JANUARY, 1978

B.C. FEDERATION LEADERS

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER.

“OUT OF STEP WITH THE TIMES”

By WALTER YOUNG

The recent B.C. Federation
of Labor convention reinforced
the view that the leaders of
that body are men dangerously
out of touch with the times. In
their speeches and deportment
they were -reminiscent of
nothing so much as a parade of
dinosaurs, lumbering about the
landscape, bewildered by
events but driven by a convic-
tion that brute strength alone
would solve the problems of
their environment.

It is often called labor milit-
ancy, but it is better described
as stupidity. Faced with un-
deniably difficult times for
wage earners,

the most

enlightened stance that these
giants can advocate is a com-
bination of demonstrations in
Victoria and shopworn threats
to call a general strike. The
notion that the appearance of
several hundred trade union
members on the Parliament
Building lawns is going to
convert the government to
labor’s point of view is simply
not credible. It is not likely to
change the minds of the
majority of voters who sup-
ported that government either.
All that a mob scene in Victoria
will prove is. the B.C. Fed’s
ability to charter buses and
organize a demonstration - and
no one has doubted that in any
case.

The endless natter about a
general strike that isso much a
part of Len Guy’s leadership is
more serious. Mr. Guy talks
about this particular form of
labor militance as though it
was both easily mounted and a
relatively painless means of
getting what labor wants. In
fact it is neither. A general
strike is not just another bar-
gaining device, it is perhaps
the most serious threat to

public order and social stabil-
ty short of revolution. The
Winnipeg General Strike in
1919 resulted in bloodshed,
economic stagnation and won
nothing for labor. Then the
labor leaders thought they
were merely escalating the
bargaining process. Like Len
Guy, they were ignorant of the
enormity of the undertaking
which, once afoot, gave the city

up into the hands of reaction- .

ary vigilantes, terrorized the
‘citizens, and undermined the

GUY’S LEADERSHIP

cause of unionism.

What emerges from the de-
liberations of labor is a clear
indication that the unions
appear to sense that they have
great power, but they either
lack the sophistication to use it
responsibly or they are so
determined to be vindictive
that responsibility is not a
practical consideration. And
this is paradoxical, for in
almost the same breath that
they threaten general strikes,
they vow allegiance to the NDP
and urge affiliates to work to
elect an NDP government next

time. On the one hand they pro-

pose to undermine the system
while on the other they propose
to work within it. In neither
instance do they seem to have
any sense of the growing pos-
sibility of governments facing
the political necessity of leg-
islating power away from
trade unions that seems deter-
mined to use it irresponsibly.

Od

__ PRIVATE

RIGHTS |

=o

The unions, like corp-
orations, have always tried to
play the game on both sides.
They have insisted on their
rights as private agencies but
have never hesitated to hold
the public to ransom when it
suited their purposes. Unlike
the corporations, however,
unions have been subjected to
legislation that interferes with
their private rights to con-
siderable. degree and they
quite rightly protest that they
are more closely regulated
than their opposite number.
Inco may bring Sudbury to its
knees while spending large
sums of public money develop-
ing its foreign operations, yet it
suffers less public opprobrium
than striking transit workers
who compel the public to walk
or ferry workers who interrupt
holiday weekends. Clearly, it
isn’t fair, but social attitudes
don’t seem to have a great deal
to do with fairness anyway.

What unions need to realize
is that the public, great mind-

less beast that it is, prefers
companies to unions. And that
- is not surprising in a society in
which the value systemt is more
a reflection of the market-
place than the altar piece.
Unions also need to recognize
that their actions have a more
immediate and obvious effect
than do those of the corp-

orations. It adds up to a des-
perate need for unions to direct
their attention to finding alter-
native means of serving their
members’ interests, to adapt to
the changes in the social en-
vironment that are making it
much easier for government to
legislate unions into immob-

ility.

In his book Strike, Walter
Stewart explores the problems
of Canadian unions sympath-
etically and objectively. A
union man himself, he
recognizes the importance of
labor organization as anyone
must. He also recognizes the
danger inherent in the present
situation.

Stewart explores some of the
alternatives and many will find
his discussion of labor
relations in Sweden, Australia,
Britain and Austria illumin-
ating. No state has yet achiev-
ed perfection in this difficult
matter but other states have at
least tried to find alternatives
to the bargain-strike-settle
syndrome so typical of our
labor relations. To his credit,
Stewart does not offer a pat so-
lution. He recognizes that there
is no simple answer because
the problem is so complex and
because, at its epicentre, it is a
question of attitudes and these
are changed very slowly.

It would help if more people
undertook to learn a little

’ about what unions are up to

and what they have achieved
for society. It would also help if
the unions themselves stop-
ed playing the heavy role and
set about finding ways to adapt
to current circumstances. It is
in the interests of us all that
they do.

. COLONIST
CT

A career as a member of parl-
iament has been ‘‘a wonderful
way to live” according to NDP
House leader Stanley Knowles,
and he looks forward to 35
more years of Commons ac-
tivity to make life ‘‘more civil-
ized, more humane for our
people.”’

Knowles made the remark at
a recent reception held to mark
the 35th anniversary of his
election to parliament.

Knowles occupied the seat
left vacant by J. S. Woods-
worth, founder and first nat-
ional leader of the CCF, in a
byelection in 1942.

The veteran parliamentarian
is now serving his 11th term as
an MP, having lost his seat
only once in the 1958 general
election.

-Ottawa Report

NDP SCORES
BUILDING OF
NEUTRON BOMB

New Democrat defence
critic Andrew Brewin
(Greenwood) has _ bitterly
attacked the federal govern-
ment for its ‘incredible indif-
ference to a subject which is on
the minds of people across the
world’’ — the proposed produc-
tion of the neutron bomb.

In a Commons debate on
Canada’s relationship with
other nations in the world,
Brewin reviewed the ‘‘global

folly” of the arms race by

focussing on the ‘‘sinister
turn” it has taken with a bomb
that ‘can kill people with rad-
iation without too much dam-
age to property.”

Neutron bombs are small
tactical weapons which quickly
kill people near the blast with a
dose of lethal radiation. The
people not in the target area it-
self ‘‘do not die immediately,”
he said. ‘‘They linger around
for a week and die slowly with
convulsions, vomiting and
diarhea. The result is that they
die in great pain.”

Brewin charged the neutron
bomb was not only‘“‘particul-
arly inhuman” in its misplaced
emphasis on property rather
than human lives, but the ef-
fect of its use might well be “to
blur the distinction between
nuclear and conventional
weapons, and once that thres-
hold is crossed there will be no
certainty of control.’

Canada and Provinces

Canada(1)

Atlantic Provinces(2)
Newfoundland

Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

Quebec

Ontario
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Aiberta

British Columbia

Pp Preliminary estimates.

(1) Includes Yukon and Northwest Territories.
(2) Includes Prince Edward Island.

Vacancy Rates for Part-time and Full-time . yb:

Ending tL

Nov. Aug. Nov. —
1977p 1977 1976
(Rates per 1,000 jobs)

—s
MQ NINOOanwss @

_
ahODMDMA ADSL GI]

nowraonhs &aWwuwuvwna

JOB VACANCIES
DECLINE IN CANADA

Statistics Canada says the
number of vacant jobs in
Canada declined during the
three month period ending
Nov. 30 from the preceding
period and from the year pre-
vious.

In fact, the government
agency reports, preliminary
statistics show vacancies for
full time, part time and casual
jobs declined 14% to 46,200
from the 53,600 vacancies re-
ported in the June-August
period.

Compared with the three-
month period in 1976, the num-
ber of vacancies decreased by
1,000 or two percent.

Vacancies for full time jobs
decreased by 14% to 39,800
from the previous period.

REGINA (CPA) — A higher
minimum wage, a resource
revenue fund and measures to
limit foreign ownership of
farm land were among the
highlights of the speech from
the throne opening another
session of the Saskatchewan
legislature.

Effective Jan. 31, the
province’s minimum wage will
rise to $3.15 an hour and will in-
crease to $3.25 an hour on June
30. That represents a five per-
cent rise from the last mini-
mum wage increase 13 months
ago.

A resource revenue trust
fund will be created to collect
all revenue from non-renew-
able resources. (Payments to
the present fund were stopped
when the Supreme Court out-
lawed Saskatchewan’s energy
royalty legislation).

Alarm at the growing
amount of farm land being
purchased by foreign investors
at highly inflated prices has
caused the province’s NDP
government to propose tighter
restrictions on the sale of land
to foreigners.

In placing emphasis on job
creating small business ac-
tivity in the province, the
government will introduce
legislation to establish an

Longer term vacancies (jobs
unfilled for more than four
weeks) declined by eight per-
cent to 14,200.

The figures show that, on an
average, there were at least 21
people looking for every
available full time job in
Canada in November. There
were 840,000 people unemploy-
ed in that month.

For every 1,000 existing jobs
in the latest three-month per-
iod, five were vacant, a
decrease of one from both the
preceeding period and the
comparable period in 1976. The
highest vacancy rates were
observed in Alberta (10 per
1,000) and Ontario (six per
1,000). The lowest rate (three
per 1,000) occurred in New-
foundland and Nova Scotia.

advisory committee on small
business activity in Saskat-
chewan. The proposed law will
help the province’s industry
minister find ways to improve
opportunities for small
business.

The speech promised the
introduction of programs
“aimed at encouraging and

strengthening the initiatives of
Saskatchewan manufac-
turers.””

Measures will also be forth-
coming to help small com-
munities revitalize their com-
mercial areas and identify
“promising business oppor-
tunities.”

The speech outlined plans to
provide $10 million for urban
transportation. The money will
go to assistance for building
arterial streets and
connectors, conducting
transportation studies and
buying buses and other
vehicles.

The 33-minute speech,
delivered to open the 4th
session of the 18th legisla

comes amid speculation in
many quarters that the

government — the sole re-
maining ND

in Canada — is alread,

up for a provincial ele

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