2 SS a Sakae Resa A! ltt et > ieee tel | t 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. 1