eos Pay

Ukisewea!

‘Take over

CPR lands’

urged for Vancouver

Eighty years after the CPRwas
given a land grant in Vancouver
the heavy hand of the railway
company is still felt today over
the. entire development of the
city, said Vancouver Communist
Party secretary William Stewart
last Sunday in a radio broadcast
over station CKLG, .

Pointing out that one of the
conditions of the agreement with
the CPR was the granting of 6,000
acres of land in Granville Town-
site in Vancouver, Stewart said
this grant is six times the area
of Stanley Park, He charged that
land given the company *and on
which it has paid small taxes in
the intervening period, is being
used by this biggest transporta-

tion monopoly in a fashion op-
posed to the interests of the
people of Vancouver,”

Pointing out how this corpora-
tion holds back the development
of Vancouver, Stewart made the
following points: :

* It holds both Shaughnessy
and Langara Parks (part of that
free land grant), It has been pay-
ing taxes on Shaughnessy Park
at an assessed value of $290,300,
Its asking price to the taxpayers
of Vancouver for this price was
$2.2 million which the citizens
angrily rejected, For Langara
they are talking of $4} million,

* The CPR dominates the False
Creek area which is vital to the
industrial development of Van-
couver, False Creek can only

develop in line with the inten-
tions of the CPRor at the expensé
of the purchase of this land from
them at inflated prices,

* One entire strip on the south
shore of Burrard Inlet, between
Burrard and Columbia streets, is
in escrow in the courts of this
country in a dispute between the
CPR and the Canadian govern-
ment as to ownership, Ithas been
before the courts for twenty years
and cannot be developed until its
ownership is established,

* CPR marshalling yards are
smack on the waterfront in the
west end of the city dominating
land which should under no con-
dition be used for sucha purpose,

“The CPR is not just a trans-
portation company, It operates
big hotels, ranches, smelters;
you name it,. they have it, In the
opinion of the Communist Party
the property of the Canadian
Pacific Railway that relates to
transportation, should be nation-
alized, and that such land which

was granted totheminconnection —

with the railway, expropriated
and the company compensated on
an equitable basis,

“Such action would clear a log
jam in Vancouver that sits smack
in the path of progress and open
the way for the orderly planned.
development of the Port, False
Creek and the large park areas
of Shaughnessy and Langara”

‘Stop scaring kids’

DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK

warning by

Dr. Spock

A stern warning to parents to
stop instilling a “hate Commun-
ists” outlook in their children
was issued in Toronto last week
by Dr, Benjamin Spock, :

The internationally - famous
pediatrician and authority on
child care made the statement in
Massey Hall while addressing a
meeting of 2,000 people called by
the Toronto Campaign for Nu-
clear Disarmament, He quoted
figures to show that hysteria
campaigns in the U.S, had warped
the outlook of children to the
point where up to 50 percent live
in expectation of nuclear war,

Dr, Spock said that “if we pro- -

gressively bring up generations
of children with an unnatural
understanding of the world and
other peoples we will get very
unhappy results,”

IWA VOTE HOTLY CONTESTED

AIBC. labor rallies behind
Alberni office workers’ strike

being approached in a number of key industries. Office workers, ford
miners, carpenters and fishermen are in various stages in their common fight fo a

better economic deal. :
Spearheading the fight at the

moment is a gallant band of 62 |
white collar workers, members |

of the Office Employees Inter-
national Union, on strike at the
MacMillan, Bloedel & Powell
River plant in Port Alberni, They

hit the bricks when the giant .

forest monopoly refused to meet
their demands for higher wages
and union recognition,

Although the union won certi-
fication late in 1963, the company
is acting as if it had never heard

of a group of workers organizing,

It even went so far as to deposit
funds in the workers’ bank ac-
counts the day before a strike
vote was taken, As far as can be
determined, this tactic repre-
sents a flagrant violation of pro-
vincial labor statutes, although
there are no signs ofthe MB& PR
being taken to task for this open
breach,

Longshoremen, electrical
workers, the IWA and Pulp and
Sulphite have all respected the
office workers’ picket line, as
have the railroad unions, The
entire organized labor move-
ment, in fact, has lined up solidly
behind the OEIU and the com-
pany’s operations in the Island~
city are completely shut down,

Last Sunday, the B,C, Federa-
tion of Labor called a meeting in
Nanaimo of all unions affected by
the walkout, The meeting re-
solved to back the office workers
to the hilt and was followed by
a bigger parley held in the IWA
Hall in Vancouver on Wednesday,

The Wednesday meeting was
attended by a cross-seciton of
the whole labor movement, as all
unions affiliated to the BCF were
invited to attend.

The Provincial NDP also re-
sponded to the challenge; The
office workers set up a picket
line at MacMillan Bloedel’s op-
eration at Harmac, just outside
of Nanaimo, Provincial NDP

leader Robert Strachan joined the

pickets, calling for the people of
B.C, to support the office work-
ers in their just cause,

The line was respected by all.

unions involved in the operation,
but was unable to shut down the
plant because the company ob-
tained an injunction against
picketing within hours after it
had been set up. Injunctions have

been issued indiscriminately in’
labor disputes recently, belying

the myth that the state is “above”
labor problems,

The office workers are deter-
mined to win this strike and make

ton.

the company realize that the union
is here to stay, Most observers

* agree that a successful conclu-

sion of the strike will go a long
way towards organizing the white
collar workers in the province,

The West Coast’s 26,000 mem-
“bers of the IWA are voting on
the Fisher proposals (reported
in last week’s PT), The Regional
Council has gone on an unprece-
dented spending spree, buying up
time and space on radio, TV and

the daily press in an all-out’

effort to convince its member-
ship to accept Fisher’s recom-
mendations,

The top brass even went to the
extent of “leaking” a story to
news media that international
president , Al. Hartung supported
its position—a story which re-
ceived prominent treatment by
the disseminator of news, Har-
tung promptly denied taking sides
in the purely regional dispute and
stated he had no opinions on the

Bargaining, |
boss style

"| Won'T EVEN LISTEN ToTHE LNION'S
PROTOSALS UNTIL You AGREE To

ACCEPT THE QmPany OFFER. / ©

LEADERS OF ALBERNI OFFICE WORKERS. Leading the fight for ree:
nition at MB & PR are ieft to right, Barry Bonfield, Archie Cardinay ©
Fenske, OEIU Vice-President Bill Lowe, Ronald Mrus and Clive Hea

Now

hours worked on weekends-

oco8
Lind?

_THE BARKER Phot?

wevels

matter, His denial, ho rages

not given the same wide cove
4, Tabu
st
time

A close vote is expecte
lating of the ballots mu
finished by June 8, at which
they will be forwarded to
regional office.

@ *%
B,C, carpenters have show
a government supervised ®
vote that they, too, are thet
mined to win parity with Ome
construction trades. CarP
employed by independent er
tors voted 97 percent 1? ho
of strike action, while those
work for members of the "|
couver Builder’s Exchan8® :
corded an 83 percent votes

A strike, which would te on
reported 98 percent of all é
struction in B,C,, threatem”
erupt but talks are being h® ie
an attempt to avert it. One tt
turbing feature is that at ye.
critical stage, operators 4 for
once again raised a demay
a 5-year contract, This usr
ready been turned down previo! ie
ly by the union, ny

The conciliation board sity
on the Mine Mill-Cominc? ©
pute is still meeting, with
reports yet of any progres®
made, The board conven
Trail on May 25 and held P
hearings until May 30, at
many union members 4PP
it has gone into ©
sessions,

eal

The union is demanding 3m
hourly increase,. plus the ©
lishment of a regulated 4 ;
week with premium pay ior

PT VICTORY
CELEBRATION

Saturday, June 13 —
‘Queen Elizabeth Playhouse
8:30 p.m.

% Colorful program, including the Chinese Youth

Association Dancers, Kobzar Dance Group of
the AUUC, Carl Olsen, The Milestones, other

talented performers. 3

% EARL ROBINSON, noted American composer
and people’s artist, will be flying directly from
New York to participate in the festivities. |

‘

«x @
DANCE
gee

eee

ik

June 5, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PO9