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Indochina women welcomed .

s a See pg. 12

Rent Strike Spreads

e ; blocks" 'n 14 apartment “ncouver owned or 4 Wall & Redekop hic © stage a rent strike hois i n average 10 percent ae * by the large land- € Yorke

an » Secretar tha Couver Ty y of the

head €nants Council said dinve Yy 144 tenants have Counciy ;. ‘heir cheques to the Oe Safekeeping, and

ate coming in every

Q, .

atone, Wall & Redekop te taking <ffursday that they Who withe) St°PS to evict tenants

pod their rents. “ting of Wall & Redekop Worker Cay night in the wit . hall decided to go € rent strike. They Ncludes 2 plan of action which

Tues “a “ ~Monstration next tenant at city hall to which all Rank are Mvited. Ald. Harry that ae is coming up i i ich i See RENTS Council, which is

TRIKE, pg, 12

mand a year’s stalling on their from crPOod of 1. PY the CNR and CPR, the on Montreal a tomotive Engineers announced

Mong Jey will strike both major railways The oe April 5. . “Vicg in ae action came after most rail 0 engines Shut down following action by arch cere who booked off ‘‘unfit’’ for ear ver M0 Let} he move spread from

Y this €thbridge and other yards. By

Wing; Ww Thine ek, most rail traffic west of

Davig nS halted,

Sse of division 320 of

Seat is week they had been

peciiate a contract for 14 months.

NE ago a Ing the runaround.”

TailWay 9° /20- 16, 1970 the union notified

Saining on appanies it was ready to start : arch 15 © Contract which was due to

» 1970. Since then the sad story of

FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1971

the present crisis has been one of guilt on the part of the railway companies, who refused to sit down to serious collective bargaining.

The Federal government and Minister of Labor Mackasey allowed the railway companies to carry on the big stall without using its offices to compel the railways to enter into serious negotiations. The full blame for the present crisis rests four-square on their shoulders. The rail workers have been more than patient.

Premier W.A.C. Bennett entered the picture - this week with a demand that Ottawa adopt a Federal Bill 33 which could be used to impose compulsory arbitration on rail workers and others. Showing no concern whatsoever for the railway workers and the fact they have tried for 14 months to get a collective agreement, B.C.’s anti-labor Socred Premier shed tears over the plight of the forest and mining monopolies hit by

the rail shutdown.

Vol. 32, No. 13

The Convention was attended by 367 delegates from every corner of the province. It was called by the Executive Council because, in their opinion, the threat to free collective bargain- ing and the very existence of a free trade union movement in B.C. has reached a critical Stage.

In his opening address Federation President George Johnston spoke of a kind of terror which stalks the province. ‘“‘Not only the obvious and identifiable terror of jackboots, helmets and guns,’’ said Johnston, ‘‘but a terror which is all the more dangerous because it is cloaked in the respectable appearance of democratic government...

“Terror in the name of the law. That is what we face in British Columbia today. When a government, drunk with power and undernourished on principles, has succeeded in using the media to manipulate the minds of men and women to sow fear, hatred and division in their midst, it can use the name of the law to silence opposition and persecute its enemies. That is the terrible situation we face now in British Columbia.”

The report of the Executive Council traced the history of the Mediation Commission since anti-labor Bill 33 was foisted on the working people of this province by the Social Credit government in 1968. It pointed out that the Federation policy of boycotting the Mediation Com- mission has been a sound policy in that it has caused the govern- ment some difficulty in using the

SPECIAL REPORT

Soviet Congress

—See pe. 5-6-7

AGAINST BILL 33

A fighting program to rid British Columbia of Bill 33 and compulsory arbitration was adopted by delegates to a Special Convention of the B.C. Federation of Labor held in Vancouver March 26.

acy

full force of the legislation against the labor movement.

However, it also pointed out that the government has shifted its tactics, ignored its own com- mission and simply used back-to- work procedures to stop legal strikes.

The best illustration of the full use of Bill 33, stated the Execu- tive report, was in the recent trucking dispute. At 12 noon on February 19, after talks had broken down, a strike was called by the Teamster’s Union against one employer. Immediately spokesmen for the employers Automotive Transport Labor Relations Association called a lockout of the rest of the trucking firms in the Associa tion.

At 5:30 the same day, Labor Minister Peterson moved a motion in the Legislature ordering the Teamsters back to work. Within seven days of the beginning of the strike and with no evidence of a ‘“‘threat to the public interest,” the Teamsters had been ordered back to work.

While the Federation Presi- dent and the Executive Council were critical of the Teamsters’ leadership for capitulating to the back to work order, it was pointed out to the delegates that it has become obvious that the government is seeking to erode labor’s rights by concentrating on unions not affiliated to the Federation.

It was pointed out too, that the Socred government will not be satisfied with the present anti- labor legislation. Unless the

See LABOR, pg. 12