Endorsation was given to the action of the executive in issuing the manifesto in the Federal election. In the discussion on this item several of the speakers stated that it was very necessary to have the Senate reformed in order to give effect to labour proposals, and with this in view the organized workers were urged to redouble their efforts to have the Senate abolished, or at least reformed. It was pointed out, however, that it was essential that there should be united action, so that they would not be demanding abolition in one locality and reform in another."

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The committee endorsed the action of the executive in regard to the British strike and presented, for the guidance of the executive, a recommendation that minimum wage laws be extended to provide an adequate minimum wage for male as well as female workers.

The executive was endorsed in (1) refusing a charter to the Mine Workers' Union of Canada as the United Mine Workers is the recognized coal miners' organization, (2) cooperating with the Workers' Educational Association of Ontario, (3) the president of the Congress accepting a place on the advisory council of the Union Labour Life Insurance Company, (4) endeavouring to secure release of prisoners in Nova Scotia. The committee approved of a half holiday on election days, and congratulated the executive on the increased circulation of the Congress Journal as well as approving of the contents of the magazine. The committee suggested that the reports of the provincial executive committees, and provincial federations of labour should be carefully perused by the delegates, and recommended the adoption of the reports as a whole. Before the report was adopted special reference was made to the lack of social legislation for women in the province of Quebec. There being no provincial and only a partial municipal franchise for women, it was decided that the executive committee for Quebec should endeavour to assist in securing complete franchise for the women of the province.

Picketing and Injunctions

To the special committee which was appointed to report on the question of picketing and injunctions in labour disputes were referred the resolutions which had been submitted as well as the references to the subject in the report of the executive council. The full report of this committee, which was presented by Mr. Jas. Simpson, the chairman, was as follows:

Your committee has had referred to it the various resolutions dealing with the subject of picketing and

injunctions, and following a survey of all the documents, including court decisions and legal opinions bearing upon the subject, we beg leave to submit to this convention the following information and conclusions:

By the British North America Act, 1867, Section 91, Clause 27, the Dominion Parliament has exclusive jurisdiction over the criminal law, except the constitution, of course, of criminal jurisdiction, but including the procedure in criminal matters. In pursuance of this power the Federal Parliament has enacted the Criminal Code, which contains Section 501 prohibiting watching or besetting certain places with certain objects therein set out. Since the Dominion Parliament had the legislative jurisdiction to enact this section, and it alone can repeal it, any alteration in the criminal law relating to picketing must be sought from the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada, and from it alone. On the other hand, by Section 92, item 13 of the British North America Act, 1867, each Province in the Dominion has the exclusive power to make laws in relation to property and civil rights in the province. The right to restrain, by injunction, any person or persons from picketing premises so as to create a common law nuisance or to restrain the publication in any manner of statements alleged to be defamatory is a civil right, and so is within the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of the province. Any representations to alter the present law in the province of Canada with reference to granting or refusing injunctions restraining alleged breaches of civil rights must be made to the legislatures of the Provinces. The practice of courts interfering with the right to peacefully picket, thus preventing strikers from doing what the organized labour movement maintains they have the legal right to do, still continues. Quite a number of cases have arisen during the past few years. The courts seem divided as to the interpretation of the law as it now exists. The effect, however, has been in the main to make the strike ineffective. The right to peacefully picket was defined and made legal by Section 12, Chapter 173 of the Consolidated Statute, 1886, but when the Criminal Code, 1892, Chapter 29. was compiled this provision legalizing peaceful picketing was omitted and has not yet been reinserted. In representations previously made to the Government the executive council of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada has pointed out the necessity of amending the Criminal Code to adequately protect trade unions and trade unionists in their right to peacefully picket during strikes. In reply to these representations the executive council has been told that the provisions of the Criminal Code are adequate to afford the protection asked for despite the fact that these provisions lack the clarity of definition common to British law. Events of the past year only serve to strengthen the conviction previously expressed that the Criminal Code should be amended to prevent recurrence of the action of the courts in restraining trade unionists from peacefully picketing. Your committee could cite a large number of cases in which legal decisions, both favourable and unfavourable, have been rendered, but for the purposes of bringing this matter clearly before the convention we do not think it advisable to give a detailed recitation of all these cases which we have carefully reviewed. We feel, however, that reference should be made in this report to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada and that of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, both of which decisions denied the right of peaceful picketing which the Government has so frequently stated is the right of the trade unions and trade unionists of this country. In this important matter we would like to make reference to an important decision given by the Court of Appeal of the Province of Ontario dissolving an injunction granted by the Lower Court restraining the striking moving picture operators of the city of Hamilton from peacefully picketing.

In rendering their judgment the Court of Appeal said,

'Courts should not attempt to interfere and forbid by their injunctions that which has already been forbidden by Parliament itself, much less should the courts interfere when the thing complained of is not within the terms of the criminal law, although it may be rightly regarded as objectionable or even immoral for then the civil courts, by injunction, are attempting to enlarge and amend the criminal law. Government by injunction is a thing abhorrent to the laws of England and this province

The fact that the criminal law emanates from the Dominion and the civil law from the Province, and that Our courts are created by the province only serves to manifest the desirability of refraining from any assumption by the civil courts of a power to regulate public conduct. The question of trade unionism, and of the open shop, and of how far those who advocate the one as against the other should be permitted to go in endeavouring to uphold and enforce their views, are essentially matters for Parliament and quite foreign to civil courts'.

Lord Camden, one of England's greatest legal authorities, dealing with the issuing of injunctions said.

"The discretion of a Judge is the law of tyrants. It is always unknown; it is different in different men, it is casual and depends upon constitution, temper and passion. In the best it is ofttimes caprice; in the worst it is every vice, folly and passion to which human nature is liable.'

It is therefore obvious that so long as trade unions and trade unionists are left to the constitution, temper, passion and caprice of judges using their own discretion, and ignoring the stability of law, their rights will be repeatedly infringed and the work of destroying their organizations will be proceeded with. The right to strike must carry with it the right to persuade the unorganized to organize and join with the organized in strikes, and to employ those methods such as picketing without which the right to strike becomes ineffective and valueless. British law has always recognized that a strike must be effective to be of any service and therefore the British Parliament, from time to time, has amended its laws so as to safeguard certain necessary activities connected with strikes, such as the freedom of speech and assembly, the right to organize and peacefully picket, etc. In 1906 the Trades Dispute Act was passed by the Government of Great Britain. It repealed the clause of the 1875 Act legalizing picketing merely for the purpose of obtaining or communicating information and enacted the following section:

'It shall be lawful for one or more persons acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or of an individual employer or firm in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute to attend at or near a house or place where a person resides or works or carries on business or happens to be. If they so attend merely for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating information or of peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working. This statute therefore brings the law on this point back to that of 1859 which excepted peaceful persuasion from the offences of molestation and obstruction in the Act of 1825, a law which the Act of 1875 had been said to repeal. No change has been made in the British law on this point since 1906.'

John G. O'Donoghue, K.C., solicitor for the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, in his extended legal opinion on the rights of trade unions and trade unionists to picket, said,-'that time has shown that the position taken in seeking the amendment by the insertion of the proviso which we have previously referred

to was a wise one. Had this proviso been inserted in the Criminal Code there would have been no reason for any judge to say that the absence of the proviso deprived the workers of the right to picket peacefully. The remedy is to have this proviso legalizing peacefu! picketing inserted in the code. You will, of course, distinguish between the criminal end of the subject and the civil while those who peacefully picket are not, in a proper interpretation of the law, subject to criminal prosecution, they lay themselves open to injunction proceedings, if they picket in such numbers as to constitute themselves a nuisance in the civil aspect of the law. For the information of all concerned Mr. O'Donoghue drafted instructions for strikers which, when followed, have enabled strikers and policemen to get along together and have avoided police prosecutions for picketing. These instructions are as follows:

1. You have a perfect right to picket peacefully. 2. Do not have more than three pickets together, because more might constitute a nuisance or a menace.

3. If ordered by officers of the law to "move on" move on. But you may return, and may pass any particular point as often as you like, so often as you keep moving when ordered.

4. You are at liberty to speak to any one in order to give information or to obtain it concerning the dispute. If the strike breaker rejects your advances leave him alone. It is in his system and an appeal to his manly instincts will not move him. He probably

hasn't any.

5. Let no threats be made to others. Those who take The the places of strikers have a legal right to do so. moral aspect of their conduct is another thing.

6. Do not condone violence or anything like violence. The striker who indulges in violence is no friend of his fellow worker. He may be a spy.

7. While giving every respect to the law and its officers do not let them impose upon you. But, do not take the law into your own hands in any case. Remember, that the officer has to do his duty and to follow his instructions, no matter how distasteful they may be to him.

Your committee are of the opinion that the questions of picketing and the issuing of injunctions to prevent picketing are merely different phases of the same problem and having regard for the jurisdictional limitations of the Federal Parliament to deal with changes in the criminal code and Provincial Parliaments to deal with injunction legislation, we would therefore recommend as follows:

(1) That the incoming executive of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada zealously press for the necessary amendments to the criminal code or pursue such other course as their legal advisers would recommend to adequately protect trade unions and trade unionists throughout this Dominion in their right to picket during industrial disputes.

(2) That the provincial executives of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada make adequate representations to Provincial Legislatures to secure for the trade unions and trade unionists their rights to peacefully picket without the intervention of the Courts in the issuing of injunctions to restrain them from what they have a legal right to do.

This recommendation not only applies to the issuing of injunctions restraining trade unions and trade unionists from continuing picketing once it has been put in operation, but also from the issuance of injunction before trade unions and trade unionists have decided to picket in the event of an industrial dispute. (3) That, with a view to supporting the executive council in carrying out the instructions of this convention all affiliated bodies be urged to bring their

influence to bear upon the Government and members of Parliament and Legislatures to promote the necessary legislation, and that in addition the executive council be instructed to prepare in the form of a pamphlet or document the necessary information for the guidance and advice of its constituents to make possible the realization of this objective.

(4) That, pending the enactment of legislation to adequately protect trade unions and trade uunionists in their right of peacefully picketing, the advice given by the Congress solicitor be the policy to be adopted, and that the widest publicity be given by the Congress Executive to the legal opinions rendered by Mr. O'Donoghue.

The recommendations of the committee were considered clause by clause. Delegate Tim Buck moved that the first clause be referred back to the committee, and in doing so stated that the only way to combat injunctions was to fight them. He claimed that all the resolutions asking for definite action had been evaded by the committee. The convention, however, voted against the motion and the first clause was adopted. Clause two was also adopted, but when clause three was reached Delegate John McDonald moved in amendment that the following demand as contained in resolution 41 be substituted:—

That in order to rally and crystallize this labour protest, to impress the workers further of the serious position that confronts them; and to impress the Government, if possible, with the determination of labour's demand, the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada name a day in the immediate future on which the trades unions throughout the country shall organize protest meetings and forward their demands to the Federal Government for the amendment of Section 501 of the Criminal Code, so that peaceful picketing in Canada may be regarded as legal.

After some discussion the amendment was defeated. On clause four Delegate Buck moved reference back to committee with instructions to report the following:

Organized workers should on no account forego the right to picket, regardless of injunctions or court decisions. The life and strength of our movement is bound up with the right to strike, which involves the right to picket, and this right must be preserved at all costs.

Delegate Buck strongly supported his amendment. President Moore, however, declared the amendment mischievous and asked the convention to defeat it. Delegate McDonald said the amendment was advising the workers to refuse to obey injunctions. Only by militancy would they secure their rights from the courts. The chairman of the committee closed the debate, the amendment being defeated.

Report of the Secretary-Treasurer

Mr. P. M. Draper, the secretary-treasurer of the Congress, submitted his report showing that, including the balance from last year, the total receipts amounted to $23,100.84; the

expenditure totalled 19,273.94, leaving a balance of $3,826.89.

In reporting the membership at 103,037, a decrease of 2,875, it was pointed out that only those members for whom per capita tax had been received were counted. If out of work members were included, and for whom no per capita had been paid, this membership would be about 25 per cent higher. The secretary stated that the secession in the ranks of the United Mine Workers and the Brotherhood of Boilermakers was responsible for some of the loss in membership. Five new federal unions had been chartered during the year. The secretary also submitted a report of the trustees of the headquarters building, the receipts and expenditures of which are included in the above figures, and which showed that the income had amounted to $1.620 and the expenses to $1,563, a balance of $56.96. The property was stated to be worth $35,000. The Audit Committee, to which this report was referred, reported having found the accounts correct in every detail and commended the work of the secretary. The report was adopted without any debate,

The Ways and Means Committee recommended that the fraternal delegate to the American Federation of Labour be granted $400 and the fraternal delegate to the British Trades Union Congress $800; also that the executive council be empowered to pay certain incidental expenses in connection with the convention.

Report of Union Label Committee

To this regular committee of the Congress was referred the section in the executive council's report bearing on the registration of union labels. The committee reported that much progress had been made since the previous convention in the matter of the registration of labels, shop cards and working buttons. It was suggested that all delegates familiarize themselves with union label legislation as printed in the officers' reports, and upon their return home that they interview their respective Federal members and endeavour to have them pledge themselves to legislation which will give union emblems legal status in Canada, and also that efforts be made to get support in the Senate for the proposed legislation. The committee made a plea for support for all union labels, and recommended that the executive council circularize all trades and labour councils requesting that a union label league be formed wherever possible for the education of the workers toward the patronage of union label articles. The suggestion was made that the Congress consider the advisability of placing a union label exhibition booth at the Canadian Na

tional Exhibition in Toronto. The committee stated that uniforms made in the Government plant at Ottawa, as well as uniforms made in contract shops, do not bear the union label, and the executive was asked to interview the Federal Government with a view to having them made under union conditions. The report, after considerable discussion, was adopted.

At one of the sessions a letter was read from Mr. John Manning, secretary of the Union Label Trades Department of the American Federation of Labour, regretting absence from the convention and offering to assist in securing the desired amendments to the Canadian Trade Marks Act.

Internal Affairs

Among the four resolutions referred to the Committee on Constitution and Law was the following: "Whereas, the present conditions do not warrant the maintaining of the president as a permanent official; Be it resolved, that the constitution be amended as follows: The President shall devote such time to the work of the Congress as in the opinion of the executive council is necessary. He shall receive for his services the sum of $12 per day while employed, with all necessary expenses and transportation."

The committee reported against the adoption of the proposal, stating that there was sufficient work for such an official, and that to adopt the resolution would lessen the prestige of the Congress. The report of the committee was approved.

Following the adoption of the committee's recommendation it was moved that the resolution be expunged from the proceedings. Objection was raised to such a motion being accepted, and the ruling of the chairman in accepting it was challenged. The chair was sustained, but when the motion to expunge was submitted the convention decided to allow the resolution to remain in the minutes.

Another proposal to increase the number of vice-presidents from three to five was also defeated, as was also a resolution asking that the Federation of Women's Labour Leagues be given full representation in the Congress. Approval was given to a resolution instructing the executive council to require central labour bodies to expel all local unions that are not organized in conformity with the constitution of the American Federation of Labour, or one of its affiliated internationals, or being a subordinate union of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada. The executive was further instructed to withdraw the

charter of any central body which does not respect the foregoing decision.

Want Buses Designated Common Carriers A resolution which was referred to the Committee on Resolutions, and which was recommended for adoption, sought to compel owners of motor buses to provide emergency exits. In the discussion which ensued reference was made to the competition of motor buses with steam and electric railways. It was stated that there should be regulations for such vehicles and that they should not be allowed to sap the resources of steam railways. The resolution was on motion sent back to the committee for amendment to cover the points raised, and as re-introduced and adopted read as follows:

Whereas, the motor bus is now extensively used as a means of transportation, and that very few of them are sufficiently equipped with proper safety devices or with emergency doors in case of accident; and that except in a few instances where the men are organized no regard is given to the number of hours the operators of the buses work, thereby exposing the travelling public to great dangers, and very often without any hopes of financial compensation in case of accident. Therefore, be it resolved, that the Trades and Labour Congress, through its executive council and its provincial executive committees, take immediate action to have these bus owners and companies designated as common carriers and placed under the jurisdiction of the Federal and Provincial railway boards so that they will be compelled to safeguard the life and property of the travelling public and their employees.

Against Trade Schools

Two resolutions opposing the methods employed in barber schools were introduced and submitted to the Committee on Resolutions, both of which were recommended for adoption. The convention, however, sent the resolutions back to the committee with instructions to amend so as to cover all trade schools. The resolution on the subject subsequently presented by the committee and adopted, was as follows:

Whereas, due to the unrestricted methods used by so-called trade schools teaching barbering, hair dressing, sign writing, bricklaying, auto mechanics, mechanical dentistry, electrical work, etc., flooding the industrial market with incompetents to the detriment of the various trades and the public in general, owing to the improper and insufficient training of the so-called graduates: and whereas, we believe that all such trade schools privately conducted should be under the supervision of the respective provincial governments and guidance of the educational departments, whereby fixed regulations could be made as to methods of teaching and period of apprenticeship, and proper regulations and supervision applied, therefore, be it resolved, that the various provincial executive committees be instructed to make part of their legislative programme provisions to seek protective legislation for exploited students, bona fide trades, and comfort and safety of the public, and to provide legislative enactment that all such students entering the trade shall serve an apprenticeship period of at least three years.

Desire Canada Shipping Act Amended After a brief discussion a resolution was adopted requesting that the Government be asked to have the following provisions incorporated in the Canada Shipping Act:

(1) That provision be made in articles for the repatriation of all members of crews to place or places of their engagement, after they have completed their duties. (2) Cancellation of the Masters' present authority to discharge any member or members of the crew under the jurisdiction of the chief engineer, without the sanction of the chief engineer. (3) After official discharge books are issued and in operation no man shall be available for re-engagement in any Canadian vessel until his discharge book has been duly stamped up to date of discharge from last engagement by the proper authority. (4) The chief engineer and his engine room staff to sign articles on separate sheets from the Deck Department. (5) In regulations for discipline Article 3 to be amended so as to specifically include ALL engineers, as a protection from insulting or abusive language, instead of the master and mate only as at present. (6) Articles to be published in both the English and French languages. (7) That a qualified marine engineer be appointed to sit as a commissioner with the wreck Commissioners upon all cases. (8) That a health inspector be appointed at each important port in Canada for the purpose of inspecting health conditions on Canadian ships. (9) That all mechanically propelled ships, of whatever capacity, plying for hire, either in the freight or passenger service, must carry certificated engineers. (10) That the system of computing the capacity of the power now used on steamships, and known as nominal horse power, be abolished and in its place the indicated or actual brake horse power be used, known as standard horse power; and for the purpose of accommodating our present laws and regulations to conform with this standard horse power, the ratio be calculated on the basis of 100 nominal horse power, equal 500 standard horse

power.

Want Shipping Investigated

A resolution which was introduced and adopted declared (1) that many shipyards in Canada are closed down and thousands of mechanics and seamen are out of employment due largely to the unrestricted use of foreign ships in Canadian coast wise trade; (2) that owing to the inability of Canadian shipbuilders to secure contracts for the building and repairing of ships for use in Canadian trade, and (3) that this condition has assumed such an alarming aspect as to warrant the serious consideration of the Federal authorities. The resolution approved of the Federal Government appointing a committee to study and make recommendations in regard to the matters referred to.

Educational Matters

The convention approved of the following demands being made on the Quebec Legislature in regard to educational matters:1. Free and compulsory education.

2. Compulsory and uniform tuition of the French and English languages in all schools of the Province.

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3. All text books to be issued by the Government, upon the recommendation of the Boards of Education, and to be sold at cost price, pending their free distribution to scholars.

4. All school books to be uniform throughout the Province, it being one of the principal requirements for proper education.

5. All courses in the Provincial Government schools, technical and others, to be given free of charge.

6. No person to be permitted to teach in any school who is not the holder of a Normal school diploma, except in the case of primary courses such as those given in kindergartens and similar institutions.

7. That all persons under the age of 21, working in factories, workshops or any other places of employment, who are not able to read and write one of the two official languages of this country fluently, be compelled to attend evening classes.

8. The laws governing education be amended by the Provincial Government minimum to provide for a salary for school teachers in keeping with the cost of living and to permit the prosecution of School Commissions who pay less than said minimum salary.

9. A Minister of Education to be appointed, whose duties should consist in supervising the proper administration of School Commissions, the enforcement of the programme of education adopted by the Provincial Catholic and Protestant Boards of Education, and all other rules and regulations pertaining to education.

Another resolution adopted was one asking for a change in the Quebec statute in regard to prize books purchased by the public schools with a view to having the books printed in Canada, the clause in the law to read: "To have the right to participate in the allocation of grants to public schools it is necessary that each school commission furnish proof that not less than one half of the sum granted for the purpose of buying prize books is employed in the purchasing of books written by Canadian authors, printed in Canada."

A resolution which the convention approved was one which stated that as school books are often changed and not good for more than one year, that where necessary the matter be submitted to the proper authorities with a view to having text books supplied free.

Minimum Wage Legislation

Three resolutions on the question of minimum wages were considered and adopted. One of them pointed out that "the Ontario Minimum Wage Board had not issued a schedule of wages for female help in restaurants, hotels, etc., outside the city of Toronto," and asked that efforts be made to have such a schedule enacted.

It was also decided to request that all Provincial Legislatures pass legislation to pro

* The Ontario Board issued an order, effective September 15, 1925, governing female employees in restaurants etc., in cities of 30,000 population or over, excepting Toronto (LABOUR GAZETTE, Oct. 1925, p. 977).