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Vol. 18 No, 29

Phone MUtual 5-5288

Authorised as second class mail by
the Post Office Department, Ottawa

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1959

10c

VANCOUVER, B.C.

BCFL secretary free
in strike injunction

B.C. Federation of Labor secretary Pat O’Neal was dis-
charged Monday, this week from an injunction obtained by

Northland Navigation Company which charged him with res-
ponsibility for the picketing which tied up the company’s ships.

Mr. Justice J. G. Ruttan said
there was no evidence that
O’Neal had conspired to flout
the anti-picketing injunction

in the waterfront dispute, and

he could not draw the con-
clusion that the BCFL secre-
tary had master-minded the
‘picketing.

(Original picket line was
set up by the striking Marine

_ Engineers. When an injunction

was secured barring pickets,
crowds of ‘“‘spectators” consist-
ing of locked-out longshore-
men and other unionists kept
up a 24-hour vigil at North-
land Navigation. Teamsters re-
fused to cross this line.)

The judge said he could not
say that the alleged illegal
picketing was not a voluntary
act by the pickets and O’Neal

' must be dismissed from the

injunction.
: (Attempts of Seafarers In-
ternational Union to do the

' longshore work and take over

ILWU jurisdiction failed; ;as
did an attempt by the SIU to
‘ have the Marine Engineers de-

anurans a

PAT O’NEAL

certified. Hope for an early

‘settlement of the dispute is

growing. A number of SIU
members were arrested fol-
lowing two beer parlor brawls,
and the B.C. labor movement
has lined up solidly in sup-
port of the longshoremen and
engineers.)

UNION VICTORIES NEAR
DESPITE INJUNETIONS

Despite scores of injunctions—the spawn of Bill 43 — which have
shifted some of labor's battles to the c ourts, the solidarity of picket lines
are winning victories for B.C. workers. Due for early settlement, on terms
favorable to the unions concerned, are the province-wide strike of iron work-
ers and the waterfront dispute at Northland Navigation. Still deadlocked is
the struggle between 27,000 WA woodworkers and coast lumber barons.

The Trades Union Act—
Bill 43—-which became law at
the last session of the B.C.
legislature, paved the way for
struck companies and com-
panies affected by strike ac-
tion to secure numerous in-
junctions, mainly affecting
picketing.

Alleged failure to comply
with these injunctions has re-
sulted in a score.or more of
court cases, some for contempt,
others in which companies
seek damages from unions in-
volved “for loss and injury
suffered.”

When Bill 43 was passed in
the legislature LPP, CCF and
trade union leaders warned
that it would be used to “wage
war on the workers of B.C,”
This prediction has come true.

The new law prohibits pic- -

keting except at the actual
site of a strike; bars picketing
of non-union firms; ;prevents
publication of trade union
“unfair” lists; and makes un-
ions “legal entities” subject
to suit for damages.

Nevertheless, strikes are
spreading. This week Cement
Masons Local 909 walked off
many Vancouver jobs, and the
strike may extend to other
parts of B.C. A strike of fish-
ermen is in the offing. Sheet
Metal Workers Local 280 has
applied for a government-sup-
ervised strike vote. Inside
wiremen’s section of the Elec-
trical Workers Union has re-
jected a conciliation board ma-
jority- award. Negotiations in-
volving 2,300 plumbers have
broken down.

Victories are near, too. Set-
tlement of the waterfront
struggle involving engineers
and longshoremen is expected
at any time. Negotiations con-
tinue betwéen ironworkers
and construction companies
and a contract may be signed
soon,

Solidarity of the labor move-
ment in B.C. is beating back
the employers’ offensive and
opening the door to victory in
the struggle to win substantial
wage increases this year.

Fishermen

to fight

contempt conviction

Immediate action by the United Fishermen’s and Allied
Workers Union for release on $1,000 bail, and launching of
an appeal, followed conviction Tuesday in Supreme Court of
union newspaper editor George North. Right of appeal and
release on bail was won over crown counsel opposition. —

North who has been editor
of The Fisherman for 15 years,
was sentenced by Mr. Justice
Whittaker to 30 days in jail,
and The Fisherman Publishing
Company was fined $3,000. The
contempt charge arose out of
the Ironworkers’ strike when
Mr. Justice Manson issued in-
junctions which in effect order-
ed iron workers to resume
work on the Second Narrows
Bridge, and an editorial head-
ed “Injunctions won’t catch
fish nor’ build’ bridges”
appeared in the union publica-
tion of June 26. °

Defense lawyers Harry
Rankin and John Stanton en-
tered a lengthy statement. on
behalf of North, pointing to
the wide number of trade un-
ions (including the Canadian
Labor Congress) which have
protested the use of court in
junctions, and studies made
by such authorities as Sen.
Robert Wagner, Prof. Harold
Logan, and Prof. at Law A.
W.R. Carrothers of U.B.C,

Rankin quoted Carrothers
stating that in the period 1946-
55, 75 injunctions were applied
for, of which 68 weve granted
and of which 63 were ‘“ex-
parte.” Dr. Carrother showed
that in at least a dozen cases
the judge granted leave to file
orders in court. after the Regi-
stry was closed to the public.

Prof. Carrothers was quoted
as follows: “But where the in-
junction is sought and obtained
not to protect a legal right
but to gain an economic ad-
vantage, not to put down law-
lessness but to bring a union
to terms for a collective agree-
meent, abuse of legal processes
is patent. The injunction was

GEORGE NORTH

not fashioned as a sword of
collective bargaining but as a
shield of legal rights.”

The defense stated. that it
was the stepped up ratio of
injunctions issued during the
past few weeks and the his-
tory of injunctions in labor
disputes outlined in the de-
fense which created the mood
in which the editorial had
been written. The defense
added that the “press has a
responsibility in commenting
on matters of injustice and
matters which are considered
to involve injustice, and that
Mr. North regarded it as his
duty to express his view on
the matter, particularly where
it has direct effect on those
who read The Fisherman.

Further that the principle
of critical comment, free ex-

pression, and honest opinion -

is one that is always main-
tained by The Fisherman.

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