| oraean| 6 eee ’ By BRUCE MAGNUSON While it is too early to draw summary conclusions from the struggles of organized. labor across Canada this summer, certain useful ‘observations can be made about clearly visible trends. Capitalist monoply price and profit inflation force wage and salary. earners to take militant action to win wage and salary increases. Unions must make substantial demands in order to keep in step with climbing prices, rents, taxes and general living costs. Rapidly rising pro- ductivity and swelling ‘profits, justify workers’ expectations for a higher income and an improv- ed standard of living. The bargaining front is con- stantly widening as new sec- tions of the labor force are drawn into the struggle with their employers. The widening spectrum includes almost every- one working for a wage or a salary. : The increasing pressure for © wage and salary increases has met increasing resistance from both. employers and. govern- ments. This has brought about a rapid escalation of strikes and lockouts, a situation which em- ployers and governments have anticipated and sought to pre- pare for well in advance. * * * Technological advances have changed the machinery and methods of labor and brought about an immense increase in labor productivity. But, the ben- efits of these changes go to the capitalist enterprises which are constantly merging into mono- polies, exploiting ever larger numbers of the population. The developing showdown on the economic front between capital and labor will sooner or later expose some far-reaching impli- cations for our social and poli- tical structure, based as it is on private ownership and exploita- tion of labor for private profits. That is why the Freedman Report of a few years ago advocated an.entirely new ap- proach to labor-employer rela- tions in this age of scientific and technological revolution. LABOR’S RIGHTS ERODED However, as was to. be ex- pected, employers and govern- ments moved in an exact oppo- site direction. On one hand, they seek to influence union leaders to negotiate over the heads of the workers and impose cheap settlements. Where this will not work, they try sweeping injunc- tions to break strikes, while pre- paring the ground for the kind of legislation that would put labor into a legal strait jacket. Instead of implementing cer- tain specific and_ progressive proposals of the Freedman Re- port,.the federal government moved to establish yet another inquiry into labor-employer re- lations—the Woods Task Force. This task force brought out a mixed and poisonous package, covered with sweet and. palat- able wrapping, almost guaran- teed to entice some union lead- -foundland. move - direction. ers into acceptance. Legislative action on this report in some form can be expected by the Trudeau government in the near future. In the meantime, the provin- ces have been busy. British Col- umbia has its Bill..33. Mr. Thatcher in Saskatchewan has amended . the .CCF-sponsored Trade Union Act and emasculat- ed it. Ontario set up the notor- ious Rand Inquiry, along with numerous other smaller ones in the public services. The Quebec government has moved toward the corporate state by adop- tion of Bill 290, which incor- porates some of. the worst features of the 750-page Golden- berg-Crispo Report, which came into being at the behest of the Canadian Construction Associa- tion. The Maritimes and New- in. the same A frontal political and legis- lative attack on labor is present- ly taking the form of brain- washing the public on the causes of price and profit infla- tion and its effects. This is the key job of the Prices and In- comes (read wages, not profits) Commission. Dr: Young’s plan when announced last May, men- tioned wage negotiations in the construction and steel indus- tries as “sectors where infla- tionary situations may arise.” Prime Minister Trudeau has set the stage for a downturn in the economy and increasing unem- ployment as a cure for inflation. But not a word has been said about corporate ‘profits, mono- poly price fixing and the need for tax reform, to institute a tax on capital gains and incomes, based on ability to pay. LABOR FIGHTS BACK Ontario building trades work- ers, notably in Hamilton and Toronto, were quick to grasp the dangers of government in- terference with their rights to unfettered collective bargaining. While passing resolutions con- demning the Rand report, rank and file leaders set about organ- PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 29,1969'— PAGE 4 izing a mass protest movement on a. broad scale, seeking the participation of all organized and, as yet, unorganized fellow workers. As we know, this resulted ir large demonstrations to say NO to the Rand report-and demand-.” ing a Bill of Rights for Labor. On. March 29th, 5,000 workers marched: in Hamilton, and on May 3lst, another march of 15,000 workers converged on Queen’s Park. Public service workers under the leadership of CUPE march- ed on June 11th to present the Robarts government with a “Bill of Wrongs,” and a White Paper setting out grievances and proposals for remedies. * * * On the wage front, things have moved swiftly this sum- mer. On May Ist, 3,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Toronto rejected a wage offer of $1.25 an hour over a two-year con- tract and struck their jobs. The Toronto Construction Associa- tion replied with a_ lockout against all building trades un- ions, thereby stopping some $2 billion dollars worth of indus- trial and commercial construc- tion and putting 24,000 workers out of a job. : WAGE BATTLE UNFOLDS The employers tactics back- fired. On the same day the elec- tricians struck, refrigeration workers, roofers and sheet me- tal workers settled. A wage and fringe benefit package of $1.99 per hour over a two-year period was obtained by the sheet metal workers. On May 5, the operat- ing engineers reached an agree- ment, followed on May 12th by the iron workers. The plumbers and electricians settled in June; carpenters, cement masons and bricklayers in July. By the time the 10l-day Metro strike and lockout was over on Aug. 10th, the unions had won wage in- creases ranging from 22 to 55 percent; including fringe bene- fits over this year and next. Several unions also won a re- duction in the work-week from 40 to 37¥%4 hours. Earlier in the year, British Columbia plumbers topped the gains for the country as a whole. By the time Hamilton electricians are settled, they will have as much as $2 per hour increase over the current year. These are unprecedented and impressive gains. It must be remembered how- ever, that most contracts are for a two-year period, and the work is seasonal, with long periods of unemployment. In Quebec, construction work- ers are victims of a jurisdiction- al battle between the interna- tional craft unions and _ the CNTU, which is Quebec-based. Some international craft unions signed agreements for as low as 5 percent increase in wages. Employers and the Quebec Government have taken full ad- vantage of this situation to im- plement Bill 290, providing for legal enforcement. of contracts, once they are signed by the unions involved, the employers, and representatives of the Que- bec government. The construction industry is still in the battle, and the end is not yet in sight. Windsor, Ont- ario, construction workers have re-entered the arena of strug- gle, foilowing return to work earlier. Metro Toronto housing construction could be tied up in a strike by the time this appears in print, over the issue of union representation as well as wages and conditions in this area of building. SHARP STRUGGLES AHEAD In heavy industry, steel, iron and copper workers along the Quebec north shore and Labra- dor have settled with modest gains. The biggest and most sig- nificant battle is still in pro- gress at the time of writing, . fit inflation will not b -nomic struggles could between the United Steel Work: ers Union and Stelco, Inco 4” Algoma Steel in Hamilton, , bury and Sault Ste. Marie. 500 36,000 Ontario workers até “ volved, plus a few thousand Quebec and Alberta. The impressive gains in 0” struction have put workers 12 a mood to accept a cheap ey : ment, and bargainers in ant . have already been sent back ! more. Much in this bargainine ! depends upon the public sup port, given on the basis 0 Ls lic knowledge of what is gah ed. This calls for a better png relations job than the union so far shown a willingnes> © — undertake. Looking ahead, shipping the West Coast should come. a halt unless agreement e reached between the inter d tional Longshoremen’s #4 the Warehousmen’s Union and “ B.C. Maritime Employers AS ciation. The oil workers are ® on strike. While 70,000 Quebec teach? érs have come to a settlemé ? other public employees, ing those of Hydro Quebet iy still on strike. Retail Clerks ug; soon be involved in the 5 gle. Postal Workers’ agreement expire in September. Judginé the the Trudeau stance and background of this pargainit ‘a strike could take place i? Ia fall. 5 The United Electrical Wola will be bargaining with the General Electric Corporatio? December. In Toronto and Mo municipal workers will b@ i gaining for new agreemen ; with the old ones expiriné December. As the fall and the en y 1969 approaches it looks “a much as if the struggle petw? 4 capital and labor will go 9 in fact intensify. Much % |, bargaining in the public see can be expected to PF af’ sharp confrontations. It ale are pears that hours of work tef beginning to take on gre? A importance, - along with of shorter work-year, by means longer vacations. The battle on the legis! front will again move int? gear during the winter am© ing spring. Next year’s pagan e will see such large unions 2° Auto and Teamsters headiné the list. All-in-all, nothing but °° 4g struggles between labor the capital can be expected for the rest of this year and inte “oF next. The cost of price 4% “4g e accep” ntreal ativ® nigh xt arp by labor. If monopoly and to geois. governments Bes a present policies, the curreh™ 14 take : 40! social and political implical nt is of a deepgoing and unprecé ed nature.