Behind the Headlines
Wilson's Pay Freeze Runs into Opposition
Shadow on Christmas
PERHAPS we have lived so long under the shadow of war that we seek to thrust it out of mind, relieved that, for us at least, it remains only a shadow.
Yet the shadow still lies heavily across the lights of another Christmas as our western world does homage to the Prince of Peace—homage which, for all who support the US in its war against the people of Vietnam, is the epitome of hypocrisy.
No matter how the US seeks to justify its ends, as aggressors historically have always sought to cloak their vile designs in noble motives, it is the US whose planes are bombing a country on which it has not declared war; whose troops are attempting to crush the struggle of a people who won their right to independence from the Japanese and the French by force of arms, as 190 years ago, the Americans won their independence from the British.
As we enter upon our celebrations of the centenary of Confederation, the symbol of our own struggles for independence, how better can we demonstrate our intense desire for peace than by compelling our government, a member of the international truce commission, to give stronger, bolder leadership in ending the war in Vietnam. What better way of strengthening Confederation and assuring our own peaceful development as a country than by helping to restore peace to Vietnam and assuring its people of their right to determine their own destiny.
Welcome Back
"OELEASE of Jeff Power from Oakalla on December 16 and the anticipated release of his fellow unionists, C. P. (Paddy) Neale, Tom Clarke and Art O'Keeffe, as this is written restores to the leadership of labor's anti-injunction fight the four men who have been its chief victims.
The injustice of law that recognises workers' right to strike and cripples every attempt to exercise that right by injunctions is increasingly apparent. The fact that labor on rare occasions may itself have recourse to injunctions obscures but fails to conceal their basic anti-labor use. Since they serve the interests of employers, it is hardly a point for comment that employers insist on their retention.
The Social Credit government has no intention of amending its legislation to outlaw the use of injunctions in labor disputes. On the contrary, the sentences imposed on the four union leaders were calculated to deter labor. As it has had to win every other right, so labor must now fight to win this, putting aside the differences that only encourage its enemies and waging the most determined, consistent and united struggle.
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4 THE FISHERMAN — DECEMBER 20, 1966
OTTAWA REPORT
Gov't Needs Clear Aim
By FRANK HOWARD, MP
THE recent shutdown on British Columbia's waterfront, besides having some serious consequences for upcoast communities, had some longer range consequences for • the relationship between labor and management under federal jurisdiction.
It wasn't so much the waterfront situation in itself but rather that this was probably the last straw.
The federal government, in recent years, has been getting
more and more involved in labor-management disputes to the point where the federal law governing negotiations means practically nothing. In effect, by becoming involved, the government has destroyed the law.
I think it is good that the government has gotten into some of these disputes because it is the only element that can bring about sensible and reasonable relations between employers and employees.
I also think it is good that the law governing collective bargaining has been made less and less useful, because it is a law which has largely outlived its usefulness anyway.
HOWEVER, THERE IS ONE
sad note in all this. The government has no clear plan as to what to do.
Because it has no plan about such matters it became a party to a hefty wage increase for workers on the waterfront in Montreal and those working for the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, and all this in the midst of the same government's desire to curb inflation.
It got its fingers burned at that time. The next time a labor-management dispute arose it kept out of it entirely.
With the waterfront dispute in BC, the government kept out of the matter because it reasoned that it had no authority. Then it got into the dispute after the damage had been done and settled the dispute by doing what earlier it had said couldn't be done.
Yes, collective bargaining at the federal level has been effectively interfered with by government. But the government hasn't yet decided what it wants to accomplish and hasn't yet made any proposals generally to deal with collective bargaining.
There is no point in our continuing to operate on such a hit and miss basis. If we do we can only look ahead to more trouble.
By BEN SWANKEY
THE real purpose of the wage freeze established by the British Labor government last July was to nullify the strong bargaining position of British workers.
A combination of a powerful trade union movement and relatively full employment have enabled British workers to win substantial wage increases.
In the first 21 months of Labor government the an-n u a 1 increase in productivity was 3.75 percent. Prices rose by 4.6 percent. With an increase of eight percent in weekly earnings, British workers were able to keep up with rising prices and share in increased productivity.
Now that is ended. With the passing of the Prices and Income Act, wages are frozen, prices are increasing, and workers are again losing ground.
The demand for a wage freeze came right from the employers and bankers. Aubrey Jones, chairman of the Prices and Income Board, admitted as much, according to a report in the August issue of The Banker.
"Do you think the Prices and Income Bill would have been produced at all had not Britain's leading crediters insisted on it?" he was asked by an interviewer.
"No," replied Jones, "I do not think it would have."
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THE IRONY OF THE WAGE freeze legislation is that Tory governments have always wanted to introduce it but didn't dare; it took a Labor government to put it across.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his government didn't admit, of course, that the aim of the wage freeze was to help corporate interests or cripple labor. He said the freeze was necessary to restore confidence in the British pound and to overcome the deficit in Britain's balance of payments.
How a wage freeze can affect confidence in the pound has never been explained by Wilson, nor could he because there is no connection.
As for Britain's balance of payments deficit, this was not caused by wage increases, the level of consumption at home, or by Britain's ability to sell enough abroad.
The fact is that Britain has not failed as a trading nation. British exports have been more than sufficient to pay for imports.
In the period 1960-64 Britain earned a surplus of $3,900 million in its commercial balance of payments. But this surplus was turned into a deficit of $1,500 million by heavy government military expenditures overseas, and by the export of capi-
tal for investment in other countries.
This is why British trade unions today are pressing for cuts in defence expenditures, withdrawal of British forces from West Germany and from east of Suez.
+ * ★ THE WAGE FREEZE ALSO
included a price freeze. However, while wages have remained stationary, prices have not. The Labor government has given business an out. Prices may be increased if the government increases taxes on certain goods (as it has) or if import costs rise. Naturally, business has taken full advantage of this.
There are stiff penalties of up to $1,500 for unions or individual workers who strike or threaten to strike for higher wages, but apparently there are no penalties for profiteering in prices nor even any special government machinery to check on whether price increases are "reasonable" or not.
Prime minister Wilson also said that in the interests of the British economy, unemployment should be increased to two percent, production cut back and taxes increased. The resulting decline in living standards, he said, would reduce the pressure for more imports.
This is a new philosophy for Labor.
British workers have always been told by their leaders that the path to prosperity for them and the country lay in full employment and rising living standards. That was while Labor was in the opposition in parliament. Now they are told the opposite.
The net result of the Labor government's price freeze legislation for employers has been soaring profits. But for British workers faced with static wages and rising prices, and especially for the 600000 unemployed, it will be a bleak Christmas.
It's not surprising to find that opposition to the government's policies is growing within labor's ranks.
A conference of 700 trade union delegates and shop stewards held in London and chaired by Bill Jones, vice president of the powerful Transport and General Workers Union, on December 3, adopted a declaration of purpose which condemned "as undemocratic and repressive all attempts to tie up the unions in a straitjacket of legislation."
An amendment in parliament signed by 46 Labor back benchers recently called on the government "to resume economic expansion by a planned increase of investment and consumption," to protect the balance of payments by "selective controls over imports and overseas capital investments" and by an "immediate and drastic reduction in overseas military expenditures."
The rising tide of opposition may soon compel the government to withdraw its wage freeze and restore collective bargaining rights to labor.
Northern Ripples
THIS year's civic election campaign in Prince Rupert lacked lustre mainly because the eiaht candidates contesting three aldemanic seats failed to present any real alternatives to the voters.
To one degree or another all the candidates saw the need for more housing, better recreation facilities and a library. But not one of them was able to propose any sound scheme for financing these civic undertakings.
Most agreed that better planning was needed. Others thought that more judicious use of present resources could cover costs. Some even attacked city employees as being "dead wood."
But none of them touched favorably on the boundary extension issue when it was raised in the all-candidate meeting, and the one who did speak on it felt that the issue was closed. Not one so much as referred to tax structure.
Crew members of the combination vessel Lance, which sank off the mouth of Portland Inlet on December 10, were unstinting in their praise of the crew of the Standard Service, which picked them up. They reported that crew members on the Standard Service could not do too much for them, kindness for which all of them are grateful.
* * ★
A surprise shower was held in Port Edward on December 11 for Miss Noreen Leeson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Art Leeson, who will marry Richard Prem on January 6. Some 58 ladies joined in the evening to provide Miss Leeson with many useful household gifts.
Both Art and Nellie, the bride elect's parents, are members of the Union. Art is skipper of Nelson Bros.' packer Sanita, and Nellie is chief shop steward at the Port Edward cannery and an active member of the women's auxiliary.
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