teal

Labor Wins Bill 94 Amendment

Gov't A\grees To

Revise Clause 5 In

Avnti-Union Act

British Columbia’s organized labor movement gained a sig-
nificant victory this week with announcement from Victoria
that the provincial. government has agreed to an important

amendment to the union-busting

Labor Conciliation and Arbitra-

tion Act. The government’s decision came after meetings with a

delegation from the Vancouver
Council last week.

Under the proposed amendment,
te be introduced at the present ses-
Sion of the Lesislature, an official
of a trade union will be recognized
as the collective bargaining repre
Sentative for the membership, thus
removing the objectionable Clause
©o which in many cases forced a
union official to remain outside any
disputes involving members of his
union.

Im addition, a trade union will
be allowed to nesotiate disputes on
behalf of all employes in a fiven
Plant or industry providing the
union can show that at least 51
percent of the workers are mem-
bers of the union. The amendment
aS proposed is understood to fur-
ther provide that in event a min-
ority of employes are organized,
the umion may petition for a vote
of all workers affected to deter
mine whether they wish the union
to represent them.

While local trade unionists were
inclined to reserve final judsment
until the amendment actually goes
into effect, general concensus of
Gpinion saw the government's sub-
mission to labor’s demands as a@
real concession.

“When the new amendment
fees into effect it will give organ-
ized labor epportunity to begin a
real fight against other objec-
jectionabie clauses in Mr. Pear-
son’s act,’ stated William Stew-
art, executive member of the
Trades and Labor Council. “The
fact that we were able to take
the sting out of Clause five shows
what we can do with other
strikebreakins sections of Bill 94
if we really get down to busi-
-ness.”” }

Opposition to Bill 94, which cul-
minated in this week’s concession
by the government, became appar
ent early this year when all trades
councils and iocal unions in the

and District Trades and Labor

province began to organize a cam- 4

paign for its repeal.

The campaign gathered Streneth
when it was seen the act aided
formation of company unions. The
Hotel and Restaurant Employes
Union had a number of experiences
along this line in the Scotts’ Cafe
strike and during an attempt to
organize the Ghanticleer Lunch,
which was blocked when labor de-
partment officials ruled that union
officials could not negotiate on be-
half of the membership.

AS a result the Trades and Labor
Council, while agreeing that other
Sections of the Act required amend-
ment, decided to concentrate on
revision of Clause 5, which reads
as follows:

“It shall be lawful for employees
to bargsin collectively with their
employers and to conduct such bar-
Sainine through representatives of
employees duly elected by a major-
ity vote of the employees affected,
2nd any employer or employees re—
fusing so te bargain shall be liable
to a fine not exceedins five hun-
dred dollars for each offense.”

This was the clause which last
week's Trades Council delegation
demanded revised.

The cabinet refused, however, to
consider amending other sections,
im particular those forcing the
workers to place all disputes to
arbitration before strike action can
be taken. The CCF group in the
Hiouse has already been denied per-
mission to present an amendment
wiping out the long delay required

after completion of arbitration
hearings before strikes can be
called.

Members of the delegation, head-
€d by Secretary Percy Bengough,
also presented demands for a 30
hour, Six day week, an unemploy-
ment insurance scheme on a pro-
vincial scale pending enactment of
federal insurance, and reduction of
the old age penson to sixty years.

Regina Labor Sweeps
Civic Elections

WINNTPEG, Man., Dec. 1.—Civic elections throughout the
Canadian Middle West this week saw a number of labor men
elected and returned to office in key cities.

in Winnipeg, labor won eight out
of eiphteen seats and retained the
mayoraity when Mayor John Queen
went in with a big majority over
his opponent, James Sweatman. M.
J. Forkin, leading member of the
Communist Party who has held a
city council seat for several terms,
was reelected for another two year
term with a strong labor vote. For-
kin was running on a labor-pro-
gressive ticket. Andrew Bilecki,
also a member of the Communist
Party, was elected for a one-year
term to council Other labor men
voted in included James Simpkin
and M. A. Gray, both members of
the Independent Labor Party. :

Regina witnessed even more im-
pressive labor gains when voters
swept three more labor—-progressive

Z ~~

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Convention

Speakers:—

tary, C.P.of C.

C.P.of C.

*
EMPRESS THEATRE

(Doors Open 7:30 PVE)

Communist Party

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 -
*

LAWRENCE ANDERSON—Alberta Provincial Secre-

ANDREW REMES—Communist Party, USA.
FERGUS McKEAN—B.C. Provincial Secretary,

*&
Chairman: PHIL GIBBENS
= MUSICAL SELECTIONS — ::

candidates into office to boost re
presentation on the city council to
nine members. Elected were Alder-
man J. M. Toothill, E. R. Franklin
and F. L. Childs, all three running
on the labor ticket. Mayor A. C.
Ellison, who was endorsed by the
Regina Labor Association, won an
acclamation. Labor previously held
six seats.

Unity of all progressive forces
was seen as the reason for suc-
cesses in Regina Earlier in the
campaign Mayor Ellison and a few
disgruntled elements had formed
their own municipal labor organi-
zation, but rank and file desire for
unity forced this group to come
to an agreement with the Regina
Labor Association, with the re
sult that labor entered the contest
with a joint platform and slate
of candidates.

in Saskatoon, Ald. A. M. Eddy,
nominated for the mayoralty and
supported by the Trades and Labor
Council, gave opponents a sharp
fight but was nosed out by less
tham 500 votes by Carl Widerost,
KC.

Rally

8 P.M.

| Mac-Paps Appeal For Aid

Spain Vets

En Route to BC |

Twentyfive of British Columbia’s
volunteers thave already returned
from Spain out of the two or three
hundred which make up this proyv-
ince’s contribution in the heroic
fight of the Spanish people against
fascism. :

Some of these men have been
seriously wounded, some have
brought back shrapnel in their
bodies as souvenirs of the conflict,
some have lost arms and legs.

One of the boys has just been re—
leased from hospital after an oper-
ation to remove shrapnel from his
cheek and Jim Bell, another Van-
couver volunteer, wounded by a

fascist bullet, is due to enter hos-
pital for an operation to straighten
his arm.

Among recent arrivals in Van-—
couver were Jimmy Diamond,
Lewis Grant, F. Demianchuk, and
J. Ossowsky. More than two hun-
dred are expected to arrive in
Sroups, as the biggest contingent
of volunteers went from British
Columbia.

im its drive to raise $50,000 for
the Rehabilitation Fund, the na-
tional committee of the Friends of
the MackenziePapineau Battalion
has undertaken to provide return-
ing volunteers with fares back to

their homes and allowances while
Sick, until they are able to obtain
work after a suitable period of rest,
and is appealing for more funds

The appeal asks that organisa-—
tions and friends put on special
Christmas affairs to raise extra:
funds for the Mac-Pap boys, to
take up collections at parties so
that they may have a share in the
Christmas festivities.

Donations already received in-
clude Port Alberni, proceeds of tag
day, $45; Dr. R. Llewellyn Douglas,
$7.50 and many donations of dental
work, CC. N. George, $10; Victoria,
$4.

THE

PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE

VAN COUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1938

Form
New

& general view of the Grotto in Pittsburgh where some 500 delegates from all parts of the US and Can-
ada gathered to write a constitution and elect officers of the new Congress of Industrial Organizations.

RELIEF SHOES
‘INADEQUATE’

Complaints from Ald. Helena
Gutteridge that shoes of relief
workers in the city were pitifully
inadequate for the work they were
required to do will be considered in
social services committee Monday.

A report from Ald. H. L. Corey
informed council that the clothing
committee’s summer reserve of
$9710 had dwindled to $2878 because
of seasonal demands for clothins.

“Shoes are issued to men for
work when necessary,” the report
said, “but experience shows that
the men insist this necessity exists
every time.”

Maintaining that this necessity
Gid exist in practically every case,
Ald. Gutteridge declared, “I have
seen men wearing shoes not fit for
human beings, cleaning out ditches.
Wet if a man refuses to go to work
unless he is supplied with suitable
shoes, he is cut off relief.’’ :

City Engineer Brakenridge stated
that “gum boots and slickers are
supplied to all men on the city’s
work.’’

“Maybe they're supposed to be,”
replied Ald. Gutteridge, “but I’ve
seen men working in ditches in our
city whose shoes are just a mass
of pulp.

Hope-Princeton
Road Aid Sought

VICTORIA, BG, Dec. 1—Govern-
ment assistance to bridge an eleven
mile gap in the Hope-Princeton
link of the southern trans-provin-
cial highway was sought by a dele-
gation from the Hope-Princeton
Highway Association which inter
viewed Hon. &. M. McPherson sand
other government officials recently.

Dave Taylor, organizing secre—
tary of the Association, explained
plans by which $60,000 would be
raised by public subscription to
complete eighty-seven miles of the
route and give access to the coast.

BC Electric Bucks
On Giving Service

c

Reporting for a special commit-
tee to city courcil Monday, Alder-
man Wilson told aldermen he had
informed the BC Electric that he
had received strong representations
in favor of the extension of the
Cambie street bus line down town
and the continuance of the i6th
Avenue car line.

The company was in agreement
with the bus line extension, Wilson
Said, but was not prepared to give
a definite answer regardins the
i6th Avenue cars until the traffic
on that line had been checked.

Celebrate
Arrival
Pioneers

First Miners
For Nanaimo
Landed i854

Special to The Advocate

NANATMO, BC, Dec. 1 — On a
cold Wovember day, 1854, the sail_
ing ship Princess Royal, on her
maiden voyage from London, Eng-
jland, arrived safely in Esquimalt
harbor. The voyage from England
had taken six months around Cape
Eftorn.

Aboard were twenty pioneer
families destined for WNanaimo
where the men were going to work
for the Hudson’s Bay company.
Through assistance from an old
Indian chief, the company had dis-
covered a rich outerop of coal on
the shores of what was then
known as Wintuhuysen Inlet.

Under the direction of Joseph
McKay, the company employees
had erected several habitations and
Biven the name “Colville Town" to
the cluster of buildings.

The seventy pioneers from Stat
fordshire and Wottingham were
met by McKay, Dr. Alfred Benson,
whose name was given to the
mountain behind the town, and
Robert Duusmuir, who later gouged
a fortune from island coal mines.

Last Monday Nanaimo residents
Gathered in the Malaspina Hotel to
celebrate the eightyfourth anni_
versary of the landing of the Prin-
cess Royal and to honor the three
sole survivors of that long journey.

A guest of honor at the celebra-—
tions, John Meakin, 8&5 years old,
came from Fngland on the barque
with his parents and brother Fre-
derick, who have since died. Other
two survivors are James Hawkes,
now a resident of the United'States,
and J. York in the Fraser Valley.

Guest speaker of the evening
was John H. Cocking, former pioc-
meer businessman in Wanaimo, who
contrasted the six months trip
around the Horn to a trip he had
made recently to England via the
Panama.

Following the old style program,
Mrs. W. EF. Drysdale Sang a solo
which she sang forty years ago in
Wanaimo, and William Fulton Pave
a recitation which he recalled giv-
ing twenty-six years ago.

Harry W. Freeman, president of
the Wanaimo Pioneer’s Society, pre-—
sided.

REPEAL BILL 89

PLAN EDUCATION
FOR JOBLESS

Demands of the Relief Project
Workers’ Union in forestry camps
have brought concessions from
Fion. G. S. Pearson for more recre—
ational and educational facilities.

The University of British Co-
lumbia has been asked to plan a
course of lectures by eminent pro-
fessors in nearby relief camps.

Commuttees have been set up in
€very camp to provide recreation
but camp officials dominate the re-
ereational facilities, and refuse to
allow the men to control their own
meetings. Committees function at
the call of foremeén, who refuse to
recognize union meetings or rank
and file control of the committees.

Rash promises haye been made
to the men that businessmen will
Provide jobs-to those who show
promise of becominse gs00d workers
when the camps close.

Despite such Opposition and dif-
ficulty, the Relief Project Workers’
(Unien has become rapidly esta'b-
lished in most camps and recrea-
tion committees are being turned
into union controlled bodies, func-
tioning for the benefit of the men
themselves.

j

ITALY, GERMANY
FLOOD SPAIN
WITH MEN, ARMS

Loyalists Discover Vast
Shipments Recently
Sent By Mussolini And
Hitler

By EDWIN ROLFE
Gur Special Correspondent

BARCELONA, Spain, -Dec.
1.—Thousands of men, hun-
dreds of aviators and military
technicians and a vast amount
of planes, artillery and other
war material of all types have
been sent to France in a steady

stream during the past few weels,
this correspondent has learned jin
an exclusive interview with a high
S0vernment military official.

This information, which in most
cases lists the points of departure
in Germany and Italy, the names
of the ships used, and the ports at
which the cango was unloaded, is
still not completely tabulated be—
cause of the great increase in
shipment’s during the past six
weeks—after the Munich sellout.

“This new list will be completed
very soon,” I was told, ‘but then
we will have to get busy on newer
and bigger interventionist Ship-—
ments. They don’t stop for a single
moment, and the amount constant—
ly increases, according to informa-
tion from all ports in rebel
Spain.”’

italy’s share in this open inva-—
Sion of Spain includes almost 1000
tons of varied war material, 333
automobiles and trucks, 50 pursuit
and bombing planes (exclusive of
the air fleet which operates against
Spain’s coast cities from the
Majorca base).

Ttalian manpower sent
ing this period includes
diers, 50 army officers
aviators and technicians.

Here, too, it must be noted that
these figures do not incliide the
“Green Arrows’’ division whose
presence in Spain was recently
revealed by Foreign Minister Al-
varez del Vayo. This division,
completely equipped from italy,
comprises close to 13,000 men.

Germany's shipments, though
they do not include men apart
from plane crews, are, if anything,
of even greater military signifi-
cance.

The list from Hitler’s land of
terror includes a thousand tons of
war material and twice this amount
of unclassified war tonnage, 12,000
rifles (enough to fit out an entire
division), 46 field guns of various
types and between 75 and 100
planes.

These figures take on new and
Sreater importance today in view
of the recent conversations between
Chamberlain and Daladier in Paris.

These figures are now only in
point of time—the same large scale
invasion has been Soing on through-
out the course of Spain’s 28-month
old struggle for national existence.

The full list of shipments hand-
ed to your correspondent for
Perusal besins from September
20, when the Gradisca docked at
Cadiz from Tialy carrying 6380
soldiers and 50 officers, down to
October 11, when four ships—
Decree, Maria Eugenia, Espana
and Ifni—docked at Cadiz with
pursuit and bombing planes and
munitions.

it should be noted that the fig-
ures and data gathered by the gov-
ernment in all probability com-
prised only a fraction of the Ger
man and é Italian shipments to
Franco, :

They are what the Fovernment’s
intelligence service has been able
to check.

here dur-
2075 sol-
and 300

Coming!

Articles by

Government.

* AL PARKIN

--- on December 16
Special Christmas Issue

with Magazine Supplement

%* HAL GRIFFIN
1858-1938. Highty Years of British Columbia.
The Story of the Struggle for Representative

%* MALCOLM BRUCE
Strife In Palestine.

Golden Timbers.

| %* KAY GREGORY
Remember The Boycott.

and by
GEORGE MILLER and GEORGE DRAYTON

Watch Forlt! —

ea a ats

poe WneaS