By WILLIAM STEWART When the United Packing- house, Food and Allied Workers of America and the Amalga- mated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America put the stamp of approval on a mer- ger on July 12 last year, it brought half a million food workers into one union and re- versed a trend which started in the U.S. and Canada in the mid- thirties with the formation of the CIO, The Packinghouse Butcher- man’s merger brought together an industrial union (Packing- house) and a craft union (Butchers) — and set the sights of labor on the target of a single food-worker union to face the giants food trusts in the U.S. and Canada. When the industrial unions in North America in 1935 gave up hope that the craft-dominated American Federation of Labor would take adequate measures to organize the industrial work- - ers, they stepped out of the AFL and established the Committee of Industrial Organization (CIO) which became the centre of in- dustrial unionism in both the U.S. and Canada. In Canada this resulted in two centres also, the Trades and Labor Congress (AFL) and the Canadian Congress of Labor (CIO). In 1954 these two bodies merged at the top in both the U.S. and Canada, producing he AFL-CIO in the U.S. and the Canadian Labor Congress in Canada. In spite of this merger at the top, however, the unions remain- ed divided into classifications which could be broadly described as craft and industrial. The Packinghouse - Butcher Workers’ merger is the first union cutting across classifica- tions and mirrors the growing pressures brought about by the consolidation of American capi- tal on the basic union structures in United States and Canada. In the last two decades the American food industry has grown into a highly monopolized industry dominated by a hand- full of giants who determine the prices of food products at the one end and the wages of food- workers at the other. To meet this giant industrial complex requires maximum unity and not least of all completion of the organization of the indus- try, which in Canada is far from completed. What is conceived by the new union is nothing less than the amalgamation of existing food unions in Canada. under one roof {approximately 100,000 workers) and the completion of the organization of the unorgan- ized workers which could con- stitute a powerful group of a quarter of a million. Between that objective and the 40,000 members now in the new Canadian Food Workers Union (26,359 Packinghouse, 12,791 Butchers) lies a lot of ne- gotiations and a lot of hard work. The Food Workers are pres- ently dickering with the Retail Wholesale Union (Canadian membership 25,000) and the word is out that this union is open to discussion. They are also engaged in talks. with the west coast United Fisherman and Allied Workers’ Union (8,000). The Canadian Retail Union (CLC) with 4,000 mem- bers in Loblaw’s have been re- quested by the CLC to give serious consideration to affilia- tion with one of the larger food unions, In addition to this the CLC has established a Canadian Food Council to coordinate the activi- ties of related unions which in- cludes the above-mentioned unions (minus the Fisherman’s union which is a non-affiliate) as well as the Brewery Workers Union, the Bakery Workers, Grainhandlers and east coast Fishermen. Both the Food Workers Union —_— ae : Leaders of the Amalgamated Butchermans’ Union and the United Packinghouse Workers Uy hail the decision of the two unions to merge. and the Allied Fisherman’s Union from B.C. are locked in battle to organize the fishing industry on the east coast. The Food Work- ers claim about 1,400 of New- foundland’s 5,000 fish workers and is struggling against Joey Smallwood’s stringent anti-labor legislation to end the starvaion wages of 85 cents an hour com- mon there. They view their attempts to bring the west coast Fisherman’s Union into the fold as key to the organization of the entire east coast fish industry which in ad- dition to Newfoundland adds up to 12,000 workers. Meanwhile Packinghouse workers head into negotiations with the big three — Canada Packers, Swift, and Burns, They set their overall bargaining tar- gets at the Saskatoon conven- tion last September and while it remains for each Local to put the finishing touches on_ their demands, negotiations will likely shape up around the following: substantial wage increases, 36- hour guaranteed work week, equal pay for male and female (present wage levels for female workers who comprise 20 per- cent of the packinghouse work- force are 13 cents per hour be- low male rates — $2.72 male, $2.59 female), double time for overtime, improved vacations in- cluding 13 weeks after 15 years service, fully paid company pen- sions equal to 75 percent of the best five years average earnings, right to refuse to cross picket line or handle scab goods, all overtime voluntary, severance pay of two weeks for each year of service, company to pick up difference between compensation and regular pay, 15 minutes clean-up time daily, Union leaders refused to spec- ulate on the course of bargain- ing which begins next week. They expect, based on past ex- perience, that after a short ses- sion negotiations will break off until mid-March after which they will be in continuous sessions until the April 1 contract termi- nation date. The Canadian section of the old Packinghouse Union was only about 13,000 members 11 ee HALF-MILLION FOOD WORKERS UN pee __ “Rae T RRS, ( E é smaller than the U.S. sectio®s had a completely auton0lic Canadian set-up. The But on the contrary, had a U.S." bership of close to 400,000 't a small 13,000 Canadian meth ship and no autonomy. : The new union will ys autonomous body with its’! conventions and freedom v | tion in the fields of educt!! political action and organi” | Fred Dowling, who headed : Canadian Packinghouse ~~ for years is the kingpin ™! set-up and is also a Vicé Fi dent of the International OF Along with the movemel Canadian farmers for 4 4 farm union to strengthen bargaining position with ' packing house and food m® 7 lies, the drive for unificati@ the food workers’ union the organization of the und ized, promises a future Et food industry where the 897 tactics of the big companie | be ended and the workel® farmers will reap their _ mate share of this industry’ dispensable product. ae } ry alf dewhurst Railway union mergers 4 _ Merger talks are taking place between the Canadian Brother- hood of Railway, Transport and General Workers and the Bro- therhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks. Together these two unions, one an all- Canadian union and the other an international, embrace the most important grouping of non-operating employees of the two major railways in the coun- try. The talks are taking place in an atmosphere favoring merger of rail unions. Only recently four international running trades unions merged to form the United Transport Union with 40,000 members in Canada. The forces impelling the ror- mation of mergers are the rapid modernization of production through the introduction of au- tomated processes, and _ the equally rapid amalgamations of capital expressed in the growth of giant corporations bringing under their centralized control related aspects of entire indus- tries. These twin processes of mod- ern production leave the work- ing class no other alternative than to greatly increase the bargaining power of the unions. Improved job protection proce- dures and a more just distribu- tion of the fruits of automation through higher real wages, shorter hours of labor and bet- ter working conditions are an imperative of the automation revolution. Nowhere is the centralization of capital and the introduction of automated processes of pro- duction so evident as in the transportation industry. — Rail, road, water and air transport is fast coming under the control of a few great corporations on the North American continent. These great amalgamations of capital facilitate the introduc- tion of automated marshalling and movement of freight and passengers, integrating the var- ious types of transportation. In Canada this centralization and control is centered in the privately-owned CPR and the nationalized CNR. The consolidation of union strength on the railways through mergers is a welcome develop- ment. However, much more needs to be considered. The de- veloping integration of all forms of transport brings sharply to the fore the necessity of bring- ing together all unions in the PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 17, 1969—Page 4 industry into a single federation of transport unions. This aspect of the unification process will inevitably be active in the none too distant future. The projected merger of the two non-operating rail unions brings to the fore a new feature in the unity process not present in other union mergers affecting Canadian workers. This arises from the fact that one of the unions concerned, the CBRT & GW, is a strictly Canadian union, while the other, the BRASC, is a U.S. international union. The merger being pursued in- volves other unions. besides the CBRT & GW and BRASC. In- cluded in the talks are other non-op unions operating in the U.S. If a merger of all unions participating in the talks is con- summated a new union would emerge totalling over 500,000 members, Of this number only 53,000 Canadians would be mem- bers—35,000 in the CBRT & GW and 18,000 in the BRASC. These figures serve to em- phasize the extent to which the presence of the U.S. interna- tionals in Canada dominates the trade union scene in this coun- try. They point up the fact that in the case of most unions deci- sive in the Canadian labor move- ment the initiative in merger de- velopments is more likely than not to reside in the U.S.A. The U.S. fact did not impede the merging of the four interna- tional running trades unions on the railways in Canada because only international unions were involved. But the merger vote did not resolve one of the most burning question of Canadian unionism—autonomy. Canadian autonomy and independent eco- nomic and political action for the Canadian section of the new union have still to be estab- lished. These questions are vital to consolidating the power of railworkers in Canada. However the U.S. fact enters into the merger talks between the CBRT & GW and BRASC. It will impede the merger pro- cess. For the CBRT & GW isa fully independent union enjoy- ing all the rights of sovereignty which the Canadian locals of BRASC do not. The protection of this status within a merger, desirable to enhance the bar- gaining strength of the workers concerned, will serve to win the q 7 members of the CBRT ®& for it. : This fact of life serves vo phasize the correctness 9 CBRT & GW position | must maintain its present: ture within the merged fl It maintains that the @ agreement must uphold right of the Canadian er ship to elect its own 9 d determine its own coll bargaining _ policies, erg procedures and all domes! cial, economic, political cultural affairs. It is not clear whethe! correct stand includes i adian locals of BRASC, the projected merger. It is sonable that it should. 1% the projected merger provide for a fully auton? Canadian section of thes union bringing all memb@ the two unions concerned one Canadian body. To achieve this would & lish a realistic and just Pr for union mergers inY™ districts and locals of th® internationals in Canad® emergence of a federa transport unions in Cana@”