American anti-labor act imposed on city workers

Canadian trade-union autonomy was -brought into the news this week as-a-result |).

of an unprecedented-action by Local 213.0f the ILB.E.W. under international administration for the last five years.

An official. of the local (as yet undisclosed) authorized an audit of the local union’s books im compliance with the terms of the American Landrum- Giffin Bill. This bill requires! all American unions to supply an American government agen- ty with a bi-annual audit of| their financial operation.

This local union has been|

| | |

Lad

LB:E.W. is the first - known, compliance with the bill by a Canadian local union.

The first knowledge by the executive board of Local 213 of the affair was when they received a bill from a local} firm of auditors for $300 for carrying out the audit. The ex-}

| ecutive promptly refused to|

When the bill originally it was quietly whis- pered that agreements had been made with the Canadian

was passed

Labor Congress that its pro- visions would not apply to}

Canada. However, subsequent- ly-a number of American head | offices of international unions} have ‘served notice on Cana- dian membership that it is the!

intention of the U.S. labor movement to tie Canadian lo-| Bill

1 months the}

Several Pulp and Sulphite Union re-|

ago

an instruction from) their international office to comply with the Taft-Hartley terms of the new act and flat- ly stated that Canadians are} not ‘going to bound by} made-in-U.S. laws.

jected

be

The recent action of

pay the bill and sent it to the} international for payment. |

When it was reported to the| Line Contractors Unit of the| union (the first to meet since the matter was exposed) the} workers unanimously passed a} resolution rejecting the propo-

sition that Canadian citizens should become the victims of} American anti-labor legisla-|

tion. They asked the executive

| for a full explanation of who

authorized the audit, and urg-| the adoption of a position re- fusing to turn over to the U.S.| government any information pertaining to a Canadian} union.

Local labor circles are watching the case very closely. It is generally felt that the ef- fect of such an action by a

the! local union is similar to turn-| unions.

| examination.

| that | should be so insensitive to, the

ing such information over to | the Canadian government for The connection | between the F.B.I. and the| R.C.M.P. and other © similar | governmental agencies — is so | close as to leave little room | for doubt that such an in-| formation would find its way | into Canadian government cir- | cles and in most cases be made | available to large Canadian} corporations. |

| | | {

The Canadian or provincial | governments have never felt sure enough of their ground to} pass such a law, pressure from the Chamber of | Commerce for such legislation | has been exerted for many |

years. It is felt that this ac: |

| tion, if it became widespread, |

would be a way of smuggling | the effects of such. legislation | into Canada.

Principally, however, the re- action is one of indignation) international unions

national sovereignty of Can- ada and fail to distinguish be- tween American and Canadian members of international

Canada becoming “cultural satellite commission told

Under a heavy flood of American magazines, Canada is becoming a salellite” of the U.S., the Royal Commission on Publications was told recently.

Several groups said a_ dis- tinct Canadian identitfy was threatened because of “unfair |

aggression” by US. periodi- | cals on the Canadian advertis- | ing Canadian ' maga- |

Inilar aoiuar.

zines Were going out of bus ness. | | The Periodical Press Asso- | ciation, voice of Canadian | magazines, told commission head .M. Grattan O’Leary, t of the Ottawa Jour- |

presiden nal, that four out of five mag- | azines sold in Canada are,| American. In 1959, only 46,- 000,000: Canadian periodicals compared with 163,000,000 U.S. magazines were sold in

Canada.

ians laugh scornfully or become angry when spokes- men of the Soviet bloc call us a satellite of the U.S.” the as-'

} ter ;; American?”

| dian

ings were held in Vancouver

| American {crease Canadian circulation by

“cultural

sociation said. |

“But are we “not in grave | danger ‘of becoming a cultural | and intellectual*satellite of the U.S. when our reading mat- becomes ‘so increasingly |

|

The commission is investi- gating competition to Cana- | publishers from U.S. magazines which print a smail | Canadian section (Time and Readers Digest) or those which | pump “overflow circulation” | across the border (Fawcett and Hearst publications). Hear-

last week.

The U.S. post office induces publishers to in-

offering special mailing rates. In some cases ‘itis cheaper to

CN ee

age their influence abroad” and. “to spread. American ideals, -culture and facts | abroad.”

mail a U.S. magazine to Cana- da than to other states in the U.S:

The U.S. postmaster-general is quoted as ‘explaining the special rate structure as “the desire of Americans to’ encour-

The Graphic Arts Industries Association, a Canadian print- ing trade organization, said in a brief to the commission:

“Somewhere we shall have to take a position; somehow we shall have to erect de- fences for the Canadian way or we shall be just.one more satellite country, just one more weakling among the na- tions.”

£

ernment’s survival plans for the farm in case of nuclear attack include at least a partial solution to the problem of who will milk the cows while the | although | farmer and his wife are in their own shelter possibly for as long as two weeks.

Quebec labor convention urges peace, friendship

In a vigorous rank-and-file expression for peaceful

international understanding,

the Quebée “Federation of

Labor last week supported a resolution chilling on the CLC to send a delegation of trade unionists to the Soviet Union

and China,

Protesting Canadian labor’s ‘“head-in-the-sand” attitude of recent years, delegate after delegate spoke in favor of more East-West contacts, an end to military pacts and elim- ination of missile bases in Canada.

Jean Beaudry, United Steel- workers delegate, told the an- nual .meetings that business men, university officials and economists had visited socialist countries to study the situation there. It was time for organ- ized labor to change its tune.

The federation also recom- mended that Canada end all ties. with military pacts, pre-

sumably NATO and NORAD. It urged that U.S. military bases be wiped out in Canada and that the U.S. be forbidden to transport military equip< ment in Canadian air space.

After heated debate, the federation agreed steps must be taken to end the increasing subordination of Canada’s fors eign policy to the cold war policy of the U.S.

He pointed to the by-election victory of Walter Pitman in Peterborough last month as ins dicating a people’s need for a broad progressive party in op- position to the old-line Tories and Liberals.

Jan. Slav solidarity month

The struggle for disarma- ment and the demand for an end to discrimination against minority groups in Canada will be the theme of the an- nual Slav Solidarity Month affairs across Canada next January.

This decision recently of the Canadian Slav Committee, which unites the efforts of democratic organizations of Canadian Slavs and has the support of large numbers among the more than one mil- lion Slavic Canadians. .

It has become a tradition in Canada during January each year to hold joint rallies, con- certs, banquets, etc., to ac-

quaint each other and Canas dians generally with the cul. ture of the Slavic peoples, to promote the cause of peace and friendship, first’ of all bes tween Canada and the Slavic countries.

The committee decided to publish ‘4’ call on these issues for mass. distribution "among Slavic and other © Canadians during January.

A pamphlet is being pre- pared on the question of peace and disarmament, in Slavic and English languages, ‘for wide distribution in January

and another — on discrimin-< ation — is slated for later in 1961.

December 2, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2