daughters of our "Mother of Parliaments" was rudely assaulted as 150 striking railway workers invaded the Canadian Parliament, protesting against planned Government legislation that would make their strike illegal. The non-operating railway workers - clerks and station hands — had been engaged in strike action for almost six weeks, to back up their claim for a pay rise of 11% a year for the next two years. For the first four weeks they had engaged in rotating strikes - hitting one area of the country at a time for 48 hours, and then shifting to another area. But on 23 August a national strike began. In a country like Canada, heavily dependent on the railways for transportation, this had a shattering effect on industry.
ORDERED BACK The Liberal Government of Prime Minister Trudeau - which does not hold a majority of seats in Parliament, and has depended upon the New Democratic Party (Canada's Labour Party) for support - replied by recalling Parliament six weeks early and preparing a law to order the strikers back to work There is nothing new in this. Since 1950 the Government has used the force of the law to order striking workers in 'essential services' back to work eight times. The railway men themselves have been subject to such orders three times in the past ten years.
As a result of the settlements imposed on them in 1966 and 1969, the wages of railway workers have been unable to keep up with the rapid inflation that has plagued the Canadian economy, along with the rest of the world's capitalist economies.
The Government measure was passed by Parliament on 1 September. It was supported by the governing Liberals and the Conservative opposition, with only the New Democratic Party voting against. A Conservative sponsored amendment increasing the wage rise imposed on the railway workers from 16% to 18%, over two years; was carried despite Liberal opposition.
MILITANCY With the rate of inflation running at about 8% this miserable rise will do little to make up for the decline in railway workers living standards. That is the reason this strike has been accompanied by such vigorous rank-and-file militancy. It was only this militancy which forced the trade union bureaucrats to lodge a claim for a 15% a year increase in the first place although they later reduced this to 11%. Under pressure some of the trade union leaders even talked of disobeying the back-to-work order, but they appear to have got cold feet at the last 'minute.
This serious set-back for the Canadian trade union movement shows the urgent need for united trade union action against state attacks on the union movement. This is something which has been sorely lacking in recent Canadian trade union history - union leaders have been sent to jail for as long as 18 months tor msodeying a court order against pickengbut is now needed more clearly than ever before.
The New Democratic Party has, up until now, been backing the Liberal Party and keeping it in power. But this latest move will put it under great pressure to withdraw that support, In the following weeks Parliament will be debating the crisis situation with regard to inflation and food prices. The Government could very well be defeated. That will spark off a serious political crisis at a time when the class struggle is reaching a new level of intensity, and could result in important new working class mobilisations. Railmen on the march in Toronto The Canadian experience should serve as an object lesson to British trade unionists as to what can happen if state intervention against the trade union movement is not fought. If the TUC has its way the same sort of thing could be happening here in the not too distant future Brian Slocock