November 16, 1945

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

STANDING ORDERS


First report of standing committee on standing orders.-Mr. MacLean.


VETERANS AFFAIRS


Mr. W. A. TUCKER (Rosthern) presented the fourth report of the special committee on veterans affairs, and moved that the report be concurred in. He said: There has been no difficulty about getting a quorum up to now. We have had attendances of from thirty to fifty, but it is proposed to begin this afternoon to sit while the house is in session. It is thought that this might enable us to proceed promptly and continue our deliberations while the house is in session. Motion agreed to.


EXTERNAL AFFAIRS-CHANGE IN PERSONNEL


Hon. IAN A. MACKENZIE (Minister of Veterans Affairs) moved: That the name of Mr. Adamson (York West) be substituted for that of Mr. Graydon on the committee on external affairs. Motion agreed to.


LABOUR CONDITIONS

STRIKE AT FORD MOTOR PLANT, WINDSOR

LIB

Humphrey Mitchell (Minister of Labour)

Liberal

Hon. HUMPHREY MITCHELL (Minister of Labour):

Mr. Speaker, I desire to bring hon. members up to date on developments in the strike affecting the Ford Motor Company of Canada plant at Windsor.

Since reporting to the house on Tuesday of this week, I had a conference in my office with representatives of the Canadian Congress of Labour and the United Automobile Workers of America. At that meeting I was pleased to discern a more conciliatory attitude on. the part of the union representatives, and it resulted in the union representatives agreeing to recommend to its members a change of

Ford Motor Plant Strike

policy with respect to the provision of power house services and access to the company's offices.

The union delegation left immediately for Windsor and placed their proposals before the membership.

Early this morning I received a telegram from the union conveying the text of a telegram sent by the union to the company, which reads as follows:

At a well attended meeting of the membership of local 200 UAW-CIO held in the city market building 3 p.m. Thursday November 15th, the following action was decided upon by a substantial majority of the membership present: (1) that employees whose normal function is the operation of the power plant of the Ford Motor Company of Canada are free to resume their regular duties; (2) that the union has no objection to the accredited executive officers of the Ford Motor Company and their personal secretaries from having free ingress to and egress from the plant premises. The union believes that the aforesaid action constitutes a demonstration of good faith that should be of help in assisting to reopen negotiations for a collective agreement with your company. We are therefore requesting on behalf of our union that negotiations be reopened forthwith and to the end that a mutually satisfactory contract be consummated between your company and our organization. Trusting you for your favourable consideration and hoping for an early reply, a letter confirming this wire is being forwarded.

Upon receipt of this, I sent a telegram, to Mr. D. B. Greig, treasurer of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, which reads as follows:

Have just received from Mr. George Burt, Director of Region No. 7, U.A.W.-C.I.O., the text of the communication addressed to you by him conveying the decision of membership local 200 U.A.W.-C.I.O., to man the power house of the company and relax picketing, so that company officials would have access to their offices; also requesting a- conference with company management with a view to the negotiation of a mutually satisfactory contract. I desire to urge upon you and your associates favourable consideration of the union's request in order that way may be opened to a full resumption of company operations at the earliest possible date.

Just before noon a teletype message was received from Mr. Greig addressed to myself and to the Hon. Leslie Blackwell, Attorney General of Ontario, repeating the text of a communication addressed to the union which is as follows:

' Receipt is acknowledged at approximately 1 a.m. this morning of your telegram to Mr. W. FI. Clark, personnel manager of this company.

The company has considered your commuui-oation and is prepared to negotiate with union representatives upon the following conditions;

1. The union, before negotiation proceedings open, to discontinue all picketing of the company's premises, and at once to cooperate with the company in putting power house back in permanent operation.

2. The company, as quickly as possible, to prepare its plant for resumption of work.

3. The company to return its employees to work as quickly as possible and without discrimination.

4. The company and union, before negotiation proceedings open, to agree upon a reasonable limit of time during which negotiations shall take place; the company suggests ten days.

5. The company and the union to submit points remaining in dispute between them concerning a new collective bargaining agreement to an arbitrator to be appointed by the Minister of Labour for Canada from among the judges of the Supreme Court of Ontario whose decisions upon the points in dispute and with respect to the wording in any particular of the agreement to be negotiated to be final and binding; save that all matter over which the regional war labour board for Ontario or the national war labour board has jurisdiction shall not be decided by or before said arbitrator.

C. Pending the conclusion of the new agreement to be negotiated as -above provided, the collective bargaining arrangements pertaining to the company's Windsor plants to be the same as those in effect on September 12, 1945.

In agreeing to negotiate with the union under the conditions set forth above, Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited, emphasizes that its action is motivated by a desire to remove the possibility of bloodshed inherent in the prolonged strike situation; by the need for again making jobs and wages available to' Ford workers, and by the necessity for providing new cars and trucks for home and export markets.

Last Friday and again last Tuesday, the company through Hon. Humphrey Mitchell, Minister of Labour for Canada, offered to submit all issues between the parties to arbitration. The company suggested arbitration instead of direct negotiation with the union because negotiations with the union had been proceeding for seventeen months prior to the calling of the strike on September 12 last. The issues debated during" those seventeen months are the issues to-day. The long-drawn period of fruitless negotiation between company and union has proven that the views of the two parties upon some points have been irreconcilable. In these circumstances, the company has adopted the realistic view that upon some issues negotiation is unlikely to succeed. For that reason, the company has suggested arbitration. Because seventeen months of debate ended in failure to agree, the company now suggests that the two parties should accept a time limit for negotiation prior to arbitration.

With a sincere desire to provide jobs and wages once more for its employees, and to resume work on civilian production, the company has, for the second time within a week, changed the policy it has formerly felt obliged to adopt toward strike mediation proposals.

, On October 27 the company, like the union, rejected an arbitration proposal.

I would like to say, Mr. Speaker, that the arbitration proposal was my suggestion.

Last Friday the company conceded arbitration; in doing so it sacrificed the principle that an employer should not be expected suffer anyone outside of his business dictating the terms upon which he shall deal with his own employees. Now the company concedes negotiation with the union as a preliminary to

Ford Motor Plant Strike

arbitration, feeling that negotiation unassisted by arbitration cannot lead to a complete agreement.

The company still believes that immediate arbitration is the short-cut to achieving a new collective bargaining agreement; still believes that negotiation prior to the invitable arbitration will only consume precious time; still believes that, whle the new agreement is being written through negotiation and arbitration, Ford workers should not be deprived of their jobs and wages.

We sincerely trust that upon consideration of the above the union will share with the company the feeling that the entire situation is capable of speedy and satisfactory solution and that we may receive from you an early approval of the basis outlined.

It will be noted from the above that the company is not of the opinion that collective bargaining negotiations will be productive of any satisfactory result, and consequently, it repeats its previous offer to refer all matters in dispute to arbitration under a justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario appointed by myself. The only difference in the present offer of the company and that conveyed to me in Windsor last Friday is that collective bargaining negotiations over a period of ten days will be entered into after all employees return to work.

It is my opinion that the suggestions made by the men's organization are fair and reasonable and offer the basis of a settlement, and I would urge the company and the men's representatives to get together at the earliest possible moment in order that work may be resumed. In saying this, I feel sure that I am voicing the views of every member of this House of Commons.

The basis of our way of life is reason and the ability to give and take, leading to sound contractional relations. Both company and union have shown evidence of this during the past few days and for the sake of the city of Windsor and industrial peace generally, they should close the gap between them at once.

I would like to think that the company and the union are about to shake hands, but they have not reached out yet.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   STRIKE AT FORD MOTOR PLANT, WINDSOR
Permalink

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

LIB

Joseph-Arthur Bradette

Liberal

Mr. J. A. BRADETTE (Cochrane) moved:

That the second report of the standing committee on external affairs, presented on Monday, November 12, be now concurred in.

Hon. L. S. ST. LAURENT (Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs); I am compelled to move in amendment that this

report be referred back to the committee and that it have power to reconsider the recommendation expressed in the last paragraph of the report. The recommendation is in. the following form:

Your committee further recommends that it be empowered to consider matters connected with external affairs and report from time to time any suggestion or recommendation deemed advisable to the House of Commons.

This is one of the twelve standing committees which were set up on October 9 and with respect to which the powers were determined by resolution of this house on October 10 in the following form:

On motion of Mr. Mackenzie it was resolved:

That the standing committees of this house shall severally be empowered to examine and inquire into all such matters and things as may be referred to them by the house and to report from time to time their observations and opinions thereon, with power to send for persons, papers and records.

The scope of the jurisdiction of the standing committees has been, in the practice of the house, always determined by specific reference. This recommendation would ask for general power to the committee to consider any matters connected with external affairs without specific reference from this house. If that were proper for this standing committee, it would be equally proper for all the standing committees of this house to determine themselves the scope and extent of the matters which they would consider and upon which they would make reports. That would lead to very serious disturbance of the order of business now provided by the standing orders.

These reports come in on motions. They are debatable under the rules of the house, and any report coming from a committee would give occasion for a debate in priority to any of the other business provided for by the standing rules of the house. That may be a good thing to do, but we have just recently set up a special committee to assist Mr. Speaker in revising the rules of the house, and I do not think there should be any anticipation, by concurrence in a motion of this kind, of such a substantial change in what has been the practice and rules of procedure in the house.

Then there is the further consideration that I am only acting in the capacity of Secretary of State for External Affairs, and I should not like any substantial change of this kind to be accepted by the house in the absence of the Secretary of State for External Affairs.

This proposal of the committee would be very wide in its effect. It would allow the committee to investigate any aspect of any-

External Affairs

thing that could be comprised within the term "external affairs." I think that until there has been some general change, if there is to be a change, in the standing orders, the former practice should be adhered to. and there should be specific reference by the house to the standing committees of the matters which the [DOT]standing committees would inquire into.

My amendment is in the form provided for in paragraph 661 of the second edition of Beauchesne:

When the motion is proposed the report may be referred back to the committee for further consideration or with instruction to amend the same in any respect.

The terms I have suggested in my amendment are:

That the report be referred back to the said committee and that it have power to reconsider the recommendation expressed in the last paragraph of the report.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
Permalink
PC

Howard Charles Green

Progressive Conservative

Mr. H. C. GREEN (Vancouver South):

The members of -the official opposition had not realized that this report would be under consideration to-day. I submit that the statement made by the Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs is a very important one. It brings up matters which should be given the most careful consideration, and having in mind the successful operation of this committee in the months and years that lie ahead, we suggest to the Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs that he allow the discussion on his amendment to stand over until some time next week so that we may be able to review what he has just said and then be in a position to take a stand on the question.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
Permalink
CCF

Major James William Coldwell

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)

Mr. COLDWELL:

I would support the

suggestion made by the hon. member for Vancouver South. This matter did receive a great deal of consideration by the committee, and the very point that is now raised was brought up. I suggest that further consideration be given it by hon. members.

Mr. ST. LAURENT: If it is the pleasure

of the house to postpone the determination of the motion and the amendment, I have no objection.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
Permalink
PC

Howard Charles Green

Progressive Conservative

Mr. GREEN:

I move the adjournment of the debate.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
Permalink
CCF

Angus MacInnis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)

Mr. MacINNIS:

On a point of order, can

a motion to refer to a committee be debated at all?

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
Permalink
?

An hon. MEMBER:

Yes.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
Permalink
CCF

Major James William Coldwell

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)

Mr. COLDWELL:

You are also dealing

with the motion for the adoption of the report.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned.

Topic:   LABOUR CONDITIONS
Subtopic:   EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Sub-subtopic:   MOTION FOR CONCURRENCE IN SECOND REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE
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PRIVATE BILLS

FIRST READING-SENATE BILLS

November 16, 1945