ARACEAE ya SS SA SS RTARTA iiite Poms ary at ae af mf JAVITS LUNE hn lingaillirau Gone if Tn, LING ch B : : inn a ecaneey “HE Collective bargaining 3 ee during the first six Snths of 1961 will see the ecisive Sections of the B.C. Sour movement engaged in tract hegotiations. Among head unions negotiating iain this speriod are the i e: trades, the. fisher- Ea union shore locals, ship- rio and allied workers, civic Hons, and most important of » the IWA te moment, IWA —de- — = not been deter- fs a ere have been rum- hu ee “i the leadership fav- nace acing the emphasis .on Intces €nd employment guar- Vane of Some sort, but the Suver local has -passed a raed asking for 20 cents ur, €re is no doubt that th at the \ bbe industry can afford a rile page increase. In Iorotie. oo the previous. year’s | ofits o H.R. MacMillan Ex- 31% mpany amounted to million, the IWA demand- ‘Cents per hour, and .won if fleen, Last year the successor times as many em- times ag ~ they made _ sixteen he dump ch Profit. Thus, asily aio ‘industry could With 44 ford the 35 hour week oe hours Pay. in the wage movement.” - “existence of ‘ment. On the one. jhand, this What ‘Tabor must do to win in ‘61. Lumber is the backbone of B.C.’s economy. A substantial eee aegis Soiaaniesteameaoceen agazine Section The basic issue of each strike wage increase in this industry tablished conditions. Also sig- would have an important ef- fect on the purchasing power nificant is that in’ each case of all workers, as well as re-, This is. especially significant storing the woodworkers to|in the case’ of the shipyard their former leading position The wage.movement is, how- ever, being retarded .by. the mass .uremploy- workers, the .employers’ demands. ‘The zemployer. offensive .con- has made -the unions shesitant).tinues. however. In ;the ishing about.embarking on campaigns |.industry, that might Jead to eventual. strike action, and.on the other, it has emboldened the employ-|:tic cut ‘in’ conditions, where .the herring menawere forced »by .a lookout lasting a year to accept a.dras- Be. ers to .undertake ,attacks .on| Packers are now -employing.a the established conditions of|.similar. tactic in -the .whaling the .workers. The sharpness of} operation. these attacks, plus the .wide:|.trades, have}:tiations. ind -themesives .con- spread’ unemployment In. the «building unions .entering nego- quickly dispelled :the .illusions|fronted with demands for that- the “welfare .state”’. .and|.wage’ cuts and..re-writing. of ‘stimulus .of arms .expenditures|,wholeagreements..to remove guarantee * economic . security,;hard-won: conditions. and high living standards. BOSS OFFENSIVE N .. recent. months, In this campaign, the bosses ‘have the co-operation of the strikes| provincial. government.- This is have been deliberately pre- a_boss’s . government, which cipitated by the employers, withholds -collective bargain- over issues of working condi-| ing rights from its own .em- tions, in the grain elevators, ployees, and did not hesitate the wholesale houses, and the} to use. the power .of the state shipyards. It is significant that| against. the workers in the instances, - the} Black Bal case. Having estab- in all three wage issue was secondary. lished Bill 43 last year, it is iaucret li 4 Wor kers pats and_unions. 4 UN coe _ the TED WE STAND. That was the slogan of the Na Attacks ine above, in July, 1947. Again this, year, by the monopolies the slogan United We Sta was the protection of long-es-| the union was able to win. | since - before — the} 'l-strike had been called, - thet’ : leadership of some of the craft} unions ~had ‘already conceded united front to OUR READERS. ® Unions representing tens of thous- ands of B.C. workers are now opening contract negotiations. ® What do these negotiations hold ~ for B.C.’s workers? demands and-hard-won gains. @ Already the bosses are showing a beat back fabour’s @ With correct policies labour con | -. win its much-needed demands. ‘READ THIS IMPORTANT ARTICLE ‘PREPARED BY THE PACIFIC TRIB- -WNE-AS A SPECIAL FEATURE FOR }. now .planning further legisla- tive.curbs .on Jabor. The plan- ned .repeal of the checkoff, if passed, will be a body blow at many .unions. . In these ciscumstances, the crying need of jhe Jabour movement is for leadership. The example of the.strikes of the last year shows that where leadership: is given, the work- ers can win. So also does the example ,of the longshore men in winning the guaranteed an- “| nual wage without strike ac- tion. But these are the indiv- idual victories of particular unions, while the _ trade union movement as a whole is un- certain and divided. BCFL MUST LEAD T is the clear. duty of the: B.C. Federation of Labour at the present time.to take the lead .in co-ordinating the efforts of the unions. At its last convention, a resolution u|}-was passed directing the Fed- b eration. to. give assistance and leadership. in .the establish- ment of the 35 hour week. In- stead, we find that the leaders of the Federation are too pre- occupied with the organization of the new party to pay atten- tion to this issue. There have been no pamphlets and few articles on the subject, CLC Research Director Eugene For- sey (quoted in the December issue of the Labour Gazette) throws cold water on the whole issue by asserting that | the. shorter work week will not help the unemployment situation, . Some of the unions, notably the. Marine Workers and the Building -Trades, have pro- ‘| ceeded with demands for the 35..hour .week. However, the -| example of the Marine Work- naimo laundry workers ea on when. B.C.’s workers face sharp nd must become the watchword of ‘ers shows that this type of | demand cannot ke won by in- | dividual unions in isolation. It} must be part of a united, co- ordinated campaign, with sup- port from the whole trade union movement. February 17,- 1961—P ACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5. A policy of bargaining for © minor fringe ‘benefits and featist. Any retreat will only means further attacks needed now Labour can give leadership in shortly about to enter bargain- ing, for the purpose of arriv- ing at common goals and unity of action. Once such a confer- ence is convened, there will be little difficulty in arriving at a common program. In the collective bargaining sphere, top priority should be. given to the 35 hour week without reduction in take home pay. But it cannot stop there. The B.C. unions must rally te the. support of the non-operat- ing railway unions, whose vic- tory in their coming struggle is essential to all Canadian workers. Moreover, the labour move- ment must be mobilized politi- cally. Not in the narrow sense of concentrating all efforts on the raising of funds for the new party to the exclusion of all else, but in united ac- \tion on issues. The jobs pro- | vided on the docks by the China grain order shows the importance of the continuing fight for trade, and for friend- ly relations, with all countries, including China and Cuba. The unemployment crisis cannot be resolved by collec- tive bargaining alone. The struggle must extend to the whole field of public policies over, the unions must preserve their right to struggle. What | is required is the united re- sistance of all unions, CLC and unaffiliated, to defeot the re- | actionary plans of the Socreds.* — a we » looking for easy settlement at — the present time would be de- - and - worsened conditions. What is - is to unite the — workers in a campaign for new gains. The B.C. Federation of this situation by calling a con- — ference of all those unions © that are now in bargaining or — bearing on employment. More-_