Calgary unions rally
to elect labor man

CALGARY

The campaign to elect a united “labor candidate in the

Calgary byelection on October
vity rarely seen in this city.
d by the election of Art Smith, Conservative, to
of Commons last June.

candidate, Frank
Bodie, executive secretary of
Calgary Labor Council, was
nominated by a conference of
trade unionists early last
month. Campaign preparations
have revived discussions of
the Canadian. Labor party
through which Calgary labor
participated so effectively in
political activities some dec-
ades ago. ;

The city labor movement is
determined to get one gen-
uine spokesman into the pro-
vincial house to defend labor.
Recent moves by the Social
Credit government in legaliz-
ing company unions in the pro-
vince, despite provisions in its
own Labor Act tha‘ declares
them illegal, has been inter-
preted here as the beginning
of-an organized drive to smash
the trade union movement.

A long standing complaint
is the attitude displayed by the
government to labor’s requests
for amendments to the~Labor
Act. Organized workers have
been particularly "bitter about
the indifference shown by the
late spring sessions of .the
provincial legislature, when
their .requested amendments
were not taken up in debate
by either government or Oppo-
sition members.

Labor election workers re-
port that the campaign is be-
ing taken up enthusiastically
by local unions, nearly all of
which have endorsed Bodie’s
candidacy.

Several independent unions
not affiliated to the CLC are
also participating actively in
the campaign. Among thése
are Calgary locals of the Inter-
national Union ef Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers and sev-
eral. railway lodges.*

Sources close to the election
committee deplore an attempt
to interpret nomination of a
labor candidate as a repudia-
tion of the CCF as the political
arm of a section of the labor
movement.

They point to the fact that
the nomination is one form of
labor par'icipation in political
campaigns, and not necessarily
the only form.

The gravity with which the
Social Credit government

a

Views’ labor’s entry into the

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2 has stirred organized labor
The byelection was

Calgary byelection became evi-
dent at the Social Credit nom-
inating convention. Premier
E .C .Manning, speaking to
the nominating convention, re-
quested that S. J. Helman,
Calgary lawyer, be selected.
“As soon as possible after
the election,” © the premier
promised, “we would wish him
to take over the attorney-
general’s portfolio.” Manning
himself has held the portfolio
since the 1955 elections.
Helman last year defended
the government before the

royal commission that probed:

charges of maladministration.

Another Calgary lawyer,
Ernest Watkins, is contesting
the seat for the Conservatives.

* Tim Buck, LPP national

leader, will visit -Van-
couver this month for the
B.C. convention of the
Labor-Progressive party, to
be held in Clinton Hall, Sep-
tember 27-29. Following the
convention Buck will tour
a number of provincial cen-

tres. This will be his first

visit to the coast since the
June federal election.

LABOR AROUND THE PROVINCE

City Outside Workers|
hack Quebec strikers”

Support for striking copper miners at Murdochville, Quel :
and a protest against the use -of violence against peaceftl
picketers was given by members of Vancouver Civic Employes
Union, Outside Workers, at the local’s September membershil

meeting.

The resolution said:

“Close to 1,000 miners have
been on strike in Murdoch-
ville since March 11. ae

“This strike was, provoked
by the refusal of the Gaspe
Copper Mines Company to
deal with the United Steel-
workers of America represent-
ing the miners.

“The Duplessis governm2nt
of Quebec has arbitrarily re-
fused to certify the union and
compel the company to bargain
in good faith.

“Strikers and fraternal pick-
ets have beén subjected to
violence by scabs, hired thugs
and provincial police.

“This union protests the
failure of the provincial gov-
ernment of Quebec to certify

Combines Investigation Act threat
to many unions, Mine-Mill told

Should the current attack on
the United Fishermen and Al-
lied Workers Union through
the medium of the Combines
Investigation Act be success:
ful, then few unions would be
safe from _ similar attacks,
UFAWU business agent Alex
Gordon told the Mine-Mill con-
yention here this week.

“If fishermen are found
‘guilty’ of combining to fix fish
prices, there is nothing to pre-
vent the Combines Act being
used to attack miners working
Cn contract, buckers and fall-
ers in the -logging industry,
barbers and what have you,”
declared Gordon.

Of course, he added, en-
emies of labor are deluding
themselves if they think the
UFAWU can be legislated out
of existence.

“Any such ruling, in my op-
inion, would lead to the biggest
and longest fishermen’s strike
in history.”

oe pees ness:

Other guest speakers “at the
Mine-Mill parley included
Mines Minister W. K. Kiernan;
C. W. Pritchard, Workmen’s
Compensation Board; Don
Robinson, Socred MLA for
Lillooet; and Cedric Cox, new
CCF member for Burnaby,
victor in Monday’s byelection.

Mine-Mill officials who ad-
dressed the convention includ-
ed “national president Nels
hibault; vice-president Har-
vey Murphy; vice-president
William Kennedy; — interna-
tional president John Clark;
and District 1 national board
member Ken Smith.

$e x $e

Quotable quotes at the Mine-
Mill convention:

Harvey Murphy: “Scandal
has never tainted. this union.

We have no sweetheart agreé-
ments, no big salaries, no big
expense accounts, Our Cana-
dian section of Mine-Mill has
complete autonomy, is com-
pletely independent. We were
the first to see Prime Minister
Diefenbaker to protest against
the U.S. tariffs on lead and
zinc. Yet across the line Mine-
Mill was supporting: these
tariffs.” :

C. W. Pritchard: “You ex-
pect. me to talk about com-
pensation, but first I want to
talk about peace and war. No
labor convention should fail
to deal with this vital] issue,
You can win the best agree-
ments but if nuclear war comes
you won't be-here to enjoy
the benefits. Labor should
strive -for prosperity without
war.” .

Mines Minister Kiernan: .

“We are anxious to promote.an
iron and ‘steel industry in B.C.
and there is sufficient iron
ore in the province to support
a foundry with a capacity of
400,000 tons a year,”

x 503 Xt

A government - supervised
strike vote was. taken in Wes-
teel Products Ltd’s two plants
here Wednesday, following re-
fusal of the company to accept
a conciliation board recom-
mendation for a 3l-cent hourly
package -wage increase over
two years,

The 144 workers involved
are members of the United
Steelworkers of, A merica.
Their present Pay ranges from
$1.51 to $2.09 an hour.

50 x 504

A strike vote will be taken
among 20 employees of the
Stock Exchange Building Cor-
poration in Vancouver. They
are members ofthe Building

es

Service Employees Interna-
tional Union Local 244.
x % A

Some 400 IWA sash and door
workers, all set for strike ac-
tion, have accepted an offer
made by representatives of 15
plants in last-minute negotia-
tions with union officials.

They will get 35 to 40 cents
in three stages, with the final
installment coming due De-
cember 1, 1958.

50 53 Ot

Operating Engineers, Local
115, has signed a contract! with
the Heavy Construction Asso-
ciation for an 18 percent wage
boost over two years, plus sub-
stantiat improvements in
fringe benefits.

Hy These pickets with their signs pro'esting granting ofa

‘incial conference announ¢

ae

the union and to initiate a
derly collective bargaini
and protests the use of violen :
against peaceful picketers.

Rush recalls
Tory pledge

Demand that the plight
civic governments be plac
high on the agenda of the
forthcoming Dominion - Prov

this week was made by Vall
couver LPP secretary Mautl
Rush in a letter to Prim
Minister John Diefenbaker.

Recalling Tory federal ele
tion campaign promises to 4
Canada’s hard pressed munie
palities, Rush said ‘one of th
most urgent problems demand i
ing solution now is the crisis:
in civic governments and the
need for greater financial Te
sources. to cities and towns 1
alleviate. the excessive ta*
load on homes.”

os ek

Rush drew attenion to fig |

ures published by the Camar
dian Tax Foundation in 16
Journal for May-June showins
that total civic expenditures
have tripled between 1939 and
1956, and that municipal debt
had risen 155 percent betwee?
1949 and 1956::The LPP secre:
tary charged that 70 percent of
municipal revenue is derive?
from taxes on _ real estate, ,
which means largely homes.
. Rush urged that representa”
tives of civic government
Canada be invited to atten
the conference. The Vancouve! —
LPP is also writing city coun!
asking that representations Dé
made to Ottawa to include thé
civic crisis on the agenda °

the Dominion,- Provincial com” .

ference.

Canadian citizenship to Hal Banks paraded with ‘theif
Signs outside Montreal courthouse when the application of
‘he American-born leader of the Seafarers International-
Union was heard. They were led by Bill Mezdir, who was
active in the Canadian Seamen’s Union.

September 13, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE °

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