Secrrentar Phone MUtual 5-5288 | | Authorized as second class mail by ] OS E the Post Office Department, Ottawa. 4 FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1959 VOL. 18, NO. 32 VANCOUVER, B.C. | STRIKE SCENE | WOODWORKERS Strike in fifth week. No sign of settlement. Exten- Sive use of employer injunctions. [WA beginning use of mass picket lines at some places. 27,000 strikers solid, determined to win. All big operations shut down 100 percent. IRONWORKERS -Strike of 550 men in seventh week. Union appealing fines totalling $19,000 on contempt of court decisions. No sign of settlement, although talks continue. : FISHERMEN = Strike of 9,000 fishermen, shoreworkers and tender- men in second week. Renewed talks with Fisheries Asso- ciation broke down this week, as companies rejected union offer. Talks between UFAWU and Fishermen’s Co-op in Prince Rupert continuing. ~ PRINTERS _ Strike of ITU printers in eighth month against sey- eral major firms. Other unions in the trade working be- hind picket lines. Issues mainly jurisdictional. No settle- “ment in sight, ~ _ ELECTRICIANS Strike likely in near future. Government supervised strike vote among 1,200 inside wireman will be held Aug. 12, 13 and 14. IBEW. wants 35-hour week, no reduction in take-home pay. Employers offer a dime over a two- -} ‘year period. aint = MECHANICS ~ Last holdout in garage mechanics strike, Bowell Mc- Misean, settled with union last week, . WN’ Organizational steps to unite the entire labor movement in B.C. to win current and upcoming strikes and to smash Bill 43 were hammered out at the special B.C. Federation of Labor convention ‘SHOWDO last Saturday. Although the convention was closed to the and its decisions were not made public; it is known that the delegates voted to support all strikes, establish a labor defense fund. A co-ordinating committee was set up to direct BCFL ac- tivities on the strike front. Strategy was adopted to deal with situations where injunc- tions bar picketing. The BCFL issued no statement on what this strategy was, but it is be- lieved the “Northland formula™ of “observer” or “spectator” lines was endorsed. Delegates will report back on the BCFL decisions to closed meetings of their locals. Bill 43 paved the way for many of the employer injunc- tions now in effect, convention delegates stated. A resolution was passed condemning “the proponents of this bill and the government which has inflicted this type of legislation on the people of B.C.’ ‘ A rousing, standing ovation greeted Ironworkers Union president Fernand Whitmore and financial secretary Thomas McGrath, who appeared at the convention following their re- lease from Oakalla Prison Farm, on bail of $3,000. each put up by the Federation. Three Ironworkers officials were fined $3,000 each on con- tempt of court convictions, and the union was fined $10,000. Some scathing remarks were made at the BCFL convention about Premier Bennett's “bond- fire” -at Kelowna during a périod when the governmeni’s situation should be focussed on |the serious strike situation in the province. The Socreds’ new Trade Unions Act (Bill 43) was de- nounced as the lever which en- abled employers to hamstring and cripple unions by the use of injunctions. But the ‘Northland formula” of ‘observer lines’’ which other unions respected demonstrated the invincibility of a united labor movement, and delegates felt this formula opened the door to victory in current strikes. ; BCFL convention delegates will report back to their locals at a series of meetings this coming week. No minutes will be kept of these meetings, and no press releases issued. press 367 observe all picketlines and KHRUSHCHEV EISENHOWER THE BIG THAW] Maybe it’s not “the big thaw” yet, but to the peace« loving peoples of the world it will do until a bigger one comes along. This week millions of people in all countries welcomed the news, released simultaneously in Moscow; and Washington, that Soviet Premier Khrushchey and U.S. President Eisenhower would exchange visits this fall in an effort to ease international tensions, Premier Khrushchey will tour the United States in Sep- tember for about 10 days and will spend a few days with Eisenhower in Washington. President Eisenhower will visit the Soviet Union a couple of months later. | A summit parley may be held before the end of the year. Prime Minister Diefenbaker said this week that the govern- ment will consider the _possi- bility of inviting Premier Khrushchey to Canada at the conclusion of his American tour. Diefenbaker said he ’’ex- pects. beneficial resulis” from the Eisenhower - Khrushchey visits. Europe received the news with jubilation. In Britain all newspapers headlined the news of the exchange visits. Eisenhower made it clear that he was “in no way to be considered as spokesman’ for the. West” and said he would discuss problems of mutual in- terest with Prime Minister Macmillan of Britain, President Charles deGaulle of France and Chancellor Konrad Aden- auer of West Germany, prior to Khrushchev’s arrival, But, as Khrushchev told Nix. on in .Moscow:~ “‘Because we are the two. most powerful countries, if we live in friends ship other countries will also live in friendship.” (Of 10 Vancouver citizens in- terviéwed on Hastings Street by. the Pacific Tribune, nine fa- vored the idea of Ottawa invit- ing Premier Khrushchey te visit Canada at the conclusion of his American tour. Most people expressed ‘the view that such a visit would “give him a chance to know us, and give us a chance to know him.” Sole dissident was a Hungarian who took part in the counter-revolu- tion in Budapest in 1956, and‘ who felt that “the sooner we start a war against Russia, the better.”