The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-13
CANADIAN TORY
GOVERNMENT TO
HOG-TIE MINERS
Royal Commission Aids
Besco Fight Union
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coming year they ignored this report
absolutely. The president of the dis
trict in his annual report recommend
ed that the convention instruct the
district officers to negotiate a new
wage contract based on paragraph 16
Of the royal commissions award.
This split the convention in two, with
the more progressive miners lining up
with the policy committee, the reac-
tionaries with the district officers.
Two days were spent over this ques-
tion-the only question Of any i'm
portance before the convention.
1t could be easily seen that the dele
gates were strike and strife weary
and Mcleod, the district president,
played on that to get his tory COM
MISSIONS report accepted. Since 1922
the miners Of this district have gone
thru four strikes, four time have COM
missions been appointed, royal and
the other kind, to deal with wage dis
putes; four times has this island been
flooded with soldiers and special
provincial police during this period.
Idle time and strikes had left the
miners penniless. The district has
thousands of dollars of debt with only
n cents in the treasury as shown by
the district secretary's report. On
these things Mcleod PLAYED very
effectively.
Refuse to Sign Contracts.
The policy committee pointed out
that the thing to do was to refuse to
sign any contract if any reduction
was made, but to hold the miners
ready against the day when the har-
Dor was full Of Besco steamers waiting
FOR coal then smash Besco with
1000 strike. They pointed out to the
delegates that to accept the award
was to hand over all the functions of
the union to some professional &C
countant whose say-so would de-
termine their wages and who would
never once have to appear before the
miners to give an account of his &C
tons.
At the end of the second day roll
call vote was taken and reaction won
out with fifty odd votes to forty-six.
An incident rising out of the creden-
tial committees report the first day
of the convention ought to be of in
terest to John L. Lewis. In the year
1928 the miners of Nova Scotia had
almost within their grasp the greatest
victory that Canadian labor had ever
won. The miners had gone on strike
Is a protest against the government
sending soldiers to break a strike of
she Besco steel workers. 1t was a
1000 strike, and the ranks of the
miners was like a rock. Their officers
had been arrested and thrown into a
filthy jail, but the miners continued
solid as they had been from the first
lay of battle. In despair the governor
general of Canada toook hand in the
tight and met the district officer who
that day had gotten out on bail. With
these district officers he agreed that
all soldiers would be withdrawn from
Nova Scotia and the miners would
return to the mines within a forty
eight hour period, both movements to
be commenced at the same hour. I'll
was then that the arbitrator of the
miners, John L. Lewis, run the knife
in the back of the miners of Nova
Scotia, deposed the district officers,
had an injunction issued against them,
tore the hitherto solid ranks of the
miners wide open and imposed on the
district his unspeakable provisional
officers.
Unseat SiIby Barrett.
Well, one of these provisional off,
GERS was Silby Barrett. At the follow
ing international convention Alex S.
Mcintyre, the deposed vice-president,
was delegate and Barrett sent long
wire to traitor Lewis that Mcintyre
had worked two days in a bar-room
when he was blacklisted because Of |
the actions OF the Lewis gang. Lewis
got on lot Of bunk in that conven-
ton about having to discuss the Nova
Scotia case with "a bartender" and
had Mcintyre unseated Well Brother
Barrett was convicted of selling rum
here and the precedent that poor Sill
had established In tha McIntvra oaaa