the guys on the job are like- the eae that gets tossed between the ‘02? zs

The daily press had a field day with this aspect of the situation. ile the headlines screamed about the workers mobbing their leaders, the editorials wept tears about the unioh leaders now Teaping the seeds of the con- tempt for the law they have de- Monstrated around the issue of

injunctions, Some issues of the

; amilton Spectator were so farful, the pages were soggy—

but Stelco stayed i shut into the Weekend, :

outing Thursday and Friday “Ne local leadership tried to get Mm Contact with the “leaders” of

© wildcat. Perhaps forgetting

er own past, ignoring the Pride and discipline of the steel- Workers, forgetting also the his-

» tory and heritage of the working

ies of Hamilton, the leadership ae d not conceive ‘that the aes themselves were cap-

€ of such a degree of organi-

en They looked instead. for < oes and clandestine groups

(ch organized the strike. They: sae hone, and when an appeal ieee to the picketlines for the = abe Of the strike to meet tha the local executive more h i 500 men marched to the all. At this meeting a group of : Tepresentatives of the strik- TS Were elected.

‘whole. complex situation,

There were many other-unfor- tunate examples of the lack of communication and confidence between the membership and the leadership, such as the re- sistance to holding a member-. ship meeting, the remarks made about the strike and the strikers on the open line program of one of the radio stations by both Morgan and Cooke. Last but far from least they appealed for- police protection.

Here again the press played. the role of the jackal, and: the . illusion was created that this strike was essentially a strike against the union, or the union leadership.

The men have many serious and deep going criticisms of the way their affairs have been— handled, they resent the poli- tical machine that has been built up in the local, the interference of the area representative into. their affairs. Many resent the. chummy relationhip between

-their own “labor statesmen” and-

the city fathers, the police and the rest of the Hamilton estab- lishment. A lot of these ques- tions surfaced during this wild-~ cat, and the air is going to be pretty thick around Hamilton for a long time. But make no mis- take about. it, this strike was - against Stelco and nobody else.

Why the strike now? In this the

consensus one can gather boils down to a stark and simple an- swer.

Stelco is making all kinds of money, and the workers want some of it. They were taking no chances of coming up this year again with a poor offer on a take it or leave it basis around Christ-

-mas time. In-this context there

are a whole number of factors, speed-up, the threat of .automa- tion, pensions and many other questions, but essentially it boils down to cash.

Stelco has been getting away with murder the past number of years. It has been able to in- vest millions of dollars into developing its complex, until to- day the Hilton works stands as one of the most advanced and efficient steel producers in the

_world. Number 35 open hearth

in Hamilton, although not the

largest open hearth in the world,

owns all the production records and the whole setup in Stelco

reflects this dynamic develop-

ment. This whole period of rapid expansion and capital invest- ment has not been accompanied by the customary temporary de- cline in profit but instead that money making machine has been setting profit records.

During this whole period

working conditions and wages .

in a relative sense have deter- iorated. The Hamilton steelwork-

_er, once the top dog in that in- dustrial city has been bypassed by the autoworkers, the electri- cal workers, and many other unionized men in the city.

The last round of negotiations dragged on and were not fully settled until just before the Christmas period. A bad taste was left in the mouths of the men. :

This disatisfaction was. capi- talized on by David McDonald when he was running unsucess- fully to be re-elected Interna- tional President. In a speech in Hamilton, McDonald was quoted as saying: “There is much un- happiness among union mem- bers in Canada with their pre- sent leaders and especially with

the manner in which the two

recent agreements were nego- tiated.” In an example of how distant the Canadian brass of steel were from the aspirations of their membership, Mahoney, the Canadian Director of the union in what has to be the freak public statement of 1965 red-baited David McDonald ana implied he was a tool of the Mine Mill.

If one were to generalize on the Hamilton wildcat, it could be said that it is an example-of the new militancy of Canadian workers. They have had it up to here: with the baloney of the old guard establishment.

CAUGHT WITH ITS STACKS DOWN

,

The sad era of the “labor statesmen” is drawing to a cloSe. There is a message to the bosses that they are going to have to come across this year and a Message to the union officials that they are going to have to restablish communication with their membership and deliver the goods, or as the old song goes: “they shall be removed.”

Further evidence of the “new” in the labor movement is the coming forward of a new gene- ration of leaders. The commit- tee of representatives which emerged. from the strikers were almost all between the ages of 20 and 30. The majority appear- ed to be in their early 20’s On the picket line the rapport be- tween the older and younger workers seemed present all the time. There did not seem to be the conflict between old and young nor any substance to the charge in the press that the

strike was made up with active

punk yahoos while the older men stood aside.

The strike illustrated that the militant traditions and pride of place which has characterized the Hamilton Steelworkers is being passed on to a new gene- ration. This of course spells trouble to some, but for the Canadian workingclass. it is the promise of the future.

IN QUEBEC ©

Hospital workers win

Wi a 90 percent yes vote, 32,500 non-medical Quebec hospital workers voted to nd their strike and return to Work last week. Thus another Stirring chapter in the struggle 4 Quebec workers for a decent ‘ving reached its conclusion.

The settlement of the 20 day Strike represented a major vic- the workers. The new

Month agreement provides or an immediate wage boost of j : Week plus a further $5 next Ne y. The agreement also re-

uces the work week from the

‘Present 40 hours to 35 hours”

i Office workers and 36% ‘ours for other workers. Im- Proved yacations and other

fringes were also won by the Union,

The key breakthrough achiev- __ by the union was on the Ftciple question of promo- ‘Ons. In this area the workers the® long been victimized by © archaic system of church Control over the Quebec hospi-

al system and the preferential

treatment given nuns in the hos- pitals. One of the most bitter complaints of the workers dur- ing the strike was their claim that nuns secured all the admin- istrative promotions leaving the workers forever on the bottom rungs. With the signing of the new agreement a system of job posting with competence the main factor in deciding promo- tions to supervisory and admin- _ istrative posts at the first two levels above the bargaining unit comes into operation.

Tt was on the question of pro- motions that the Quebec hospi- tal board balked even after a wage pattern had been nego- tiated. Management maintained that giving the union the right to challenge promotions would seriously weaken the hospital system.

While the ‘strike itself added up to a victory for the National Federation of Services and the trade union centre to which it is affiliated, the Confederation of National Trade Unions, there are many ominous portents emi-

nating from the Quebec govern- ment.

The last stages of thé strike saw the government move to- ward enacting compulsory arbi- tration to force the workers back to work. Premier Daniel Johnson had already ordered the

convening of the Quebec legisla- .

ture to deal with the strike. |

While the successful conclu- sion of the strike averted the

. calling of the special session of

the legislature, Johnson stated at a press conference that the government intends to change both the Hospital Act and the labor code “so that this first hospital strike will be the last.”

This implied threat to deprive the hospital workers of their newly won right to strike will open. up a government offensive against the whole labor move- ment. In this context the victory of the Quebec hospital workers marks the end of a battle, but at the same time sets the stage for the larger battles which loom on the horizon. A

N BEE, | we Od a WAFS

THE COMMUNIST party in Hamilton yesterday issued the following Statement concerning the conclusion of the wildcat strike in the Steel Company of Canada opeations in Hamilton:

Stelco workers are back on the job with their eyes still on the ball. They are determined to win their demands in collective bargaining. They are more united and stronger and can see better the opposition ranged against them.

The company line of divide and-smash is better understood. The calculated try at getting a bitter first-swinging, union destroying — fight within the union has been defeated. The good sense and dis- cipline of the membership saved the day.

The demands raised immediately after the walkout for a membership meeting broke ‘through official resistance. The mem- bership demanded and got a full report on negotiations and made democratic decisions. They put union business where it belongs.

The widespread campaign to blame the strike on a dissident

group Canadian autonomists, Communists and so on floundered.

The use of police on the picketlines and in the union halls and held in readiness for the membership meeting was calculated to damage the union. The news media campaigns picturing an irres- ponsible and violent minority pushing a responsible majority and leadership around was simply a propaganda lie. It was all intended

to destroy the wide public sympathy for the Stelco workes and project Stelco as responsible and guiltless.

to ty

The entire power structure in Hamilton was operating to get this picture across. In spite of the widely questioned activities of top Steel staff-man Cooke, the members insisted on taking a hand in negotiating and decision making. It is hoped that all sections

of the leadership got the message.

The real attitude of Stelco is shown in the penalizing of some strikers on their return to work reveals how anxious they are to - prevent negotiations and to ‘provoke a split. The actions of the men who replied by signing a union leaflet urging the men to stay on the job shows strong workingclass discipline on top of their militancy. Further provocations of the company can be defeated.

The Communist Party in Hamilton congratulates the Stelco workers in Hamilton for their inspiring contribution to labor and community advance. We will do our best to assist, :

August 19, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5