eee 2 SPORTLIGHT By BERT WHYT Niggas Ray Robinson accepted a “Man of the Year” award from : New York’s Mayor Vincent Impellitteri at a luncheon the other day, then went outside and found that one of the mayor’s cops, PC 14576,#had hung a parking ticket on his salmon-colored 'Cadillac. This tickled the fancy of BUP sports scribe Oscar Fraley, who promptly nominated the policeman as the real “man of the year.” But how about Referee Ruby Goldstein, who stopped the second Robinson-Turpin bout eight seconds before the end of a round and handed Sugar the title, though the American was bleeding so badly from a cut over one eye that he might not have been able to come cut for the next frame. Shouldn’t Ray offer to share the award with Ruby? ‘Mention of Sugar Ray’s swanky Cadillac recalls that Ray took the car with Him all over Europe last summer, plus a ret- inue which included a valet, sec. ‘retary, manager, Shoeshine boy, barber, and a few other char- acters. When this travelling carnival landed in England for the Turpin fight, a London Daily Worker sports writer travelled with ‘Ray in the big car from Dover to his training: quarters. His story kidded Ray gently for his gaudy style of living, but he was impressed’ by Sugar’s ring ability and picked him to whip Turpin. Randy surprised all the English sports writers by whip- ping Robinson easily. ; * * * The Story of the Daily Worker, by the late, great editor William Rust and Allen Hutt (Rusf died in February 1949 when the had completed the first six chapters and Hutt finished the book) is a fascinating story of the birth, growth and fight for expansion of _ England’s first. Communist daily newspaper. It contains many lessons of value to all of us who seek to broaden the contents and extend the circulation of our Pacific Tribune, and I heartily recom- mend it to all readers. (Available at People’s Cooperative Book- store, 337 West Pender, for 50 cents). . One quote from Rust’s description of the early attempt to. start a sports page featuring racing, football and other popular sports in 1930: “Sport, I regret to say, received very short shrift in our paper as it was dropped after only three weeks on the grounds that it was a sink of corruption and a means of doping the working class. In those days we were more than a little sectarian! The tipster I had engaged therefore had to go. I think he was a better politician than a tipster and he made various endeavors to persuade me to permit him to sign his racing notes as ‘Nilats’—on the grounds that it was Stalin back- wards. Five years were to elapse before sport was restored to its rightful place in our columns. Today we have a first- class sports staff. ‘Cayton’ on horse racing and A. A. Thomas on cricket have really made their mark. Our football and cricket annuals enjoy a very wide sale.” A quick check of a current Daily Worker shows more than seven columns out of the paper’s 32 columns devoted to sports, or almost one-quarter of the entire paper. The breakdown of that particular issue: horse racing, two columns; football, two columns; boxing one column; cricket, snooker, track and field, sports diary, ete., two columns. ‘ : * * * England’s cherished soccer record—unbeaten at home by a continental side—was almost shattered by Austria’s championship team recently, when a match at Wembley ended in a 2-2 draw. The clever Austrian eleven had whipped Scotland 1-0 a year ago to become the first foreign team to win an international in Scotland, and on paper they ‘had a slight edge over the English stars. : It was a rip-snorting game. The speedy Meichior put Austria ahead with the first goal after 46 minutes. But England came back’ in the first seven minutes of the second half to score two goals. _ Ramsey converted a penalty for the first one; then he placed a per- fect ball into the goalmouth for Loftus to head well wide of Zeman. Austria tied it up in the 77th minute when ‘Gerhardt converted the spot-kick after Eckersley had fisted out Huber’s header. _ * —* . Worth seeing this Saturday: Harlem Globe Trotters and Kansas City Stars exhibition at UBC Memorial Gym. One thing -I must mention, however. The famous Globe Trotters allowed themselves to be used by the U.S. state department as a “counter attraction” in West Berlin last summer during the | World Youth Festival. In so doing they fell into the same trap as Ray Robinson, Jackie Robinson and several other Negro _ Stars. How much pressure was used we don’t know. Probably ment,” Hare said. . ‘ Torontonians are proud, but very critical of their TTC public utility. Public opinion strongly feels that the stubborn, reaction- ary attitude of the TTC has ‘brought on this tie-up of the metropolitan transportation sys- tem which carries a million peo- ple a day to and from their work and business. The TTC is taking a stand-pat, die-hard attitude, re- jecting the just 'proposals of Di- vision 113, and doing nothing ito solve the acute transportation crisis it has created. President William Mills of the AFL Truck Drivers Union, in pledging support to the TTC workers, declared that his union would suspend any members who drive trucks carrying passengers during the TTC strike. A packed, overflow meeting of TTC workers at Massey Hall, on January 4, after considering TTC rejection of their demands; and a compromise proposal of Ontario Labor Minister Daley. decided to strike immediately. Over 3,000 of ‘the 4,768 TTC workers con- cerned were at the meeting. The meeting emphatically turn- ed down Daley’s compromise which suggestéd a settlement at $1.48 an hour. When James McGinnity, the union’s international vice-presi- dent, urged the meeting to follow the executive’s advice and delay the strike he was told: “Go back to the United States!” After the meeting pickets were organized immediately and sent to all of the 12 TTC divisional points, bus depots and car shops. _ The Toronto Globe and Mail is drawing a red-herring across the trail, editorializing that this is a battle between Division 113’s 4,868, members and the public. It exonerates the TTC and says “let them strike,” urging that big-business should \organize car and truck pools to break the strike. Strikers will draw $15 a week i strike pay. ; Chief demand of Division 113. is $1.55 an hour basic rate, an increase of 15 cents an hour. ® Toronto’s six th transit strike plenty. Toronto area went on strike for wage increases. ployees can be met without the 10-cent fare. Toronto transit workers ‘determined to win,’ say TTC can meet demands | “The strike is on—solid as a rock. The TTC employees are determined to win their just de — mands,” secretary Syd Hare of Division 113 of the AFL Amalgamated Association of Street Electric’ Railway and Motor Coach Employees, stated here as nearly 4800 transit workers in the Greater “We consider that the just demands of TTC em- Our division has the support of \the entire labor move- TORONTO Current base rate for street car operators is $1.24 plus 16 cents cost of living bonus. The TTC offers a base rate of $1.45, which would mean a five cent an hour wage increase. The union also demands over- time pay after an 11-hour spread. It is common for TTC operators to have to put in their 8%-hour working day in two or three staggered periods stretching over 13 hours of the 24. The union also demands a 25 cent an hour premium for operators of the Bloor street tandem streetcars; time-and-a-half for Sunday work over the eight hours; double time for work done on eight stat- utory holidays; guaranteed eight hours pay for section men called out to work in inclement weather. ' TTC wage rates lag behind many Toronto wage scales. Ex- amples: TIC operator—$1.40; TTC carpenter—$1.52; while the Toronto scale for carpenters is $2; for truck drivers $1.60; for printers $1.67%%; for sheet metal workers $1.95; electricians $2.15. Division 113 business agent James Robertson declared that the union had dropped many of, its fringe demands in an effort to get an agreement on the basic wage demand, without results. Earlier in the dispute Robert- sca declared that the union’s just demands could easily~be granted by the TTC without any increase in fares. He de- clared it would cost the TTC about 3% million to meet the union’s demands, and that the TTC had earned a surplus of over $1% million since fares were jacked up to 3 for 25 cents more than enough to pay ‘TTC workers’ demands and ‘leave something over for sur- plus earnings. TTC general manager H. C. Patten has taken the position that there is no justification in Division 113’s demands. He de- clared that if their demands were justified the TTC would have no hesitation in raising fares to 10 cents. . A zi The feeling around the city is in the past 50 years ties up 1,100 streetcars in their barns. that, although the TTC’s finan-~ cial position is such that the last. fare increase would more than meet Division 113’s demands, the TTC is scheming to utilize the situation to jack up streetcar ‘ fares to 10 cents, and to increase ‘fares on the 'Gray Coach lines. There is also a strong rumor that the TTC (Chairman Wm. C.\ McBrien, vice-chairman, Wm. G. Russell, and 'C. A. Walton) are considering introduction of the 10 cent fare together with either abolition of transfers or an ad- ditional charge for transfers. Former controller Stewart Smith estimated that the TTC had piled up profits of $35 million over the past 10 years; = | the increase of TTC fares from | 4 for a quarter to 3 for a quarter would net the public utility about $6.3 million 2 year. Issuing a statement sup- porting the just demands of Division 113, Smith called for the fullest labor and commun- ity solidarity to win this im- portant struggle. eM He stressed that all of Division — 113’s just demands could be met — without any 10 cent fare; and that the 4 for 25 cents fare could be restored if the city council — took proper action ito make the — TTC follow a proper policy of © providing good transportation at cost to the people. He called for a special meeting of city council to deal with the crisis brought.on ‘by the stubborn anti-labor atti- tude taken by the TTC. The last. TTC\ strike was ih % 1945. It lasted only g few hours. Other Toronto streetcar strikes were in 1920, 1919, 1917 and 1902. The 1919 strike lasted 12 days. It was a hard-fought battle. : The TTC,a public utility set up in 1920, operates about 1,100 — streetcars, 160 trolley buses and... about 600 motor coaches of the Gray Coach ‘Lines. It employS _ about 6,000 people. Last year the — utility carried over 310 million revenue passengers. On the aver- age the system carried about 4 million revenue passengers every — working day. : ;