Demand fribunal

UAW attacks

auto layotts

A delegation of the United
Automobile Workers met recent-
ly with Industry Minister C. M.
Drury and demanded the estab-
lishment of a public tribunal to
hear reasons for the automotive
layoffs in Canada. The tribunal
would require the auto compan-
ies to show cause before any
layoffs can be considered. The
union also severely criticized the
auto pact and urged its renego-
tiation.

Over the course of the season-
al shutdown while the plants re-
tool for the new model, employ-
ees have been dismissed in both
Ford and General Motors. — :

Of the “big three” auto pro-
ducers only Chrysler will go in-
to production on its 1967 model

without decreasing its work-
force.
President Edward Bruce of

Local 707 (Ford Oakville) of the
United Auto Workers said the
Ford layoffs are: “a direct re-
-sult of the auto trade agree-
ment signed by Canada and the
United States.”

The recent layoff at Ford,
which has cut about 250 work-
ers from the payroll to date,
follows on the heels of an an-
nouncement by General Motors
of a cut back of 2,600 men in
Oshawa, a further cut by the
GM subsidiary, McKinnon Indus-
tries in St. Catharines, of 250
workers plus the temporary lay-
off another 600.

Prior to the meeting with

Drury the executive of UAW
Local 222 (Oshawa-GM) issued
a statement commenting on the
layoffs.

“Direct victims of the layoff
are young heads of families
lured to Oshawa over the past
two years by glowing promises
and repeated assurances of more
and happier days ahead by Gene-
ral Motors of Canada spokes-
men. A good many of these
young people paid top dollar for
their homes in a tet housing
market and now stand to lose
their equity in a market sud-
denly gone slack.”

“So long partner”

The union statement also
went on to attack the deci-
sion of GM to increase produc-
tion at its plant in Ste. Therese,
Quebec.

The reason the company gave
for the move to Ste. Therese was
that the paint process in Osha-
wa made it impossible to pro-
duce cars there for the Ameri-
can market. Pointing to the

‘weakness in this argument, the

union stated that:

“GM could have made the
changeover here two years ago
when it was building the .Ste.
Therese plant, instead of wait-
ing until now, as it has done.
Besides, GM trucks in the U.S.

“use enamel.

“The union is not overlooking
the tactical advantage to the
company. in weakening the
strongest GM local in Canada in

preparation for next year’s pat-

tern-setting contract negotia-
tions. The move, additionally,
gives General Motors a linger-
ing advantage on wages since
the UAW still has the task of
bringing Ste. Therese rates up
to those paid at Oshawa. Gen-

eral Motors may have deluded

itself into thinking its Quebec
workers are willing to go an-
other full year as second-class
among the company’s Canadian
workers. Or it may think the
Oshawa layoff is worth what-
ever monetary advantage it can

gain at Ste. Therese.”

MASSEY-FERGUSON has reported that last year its sales
rose by 21 percent. Moreover its profits rose by almost 40 percent
during the last nine months. lf you are a shareholder your piece
of the $32,700,000 loot is $2.01 a share which is somewhat better —
than $1.57 for the same period Jast year. What’s this now about
wage demands and inflation? :

* Ro eX :

THE FOLLOWING statement was issued by Claude Jodoin, pi
sident of the Canadian Labor Congress: “Announcement by the
Confederation of National Trade Unions, made on the eve of the
railway strike, that it proposes raiding railway unions across —
Canada is unprecedented in Canadian labor history. Never before
has any organization related in any way with the labor movement —
made such a strike-breaking effort. The CNTU, in attempting '
knife the striking railway workers in the back, has made its position |
abundantly clear. It has acted in the interests of management |
rather than the workers. This effort will certainly receive absolute —
ly no support from railway employees who honor true trade union
principles.”

* * * q

PLANS for a national trade union Conference on labor legis!@ |
tion have been announced by Claude Jodoin,. president of
Canadian Labor Congress. The meeting will be held in Ottawa,
Sept. 27 and 28, and attention will centre on injunctions. Othe!
subjects to be dealt with will include compulsory arbitration and
the “residual rights of management.” Each provincial Federation
of Labor and each union affiliated to the CLC is being invited 1 -
name two delegates. It is expected that the attendance will be
250 to 300. |

The first day’s program will be devoted to injunctions, wit? |
an introductory paper on “Labor and the Law Regarding Injun® |
tions” by John Osler, Q.C., Toronto. Following a question perl0® —
the delegates will separate into groups to discuss various aspec!® —
of the subject. The groups will then report their opinions back be |
a general session. The second day’s session will commence with ®
paper on “Residual Rights of Management” by A. Andras, directo!
of the Legislative Department of the CLC. This will be follow&? \
by a paper on “Compulsory Arbitration” by David Lewis, MP. |
Toronto, and comments by Dr. Eugene Forsey, CLC Director © —
Research. : ; }

While this will not be a policy-making conference, it is PhO
posed to conclude the sessions with a summary of the discussiOl
and the conference may make recommendations for future actio™

* * * :

THE International Ladies Garment Workers Union has w0? ;
new agreement for its 3,000 members in Toronto. The agreeme? }
calls for an immediate wage increase of 10 percent and two 4 i
tional increases of five percent in August 1967 and 1968. The oe |
tract also includes a protective clause against job reductions @
to automation, an additional paid statutory holiday and improve”
severance pay if an employer goes out of business. }

* * 2 as a

FIVE NEW Moskvich automobiles, 85 motorcycles, 75 reff By
erators and 93 family vacation trips to Varadero Beach were awa!”
ed to voluntary canecutters of the Mayaberque Region of Hava
who participated in Cuba’s 1966 sugar harvest emulation .- - - BY
garia’s plan of industrial output for the first half of 1966 has-

pee?
overfulfilled by six percent... 24

2 tl

Union leadership is puttoatest

Perhaps the most significant
feature of the times we live in
is the fact that the working
class is becoming conscious of
its true position as an exploited
majority in our society. As this
coi.sciousness grows, so do also
the workers’ struggles for great-
er economic justice and against
any and all manifestations of
second-class citizenship.

An inevitable by-product of
this development is that it puts
union leadership to a test as to
its ability to lead at a time when
mass struggles become the order
of the day, and when it becomes
necessary for union leaders to
understand the moods-and aspir-
ations of the people they are
called upon to lead.

Recent negotiations and work-
ers’ struggles have proven, be-
yond a shadow of any doubt,
that the greatest gains stand
to be made where the rank-and-
file and leadership work in the
closest harmony and mutual con-
fidence. To make this possible
it is essential for leadership to
consult frequently with. the
members they represent, to keep
them fully informed of all de-

velopments, and to understand
that, in any final showdown, it
is the organized strength of the
membership that has to be mobi-
lized for action. to gain their
common objective.

The days of general passivity,
when the “able” negotiator
seemed to play the key role in
contract negotiations, are com-
ing to a close. To anyone who
is conscious of the class divi-
sions in our society, and who
consequently understands the
mass character of working class
struggle,. this is a welcome
change from a temporary state
of fantasy and back to the reali-
ties of life. The able negotiator,
to be sure, is still needed more
than ever before. But the key to
successful collective bargaining
with the boss is the solidarity
of all the workers involved and
their readiness to stand up and
fight to the bitter end for their

“common aims and objectives.

In most contract negotiations
so far this year, the truth of the
above situation appears to be
better understood by union lead-
ers. At each step, leaders of
most unions have seemed to

September 9, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 6

LABOR SCENE
by
BRUCE MAGNUSON

appreciate the need to consult
their members and to keep them
fully informed of developments.
Unfortunately there are excep-
tions to be recorded. One of
these notable exceptions involves
negotiations in basic steel. For
despite all efforts, by the apolo-

gists for the steel union leader-

ship, to find scapegoats of one
kind or another to blame for
recent wildcats, the real reason
is undoubtedly to be found ina
widening gulf between the mem-
bers of the union and at least
some of their leaders. As one
Stelco worker expressed it in the
recent unauthorized walkout in
Hamilton: “there is the company,
and there is the union; the guys

on the job are like the ball that .

gets tossed between the two.”
The workers naturally resent

ing the rationale behind thes?
settlements. _

this. Suspicion that some lead-
ers may act too chummy with
the boss is deepened every time
the company discriminates
against workers, as in the recent
wholesale dismissals and suspen-
-sions by Stelco.

Bat the greatest fears and
deepest suspicions are generated
by such utterly inexplicable
‘statements as the one made by
Eamon Park, executive assistant,
to the Canadian Director of the
union, William Mahoney.

Mr. Park has been reported
as having deplored the ‘industri-
al relations atmosphere’ created
by wage settlements in the St.
Lawrence Seaway and Quebec
dockers’ dispute. Mr. Park has
charged that these settlements
created the crisis on the rail-
ways and made bargaining in
‘other industries inordinately dif-
ficult, He even went so far, ac-
cording to newspaper reports, as
to state that this was evident
in the negotiations he attended
with the Steel Co. of Canada,
and that many management rep-
resentatives privately expressed
‘chagrin at the way the Govern-
ment intervened without explain-

This attitude may explain wily }
Stelco workers were offered wis |
of the poorest wage settleme”
recommended to a_ group this
workers in basic industry |
year, And this by an indust a
that can well afford to pay be

ter than any other |
|

Well, the Stelco workers ay
the expected when they rejec
a cheap and unworthy sett 7 |
ment. The railway workers b4 a
done the right thing in reject
conciliation boards’ proposals!
similarly unacceptable set fe
ments, The Canadian Labor CO”
gress at its Winnipeg ConV.,
tion did the right thing wher ar
rejected phoney guidelines Wy
wages in the face of monop? 4
rigged prices and stated it wou a
fight such an incomes policy: (4
think it over, Mr. Park. It wom
seem that most of your frl@"
are on the management’s sid@

the table,
In the meantime, let us a
support both railway worké
and steelworkers in the struge
for their worthy objectives: