INTRODUCTION
THE document that is published below has an interesting history.
Drawn up and
endors:d by the National Executive Board. of the Workers' Unity League, it
was submitted to the members ef the Stevens' Inquiry as long ago as March 15th
of this year.
On that date, being in Ottawa with a delegation, sponsored by the National
Council on Unemployment, to seek an interview with Premier Bennett, I availed
myself of the opportunity to call on Mr. Stevens with a delegation representing the
Workers' Unity League.
The purpose of the call was to arrange for representatives of the Workers'
Unity League to appear before the Inquiry and read int6 the records all that they
know on the subjects of sweat-shop labor and mass buying, supposed to be under
investigation.
Mr. Stevens proved to be as inaccessible as his chief, Mr. Bennett, to representatives of the working class. Surrounded by secretaries, well-primed with all kinds of
excuses and apologies, it was impossible to arrange an interview. We were therefore
compelled to leave copies of our Statement with a strongly worded request that we
be informed as to when a delegation could appear personally to give evidence to
the Inquiry.
A long correspondence followed. In reply to our reiterated enquiries we were
told again and again that the program of witnesses for the week allowed of no
time for our delegation. Finally, when this excuse had worn thin, we were informed
that our 'Statement had at last been read but that we could not get a hearing because
it had no bearing on the questions being considered!
What a farce! The evidence of the representatives· of 35,000 organized workers,
who are leading the fight against sweat-shop condit:i'ons all over Canada, was considered as having no bearing on the questions before the Stevens' probe.
In September, sessions of the Stevens' Commission re-open.
The Workers'
Unity League is determined to make its voice heard at these sessions. We are
therefore publishing the Statement presented in March, and leave the working class
to decide whether our Statement has any bearing on the question of sweated labor.
We have no doubt about what that decision will lbe.
The point of our document is clear. In so far as the Stevens' Inquiry pretends
to represent the intention of the Government to improve the conditions of labor it
is merely a huge bluff.
In the first place, as far as labor conditions are concerned, it has deliberat~ly
confined itself to those industries (furniture, clothing, 1boot and shoe, packing)
where the Workers' Unity League has already succeeded in organizing large numbers
of workers into industrial unions, and leading successful strike struggles which have
compelled considerable improvements.
Sweated labor is not confined to these
industries. Our ·m emorandum proves conclusively that it is no exaggeration to state
that there is no industry in Canada in which labor is not sweated. Yet such industries
as textile, steel and metal products, coal and metal mining, auto, pulp and paper,
lumber and matches (the main source of Premier Bennett's millions), have been
deliberately given a wide berth.
The appointment of the Stevens' Commission is thus seen to be a move to induce
the working class in general, and in particular those sections that have recently
been the most active in organizing and striking for better conditions to desist in
their activities and "wait for Stevens."
-------------------------------------------------------------PAGE THREE
Nothing could be more foolish on the part of the workers.
Government
legislation will give them nothing until they are organized and strong enough
to win much more; and its only purpose under such circumstances will 1b e to prevent
them from getting that much more by throwing the full force of the Government
behind the employers. Is there anybody so naive as to ibelieve that the Government
is not aware of the conditions of sweated labor throughout the Dominion that it
must institute a special inquiry, that has dragged on for months and has now been
"elevated'' to the status of a Royal Commission to drag on for more months, in
order to find whether conditions in industry are satisfactory to the workers? If
the Government intends to improve conditions for the workers, why does it not send
its police and military forces to prevent employers from hiring scabs, instead of to
break up picket lines, and force workers, on strike against sweated labor, to go
back under the same miserable conditi'ons?
The period that has elapsed since our memorandum was presented has not only
confirmed the COJ?'ectness of our analysis but has shown that the workers have
refused to swallow the huge bluff put up for their benefit. They are not "waiting
for Stevens." They are taking matters into their own hands, they are organizing and
striking for a living wage.
The strike wave is spreading and reaching the basic industries (metal mining,
pulp and paper, auto). Not only are large numbers of workers, newly organized
under the banner of the W.U.L., striking successfully for better conditions, but
thousands of workers, organized in the A.F. of L. and A.C.C.L. and independent
unions, are repudiating the treacherous policies of the officialdom that has kept them
so long passive in the face of capitalist attacks.
Workers in these unions are
joining with the workers in the W.U.L. in uniting for struggle against the boss
class.
Thousands of pulp and paper workers, tailors cloakmakers, and miners
in .the A.F. of L. have been on strike; the resolute determination to strike, in spite
of all entreaties of their unnon officials, has held back wage-cuts for Vancouver
and Toronto street-car men; a transformation has been accomplished on the Vancouver waterfront where the Shipping Federation has long reigned secure, confident
that its paid agents could hold the longshoremen for ever divided and i'n active; a
similar rank-and-file movement to unite the longshoremen for action is meeting
with its first successes on the Montreal waterfront; the mood of the railwaymen,
long bound and betrayed by the most elaborate machine of class-collaboration and
concili'ation in any industry, is rising, and movements are being organized by the
rank and file to break the stranglehold which the high-paid officials of the host of
railroad unions have hitherto successfully maintained on the railroaders.
The workers are not waiting for ~stevens. They aTe organizing, uniting, preparing to strike-striking. And in reply, we see in province after province Liberal
governments are rushing into operation special legislation, obviously similar to the
kind of legislation intended by Stevens and Bennett* as the outcome of the Inquiry
on a Federal scale.
This flood of legislation is outlined in the last issue of the ''WORKERS' UNITY"
as foiiows:
"In Quebec the Arcand Bill gives the Lieutenant-Governor in Council the power
to make an agreement arrived at by any one group of employees (no matter how small)
and any one empl·oyer or associati'on binding upon all ·employed in the trade. In
addition to a number of local agreements already made compulsory under this Act,
I
*The differences between Stevens and Bennett, !brought to light by the suppression of Stevens' pamphlet, are not differences in principle, 3:s both of t!'Iem h~stened
to declare. They are significant nevertheless, but an analysis of them IS outside the
scope of this introduction.
J
PAGE
Foua--------------------------------------------------------------
the most important agreement applying to the whole Province 9f Quebec is that
announced for the shoe industry, at the request of the National Catholic Shoe
Workers' Union, representing only a minority of the workers, on the one hand and
two S~oe Manufacturers Associations on the other. This agreement contains no
provision of any kind as regards hours of labor and lays down a wage-scale ranging
from 12% cents an hour to 40 cents an hour for the most highly-skilled. It further
provides that on piece-work it is only necessary for 80o/o of the workers to reach
the average hour-rate stipulated.
"In B.C. a Board of Industrial Relations has been appointed to administer
recently revised acts dealing with hours of work and a minimmn wage for men
and wo1nen. The Board has the right to issue orders fi•xing minimum wages and
conditions in all industries for any length of time. In addition, the Government has
passed a Special Powers Act enabling it in effect to do whatever it wants, whenever
it wants, without passing any bill in the Legislature beforehand. It i's interesting to
note that the first order passed by the new Board was one laying down a wage-scale
for the loggers then in the midst of their great strike, the obvious purpose of
this order being to force them back to work without obtaining recognition of their
union.
"In Aliberta a Department of Trade and Industry Act awaits proclamation. This
act would set up a special g ·overnment department with power to fix wholesale and
retail prices, wages and hours. Conferences would take place between employer and
employee representatives, but where no agreement is reached the minister would have
power to enforce a compulsory code. A special section of the Act deals with the coal
mining industry and provides for the promotion of 'schemes for rationalizing the coal
industry in Alberta by using coal from efficiently operated mines.' Operators whose
mines would be closed dow under this plan would be compensated from the 'increased
profits accruing to the producing mines.' A section of the miners would he thrown
on to the scrap-heap and the remainder would have to produce profit for the same
number of parasitic blood-leeches as at present.
"In Ontario Attorney-General Roebuck has announced that the Government plans
to introduce codes fixing wages and hours. Labor codes are in the air, and all over
the country the working class is being faced with the problem of what attitude
to adopt to this question, now one of the most important in the labor movement."
I1:oceedi'ng to list the n1ost important features of this legislation the article
declares:
"First-The Labor Codes proposed are an attempt to beat back the growing wave
of organization and strikes and tie the workers down to minimum standards that
would :become in practice maximum standards. The last report of the Ontario Labor
Deparament states:
'''Perhaps the most significant development during the past year has been the
change in attitude on the part of the industrial workers. The past few months have
witnessed a decided increase in industrial disputes, strikes and protests of various
kinds from the unemployed and those whose wages and salaries have been reduced
to the point where a decent standard of living cannot be maintained. The prestige of
established labour organizations is endangered and the leaders are hard pressed to
justify a continuance of the policy of co-operation and conciliation.'
"This is true of all provinces. Hence, the compulsory codes.
"Second-The Codes will be used to concentrate production even more in the
hands of the biggest mono ply concerns, as has been the case in the U.S.A. The
Alberta legislation for the coal industry is specifically designed to do this.
--------------------------------------------------------------PAGE FNE
"Third-The cost of living is again rarsmg as a result of inflation and will go
still higher. The Codes are intended to tie the workers down and prevent them from
fighting for higher wa~es.
"Fourth-Government codes are intended to deal a smashing blow at the workers'
trade unions. If the Governme.Bt fixes wages then what is the function of the
trade unions? The reactionary union officials who co-operate in forcing the Codes
upon the workers will become open Government administrators and they will try to
make the existing locals of these unions into Government and company unions (in
Quebec the first draft of the Arcand Bill provided that only incorporated unions sign
agreements). The revolutionary unions of the W.U.L., whi'ch will refuse to sign
Codes disadvantageous to the workers, must prepare for even sterner battles than
in the past.
HFifth-A close analysis of the new legislation will show it bears a close
resemblance to the legislation of Hitler and Mussolini, to Fascism.
"To banish the class struggle, which as a result of the terrific exploitati'on of
the capitalists is growing daily and threatens to engulf them in a rising wave 9f
working class organization and struggle, the capitalist state steps in with codes
whose purpose is to prevent stri'kes and abolish the labor unions or make them
appendages of the Government and big business. This process is a process of
facistification which if carried through successfully would make the change to an
open fascist dictatorship that much easier.
"Sixth-All of the new machinery of state now being created is regarded as of
particular importance, in case of war, to bind the workers hand-and-foot to the war
machine and make strikes impossible."
When it is further born in mind that the labor codes in many cases make no
mention of the hours of labor (Quebec codes) and in no case say anything at all·
about the speed of laJbor or piece-work rates; when it is noted that unlike even the
similar Roosevelt legislation in the U.S.A. there is no point allowing for recognition
of the union of the workers' own choice, then it can be readily seen that the so-called
labor codes hitherto proposed are merely a means to tie the workers down to the minimum
wage-rates, which in practice would be considered by the bosses as maximum rates.
The exceptions made in these codes for learners, apprentices, young workers,
will lead to lay-offs, subterfuges and tri'cks which the application of the Female
Minimum Wage Act bas made familiar.
The new Fascist-type labor legislation that is now being put into operation
therefore represents a serious threat t-o labor. It must be met and defeated.
The most immediate tasks before the workers to defeat the purposes of this
legislation are:
First-To strengthen and ·b uild the unilans of the W.U.L., bearing constantly in
mind that the only guarantee of working conditions under all circumstances are
strong fighting trade union organizations. Under the Codes the unions are not less
essential ,but more essential because the workers will have to combat not only the
employers, but the full force of the Government's reactionary legislation;
Second-The unions of the 'W.U.L. must draw up counter-codes expressing the
real needs of labor in each industry, must place these Workers' Codes for wide and
open discussion before all the workers in each industry; and, with their support, must
take these codes ~boldly into the hearings and Legislature discussions as the real
expression of the desire of the workers in that industry, for which they are organizing
and are prepared to strike if necessary;
Third-To defeat the Government and boss attacks on the workers the W.U.L.
wi'll continue to take the initiative in building up a united front of labor. We extend a
for acti'on or open the '\11tay for reaetio~ Fallctam
the A.F. of L. and A.C.C.L. we say, you choiCe:
u. I*
goes the way of Germany towards Fascism or the:
of
Socialism. Let us then grasp hand$ and elOM 1rB~l.
mtedl¥ and shoulder to shoulder to abolish sweat-sbop
!ffp~~_.itj.iijiio11l8.. Let us stand together in defence of our tta~ n.ntons,
t:lfl'*-~lf to cbnvert them into Governmenkontrolled bodies ·~mt,
• ~..(dDa:tlell'tatiloD. of the working class, the establishment o a SOCial
do er to the extent that we measure up to tliese urgeut
:W:cnt*!l'd·JJmwlli un
IMJ~~
llll~tlilt.,
i
SWEATED LABOR
A Statement submitted to the Stevens' Inquiry by.• tne
National Executive Board of the Workers Unity LeaFue
THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD of the Workers' Unity League of Canada
and the Executive Boards of our affiliated industrial unions-representing 35,000
org&.nized working men, women and youth~wish to place several very practi~l
proposals before your Committee, proposals that are of vital concern to every worker
and workers' family in Canada-proposals that represent the principal needs of the
Canadian working class.
There can be no argument around our contention that the working people of this
country are in a worse economic plight than at any time in the past hundred years
and more. A few facts to prove this. Since 1929, the estimated annual wages and
salaries paid to Canadian workers and employees have declined from $2!, 722,100,000
down to $1,600,000,000 in 1933-a reduction of $1,122,100,000 (Financial Post Year
Book, 1934). Wage reductions of 50% have been fairly common and we have many
proofs to show where workers are receiving as low as 10 cents per hour. We
have facts to prove that many employed workers have to apply for relief because
their wages are not sufficient to feed and clothe themselves and their families. For
instance, in East Windsor, many workers employed at the Ford Motor Company
Plant receive such low wages that they are compelled to apply for relief.
The working class of Canada is being scourged by the plague of mass unemployment. The army of unemployed was estimated to !be around 350,000 in 1930> when
the Bennett Government took over the Federal Government--and at present we
estimate that more than 1,000,000 workers are totally unemployed. In addition to ·
this, thousands of meri have been put on short time, with a reduction in wages
corresponding to the reduction in hours.
At least 40,000 men and youths are ·at present working in the v,arious government controlled road camps and air-port construction jobs, and though they are
counted as employed they only receive 20 cents per day. Over 8,758 workers have
been deported from Canada in the past two years. Several thousands of families
have been placed upon farms that in most cases were abandoned by experienced
farmers who went bankrupt.
The foreign-born workers are in the worst position of all. Discriminated against
by employers, the object of the most vicious chauvinistic persecution by fascist
and "patriotic" organizations-these workers who were lured to Canada by false
promises are suffering even more than the Canadian...born workers whose position
is intolerable, to say the least.
The farmers' income bas been reduced by over a billion dollars in the period
from 1929 to 1933, the small farmer suffering the most.
The youth of the working class is in a terrible situation. They are barred
from employment. There are no jobs open for them. They are barred from the
education they need and desire because of the clDsing of many schools, the high
costs of education, and are virtually in a blind alley-with no prospects of work,
education or the home life that they would like.
Our working class women folk are plainly showing the effects of the presertt
situation, where they have to toil in a factory to make up their husbands' wages,
scrimp and save in order to make the reduced wages or relief eke out a bare
existence, sacrifice themselves in order to try and feed and clothe the children,
P :\GE E I G H T - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
-----
SWEATED
LABOR
wlio, in spite of all that working class mothers and fathers can do are underno rished, weak, ill-clad and often too weak to go to school.
This is the general situation that the workers and toiling farmers of Canada
have been forced into as a result of the past five years of crisis, as a result of
the delioerate policies of the big employers, banks, trusts and financiers and the
Federal ~nd Provincial Governments.
We therefore consider that the Federal Government should immediately enac:t
1
the. Workers' Social and Unemployment Insurance Bill as a law of the land.
T.h'i~ ~ill, originally drafted and proposed by the National Executive Board of the
W.0 rkers' Unity League is supported by hundreds of thousands of workers, by
hundreds of workers' organizations. It represents the real needs of the working
people. It it the only Bill that really deals with unemployment in a correct way
from the standpoint that its proVIsions guarantee security to every worker,
employed and unemployed. I't covers the 1,000,000 men and women who are out
of work at present, while all the other proposals (such as the proposal of Tom
Moore of the A.F. of L.) leave out these 1,000,000 workers.
Our Bill places
the cost of financing unemployment and social insurance upon the Federal
Government and the wealthy capitalists.
Unemployment insurance is the central need of the Canadian working people.
This is why we place this question in the forefront of our program.
The Millionaires Are Doinl\ Fine!
THE O'IUIER SIDE of the picture needs to be examined too, especially from
the standpoint of exploding all of the fallacious theories that try to prove
that inflation, the issuance of more money would solve our problems, or the argument
that ''little can be done because there is little or no money available." For example,
the dividends of 45 companies, trusts and banks for February, 1934, were
$3,087,395, an increase of $368,296 over the 1933 figures. In 1934, according to
figures of the Financial Post Year Book, $835,335,278 will be paid out on the
debts of the Federal Government, Provincial governments, municipalities and corporations, and similar huge sums have been paid out in every . year sinee 1929.
The income tax returns also- illuminate our viewpoint. In 1932, only 29,868
Canadian people received the $2,000 that brings them under the Income Tax
Act, and out of the $8,943,473 collected from Individual Income Tax returns, 243
people paid $4,139,765--almost half of the total.
These facts prove that the great masses of Canadian people are living in
a conditi~n of virtual poverty and insecurity, while at the same time a small
group of capitalists, bankers, financiers and rich farmers are gathering in the
bulk of the wealth produced by the labor of the workers and farmers.
The factories, mines, mills, land and waterpower of Canada are under the
control of the capitalist class. The workers are forced to work for an employer
in order to eat and live. The farmers (in their great majority) are in a plight
where they toil to pay debts and interest and very few of them have a clear
title to their land. ·And most important of all-no employer ever hires a worker
unless he can make a profit out of the worker.. This system of exploitation of
the majority of the population by a tiny group (it is said that Messrs. Holt,
Gordon and Black control one-fifth of the wealth of Canada) of capitalists is the
root cause of the present situation of the working people of Canada. This is the
basic key question for every worker to grasp and understand.
However, we did not come here to discuss the struggle of the Canadian
:vorkers and small farmers for a Soci'alist system of society-altho ugh this is
the ultimate solution for the workers and small farmers of all capitalist countries.
SWEATED L A B O R - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PAGE NINB
Suffice to remark that on one-sixth of the world's surface, in the Soviet Union
the working people have solved these questions, eliminated all exploiting classes,
created a constantly growing socialist industry and agriculture, created a systt:m
free from the scourge of unemployment, introduced the universal 7-hour day for
all workers with a 6-hour day for miners, chemical workers, women workera
and young workers, raised wages considerably-and in a word continually fo~
ahead, while the capitalist-ruled countries (including Canada) become more and
more intoleralble for the workers.
Fiercest Exploitation in the Bil1 lndu•tries
E DESIRE TO strongly emphasize that the most inhuman sweated labor conditions
W exist
in the enterprises of the big monlOpoly trusts and corporations-in the
•.
textile, railroads, steel, auto, pulp and paper, milling and mateh industries-in
those industries that are "best" protected by the tariffs enacted by the present
government, in those industries where the highest monopoly prices are firmly
established by the millionaire trusts.
The present l'n.quiry is mainly concerning itself with a demagogic "a ttaek,.
against the big department stores, with an "investigation" of the clothing, furniture,
Bboe, leather and food industries-industries that produce goods for consumptionJ
and department stores that are concerned with mass retailing.
The Worked
Unity League has shown how to fight sweat-shop conditions in the above industri•
--by united working class action, by strikes to win higher wages and better
eonditions. We also declare that we are out to organize and fight against the
aweat-shop conditions in the large department stores, and to mobilize the working
people for united struggle against the high prices charged by these monopoly
retail trusts. But, at the same time, we strongly emphasize the fact that it is
in the basic industries-in the highly monopolized industries such as textiles, matches,
tobacco, auto, steel, pulp and paper, metal mining, milling, electric power,
ete., that the capitalist trusts and financiers reap t~e greatest profits as a
result of the monopoly prices they have established, as a result of the fierce
exploitation of the workers and farmers, as a result of their truly mass buyinc
and selling which exceeds by a thousandfold the operations of any retail de~
ment store. To prove this clearly it is only necessary to cite the fact that the
prices of the articles produced in these industries have been maintained at their
previous high levels by the monopolies. Take textiles, electric power, oil, sugar,
nickel, paper, tobacco and matches as examples!
Insofar as mass buying and selling are concerned, we wish to remind
the Inquiry that the Federal Government itself recently had a great profit out of
the sale and speculation in wheat which was handled by Mr. McFarland on behalf
of the Government.
The conclusion we draw from all this is that the Federal Government, through
this Inquiry, is trying to eover up the ferocious exploitation of the workers in the
industries that are controlled by the big monopolies and banks; is trying to protect
these monopolies that bleed the masses of Canadian people through their high
monopoly prices; is trying to win the support of the small business men and
storekeepers by this demagogic "investigation" against the big department stores·
is trying to get the workers to ·believe that the government is really against
sweat-shop conditions. In a word-we have a manoeuvre that is very reminiscent
of Herr Hitler's anti-Semitic attacks against the big department stores in Germany.
Finally, v.re wish to emphasize that the Inquiry is revolving around
the exploded "theory" that higher prices will bring back prosperity, when as a
.
j
PAGE TEN-:.-----------------
SWEATED
LABOR
matter of fact the raising of prices (which is going on) only serves to strengthen
the m<>nopoly trusts and banks and brings aibout a drastic worsening of the
position of the workers and small farmers and small business men.
It is for these reasons that the W.U.L. and all of its affiliated unions and
eouneils are striving to organize the workers, and are calling upon the workers
to create Committees of Action to eliminate sweated labor conditions, to strike
aa-ainst sweat-shop wages and conditions and win a living wage and union condttioll&-
The Strike Weapon Has Brought Results
HE STRIKE WEAPON is the best answer to sweat-shop conditions! That is
the Workers' Unity League is insistently calling upon the workers to
follow the examples of the Stratford furniture workers, the Ontario and Quebec
loggers, the shoe workers, needle trades workers and textile workers-and to
unite, organize and strike against sweated labor conditions.
We point all these facts clearly so that there can he no misunderstanding of our
position towards this Inquiry, and so that our proposals will be clearly understood in a
correct light. Unlike Mr. Moore, the President of the Trades and Labor Congress
of Canada~ Mr. Mosher <>f the All-Canadian Congress of Labor and Mr. Woodsworth of the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation and so-called labor leaders
of their stripe-we very definitely declare that you can expect no co-operation
:from the W<>rkers' Unity League or any of its affiliated unions or councils for
the hidden but real aims of thi's Inquiry. Our position is an open working class attitude,
an attitude that mirrors our unshakeable conviction that the working class . will only
succeed in wiping out sweated labor conditions, raising wages, improving working
conditions and winning full and free social and unemployment insurance by its
own united working class strength, by militant working class action.
This does not mean that the W.U.L. and its affiliated unions and councils
will not present 't>ur case before the Inquiry Committee, here in Ottawa and
throughout the country. On the contrary, we are very practical people, who, above
•ll, wish to clearly present the immediate demands of the workers, to make
definite proposals for the improvement of the economic position of the workers
. al'ld to plainly speak our minds about this Inquiry.
We are entitled to do thia
as the authoritative representatives of more than 35,000 organized workers, as the
representatives of unions and workers who know more about sweat-shop and nonunion conditions of work, low wages, and ways to improve them than any other
group of people in Canada.
For example, our unions have, by militant actions and strikes, drastically
changed the sweated labor conditions that existed in the furniture, shoe, needle, lumber
.-nd fO'od industries as thousands of workers can testify. In the past 15 months,
the W.U.L. unions have been eng.a ged in hundreds of struggles to improve the
economic conditions of their membership and the workers of Canada in general.
We have succeeded in raising wages and instituting union conditions in hundreds
Df enterprises-without a strike, by uniting and organizing the workers em_J)loyed
there, working out the dema9ds, and being prepared to strike if necessary to win
these demands
T why
The Workers Are Fighting For A Living Wage
And Union Conditions
JN
THE PERIOD from August, 1932, 1x> February 1st, 1934, there were 273 strikes
in Canada, 51,707 workers being embraced by these strikes. 541,000 working days
-were lost. The W.U.L. unions and councils organized and led the most of these
SWEATED
LABOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P A G E ELEVEN
!trikes but it must be emphasized that among them were several strikes organized
and led by the A.F. of L. unions. The majority (around 85%) of these strikes
were won, and resulted in the wages of the workers being increased and conditions improved. For example, in the Toronto and Stratford furniture workers'
strikes-, wage increases of up to 40o/o were common, and only recently 7,209
lumber workers were successful in raising wages by an average of 15 o/o; hours
were reduced to 10 p_er day (the 12-hour day was in vogue prior) and now the
workers have the right to hold meetings in the camps. In the needle trades'
:strikes, wages were increased by 15% up to 50%, the 44-hour week was established and as a result of the restriction of overtime many unemployed workers
were placed on jobs. The strikes in the food and restaurant industries resulted
in wages being raised 1b y 10% to 75%, a '1 0-hour day being established and the
-union was reco~ized.
In the shoe industry of Toronto, strike struggles have
resulted in wages being raised by 10% to 40%.
The representatives of or1." respective unions will deal in detail with the
·exact wage rates paid prior to the strikes, conditions, interference of the Government in the strikes, etc., and the conditions of the workers in these industries
.at the present time.
However, the above is sufficient to prove that those workers in Canada who
united, organized, were prepared to strike, and when necessary came out on
·atrike-were able to smash sweat-shop conditions and to radically improve their
wages and working standards. In addition, and vitally important, these workers
were aible to build up their own working class unions that are able to defend
the gains made, and to proceed onward to improve conditions still more as circumstances warrant.
In contrast to this, we wish to cite the experiences of the railway workers
of Canada who just re«ent1y suffered a drastic wage cut of 15%-at a time when
the revenues of both the C.N.R. and C.P.R. were on the increase.
The railroaders could only have stopped this wage cut if they had been prepared to
strike. The rank and file accepted our advice-to unite and organize for strike
action to defend their basic rates and voted for strike action, but the officialdom of
their unions, in co-operation with the companies and the Federal Cabinet, managed
to put the wage cut over.
The Government Is Responsible For
Present Conditions
·
· W E THEREFORE CONSIDER that the significant wave of .strikes organized
and led to successful conclusion by the unions and councils of the W.U.L.
is one of the principal reasons for the calling into existence of this Inqurry
Committee! In fact, we claim that if it had not been for the many struggles
and strikes led by the W.U.L.-there would have been no Inquiry Coml'llittee. How
can we prove this ?
In all of the industries mentioned above-these sweat-shop conditions existed for
years .and everyone knew about them. In fact, several members of Parliament such as
Mr. D. W. Wright and Mr. G. B. Nicholson are owners of the worst type of slave
enterprises. The Federal Government is at the present time employing around 40,000
workers (directly and indirectly) in the road and airport camps, and is paying only 20
cents per day. The Federal Government set the scale for slave-labor when it decided
to pay only 20 cents per day in the camps that are quite justly termed Bennett's
Slave Camps by the working class. The Federal Government reduced the wages of
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LABOR
the civil servants by 10% and has participated in the cutting down of the railway
workers' wages.
The will of the Hon. E. B. Ryckman, former member of the Federal Cabinet
and Minister of National Revenue, shows that he had alml()st a half a million
dollars invested in Canadian industry and a fortune of nearly one million dollar•.
We suggest that all the members of the Federal and Provincial Governments
8hould pulblish their holdings in the various banks, trusts, monopolies and enterprises. These facts WIOuld be very revealing and would show (as Mr. Ryckman'•
will showed) that finance capital is well represented in the Government and
actually controls the Government.
In addition to the points which have been outlined above it must be stated that the
adamant refusal of the Federal Government to implement the pre-election pledee
of unemployment insurance greatly contributes to the present zituation where
the consuming power Qf the workers and small farmers (as represented by wages
and income) is being drastically reduced by wage cuts, . relief cuts, increased
taxation, and the burdens of farm debts. All this serves to reduce the internal
market for the products of Canadian industry and agricultUre. The proposal of
the Bennett Government to inflate the currency by $105,000,000 will mean a
further reduction in the standards of li'fe of the workers. They will be able to buy
much less with their wages-and, of course, this again will have serious effects
upon the oountry.
Some ExaiDples of Government Strikebreakinll
R BASIC VIEWPOINT- is also proven by the fact that in practically
every major struggle, when the workers were exercising their rights to
orpnize and strike against sweat-shop conditions and wages, and to improve their
economiO\. conditions in a perfectly legal way:-the R.C.M~P. were sent in and
the various Provincial governments despatched special squads of police into the
strike zones. In one case, at Anyox, a sloop of the Federal Government was sent
to overawe the strikers. The Attorney-General of Ontario, Mr. Price, despatched
tanka and armed troops into the Stratford strike area. Premier Taschereau
ordered the sending of aeroplanes into the Rouyn strike zone. Over 350 strikers
have been arrested during the past year in Oanada-and it is quite clear that
if the Governments (Federal and ·Provincial) had been interested in improving the
economic conditions of the workers, then they would not have acted thus. But
from all evidence it is clear that in practically every strike struggle, in every
attempt of the workers to unite and organize to improve their conditions of work
and life-the employers have ·been assisted by the governments to prevent the
workers exercising their elementary rights of organization, free speech and assembly.
More than that--in practically every factory, mine and camp the various Labor
Laws are being flagrantly violated as the previous evidence at this Inquiry proves.
In several places, as in Thunder Bay district and Rouyn-fascist unions have
been organized by the companies, aid'ed by such men as ex-alderman Salverson of
Port Arthur, a ''~Laoor" man. In the closed company towns, such as Anyox,
Sudbury, Trail, Rouyn, Fernie, Michel, Flin Flon, Kimberley-the workers are being
prevented by terrorism from utilizing their rights to organize into unions and
organizations of their own choice.
We would also like to stress the well-known fact that practically every factory,
mine and mill of the lbig monopoly trusts (such as the Ford, Chrysler, General
Motors, Frood Mine, Hollinger Mine, Trail Smelter, the big textile mills, etc ..,)
is honeycombed with the spy systems of the companies to try and prevent
0
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THIRTEEN
the workers from organizing into their own class unions and fighting against terrific
speed-up and exploitation.
The Governments are supplementing, and leading all of the above by such
acts as the recent attack upon the WJorkers' Unity League of Canada by AttorneyGeneral Price of Ontario, the conviction of Arthur H. Evans by the B.C.
Government under Section 98-simply because he helped to organize the Princeton
coal mi'n ers into the Mine Workers' Union of Canada and led them to smash sweated
labor conditions-by the savage terrorism that is rampant in all of the Government
controlled slave-camps where it is a heinous Hcrime''' for the workers to even talk
about organization-and by the use of the R.C.M.P. in labor's struggles, as at
Estevan where three miners were killed and over 40 wounded when the R.C.M.P.
fired upon a peaceful demQnstration against the awful labor conditions that
prevailed in the Es-tevan Mines.
HitlerisiD; In Canada
URTHERMORE, the Quebec Liberal Government is now deliberating on a billF the
Arcand Bill-which would deprive the workers of the right to organize
into uni·ons of their own choice, prohi'b it strikes and would institute a system of
compulsory agreements upon the workers.
The Arcand Bill is designed to do
away with collective bargaining and independent working class trade and industrial
unions. It is a Bill that bears many of the earmarks of Hitler's F':ascist Laws.
The David Bill, now before the Quebec Legislature is another piece of vicious
anti-working class legislation which aims to do away with free speech . and free
assembly in Quebec.
Arid, of course, the adamant refusal o.f ·the Federal Government to repeal
Section 98 and 501 of the Criminal Code or to release the working-class
leaders {including Tom Ewen, the general secretary of the W.U.L.) from Kingston
clearly shows that all of the above reactionary actions and measures are supported
and facilitated by the Federal Government. There is no denying the fact that
the capitalist class of Canada is advancing along the path of fascism.
We have studied this etl!tire question clearly, and must come to the
conclusion that this Inquiry is a deliiberate attempt to delude and gull the
workers, . to try to get them to believe that the Federal Government is truly
interested in fighting the finance capitalists and sweated labor conditions. This
Inquiry goes on at a time when 200 men are in jail precisely because they fought
to bring about an improvement in the economic position of the workers. This
Inquiry was launched at a time when the workers are more and more realizing
that only by militant united working class action can their conditions be defended
and improved, when the workers are realizing very clearly that the program
and policies of the Workers' Unity League are fully correct. Therefore, we have
to clearly declare that this Inquiry, just as much as the attacks of the AttorneyGeneral Price upon the W.U.L. and the sending of tanks to Stratford, the jailing
of striking workers is a deliberate attempt to prevent the working masses taking
the only path that leads to the elimination of sweat-shops and to better working
conditions a.nd higher wages, the path that the Stratford workers and thousands
of other workers took.
We also wish to sharply declare that the actions of Messrs. Moore, Mosher,
Heaps, W oodsworth and the rest of the social-fascist leaders who whole-heartedly
endorse this demagogic strike-breaking Inquiry constitute further steps taken
by these gentlemen in their betrayal of Canadian Labor. They are helping finance
capital and the governments along the road to fascism by their anti-working
PAGE FouRTEEN'--------......:.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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LABOR
class actions in screening the true purposes and reasons for thi's Inquiry, by their disruption and splitting of the ranks of the workers who need a united working class front
more than ever before, and by their support of the imperialist war policies of the ruling
class of Canada. We would !be derelict in our duties to the Canadian working
class if we failed to declare that these social-fascists are trying to hoodwink
and delude and disorganize the ranks of Labor by their actions.
We are confjdent that the workers and small farmers of Canada will continue
to unite and struggle for the defence and improvement of their immediate economic
and political position. They-the working people-will say the last word by theiT
united actions in the factories, mines, shops, mills, camps, working class localities
and on the farms.
· --•... ·~ ~ .. . ~ •-· • ' •a _ . · ~
... : ... ,,_ , ·~-~"' - ...
The Demands and the Program of the
Canadian Workers
SUBMIT THE following crystal clear proposals before the
W Eproposals
that lucidly set forth the main immediate interests,
Committee,
needs and
demands of the Canadian workers and small farmers. Everyone of these proposals
can be immediately realized. We, on our part, we, of the Workers' Unity League,
will do everything humanly possible to mobilize, unite and organize the workers
to struggle militantly against capital to achieve these demands. We would like
your clear answer to these proposals. The workers demand a straight from-theshoulder answer.
1. The introduction of the 7 -hour day and 5-day working-week, with no
reductions in pay throughout the Dominion. The introduction of the 6-hour
day for all miners, chemical workers and all workers in hazardous industries,
and women workers. The prohibition of all labor by children under 16 years
of age. The introduction of the 6-hour day and 5-day week for all young
workers unde!r 18 years of age. Prohibtion of work in all hazardous industries,
night work and overt~me work for all young workers under 18 years of
age. The enactment of a Federal Minimum Wage Act for young male and
female unskilled workers and apprentices with provisions of not less than
$12.50 for a regular working week of 35 hours.
2. The immediate restoration of the wage cuts inflicted upon the workers
since 1929, the Federal Government to take the lead by restoring the civil
servants' 10% cut and the 15% cut of the C.N.R. workers.
3. Rises in all wage scales and relief scales to compensate for the rises
in the cost of living caused by inflation and higher taxes.
4. Abolition of the militarized slave-labor camps! and. all forced labor
projects in the cities, municipalities and provinces.
Payments in cash at
union rates of wages for all relief work.
5. The F~ea-al Gorverrunent to allot one billion dollars immediately for
a National Construction Program.
First consideration to be given to the
demolition of all slums and houses unfit for human habitation, the construction
of houses for workers, irrigation projects in the drought-stricken agricultural
regions and similar necessary projects. All work to be paid for at regular
union rates of pay.
6. The immediate resumption of normal diplomatic and trading relations
between Canada and the Soviet Union and the allotment of an adequate
sum of money by the Federal Government to facilitate large-scale reciprocal
trade between Canada and the U.S.S.R.
7. Enactment by the Federal Government of the Workers' Social and
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