Back to Work

The strike tide had ebbed almost as fast as it had flowed. Canada was going back to work.

The 19-day walkout in the Ontario woods ended last week for some of the strikers. More than a dozen Northern Ontario pulp producers signed with the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union (A.F.L.) for just about what the union demanded: $5 a day (instead of $3), union recognition, single beds in the camps (instead of double-deck bunks). The recent $10-a-ton hike in the U.S. ceiling on newsprint had undoubtedly sugared the pill for the operators.

How many had been on strike and how many lumberjacks the union actually represented was still a question. But logging had never ceased. For one thing, many French Canadian Catholic lumbermen ignored the orders of the union's red-tinged leaders. (Lumber operators last week were still unwilling to sign until they could be sure their men wanted the union to represent them.)

Other labor agreements came fast last week. The 111-day Westinghouse strike was settled for a 13-c--an-hour raise, the 115-day Amalgamated Electrical Co. strike for 13-c-, the 128-day Dominion Rubber strike at Kitchener for 13-c-, the 119-day Truscon steel strike for 12-c-, the 112-day Canada Wire & Cable strike for 14 1/2-c- to 24-c-. To round out the rosy picture, General Motors and Ford signed with the U.A.W. (Chrysler had already signed for 12-c- to 15-c-.) They granted wage boosts of 13-c- and 12-c- respectively to some 17,000 workers.

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