THE PEOPLDS ADVOCATE

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SILUNETTERS —
VIN CONTRACT
‘OR SALMON

Higher Prices And
Union Recognition

Okeh’d by Canners

| British Columbia fishermen
cored their second smashing
-ietory this week as the Pacific
“oast Fishermen’s Union, with
400 members among gillnet-
=rs and trollers, signed a two-
-2ar agreement with the Sal-
on Canners Operating Com-
‘ittee grantins increased
ssices on sockeye salmon and
Jnrion recognition.
» The contract was signed Monday
*)- Secretary Vic Hill on behalf of
Se PCFU and Frank E. Payson on
shalf of the operators’ commit-
©. Terms of the settlement had
"en agreed to by a referendum

rent had also been reached on
jueback salmon prices with four
©» the packine companies inter
> ted in this pack at a price in-
“Jease over last year. The blue-
»ck season begins June i and
earlier than other

agreement Signed
sonday, Eqsides boostinse the basic
vice of sockeye in Rivers and
fniths Inlets to 4334 and 4814
ents, one cent over last year, and

>>, will remain in force for.a two-
}ar period, grants the union the
zht to act as the collective bar-
ining agency for its members
d gives a checkoff system for
es Payments. The agreement
n be reopened by either side
ior to March, 1940, and in most
-spects is similar to the contract
on by the Saimon Purse Seiners
Siion last week.
“Chis week’s victory is considered
— the more significant since it
@vers close to 4000 gillnetters and
pe llets who will be affected by
= PCFU victory and are expected
swing behind the union’s drive
z erganize this section of the in-
=

stry. Similar gains are expect
: in the seinin= section of the
\justry as 2 result of the SPSU
Story.
Last year both these unions
‘re refused an agreement on
ices by the operators and were
‘ced to take strike action dur-
the season in order to boost
[es. Their success in these
tugsles is seen as the reason for
2 amicable settlement this year.

ABOR ATTACKS
ONSCRIPTION

"LONDON, Ene The annual
2enng of executives of the Bri-
'h Trades Union Congress, re
esentine more than 5,000,000 or-
fnized workers, adopted a reso-
Aon Sunday condemning Prime
vinister Wevilfe Chamberlain’s
»acetime military conscription
id asking an immediate Angla-
jviet agreement.
‘More than 1000 leaders of trade
ion passed a three-point resolu-
m by a vote of 3,678,000 to 450,000
pbresentative of their member-
ips calling for:
L A strong formal protest against
ainst British conscription.
- An immediate asreement with
= USSR “which with the cooper-
ion of the United States, will
Sate a genuine peace front mak-—
= possible the reestablishment of
-ermational confidence and good-
li and lead to eventual disarma-
2nt and the restoration of inter—
ional trade.”

cS)

NEW APPEAL
FOR UNITY

GEN. CHIANG KALSHER

CHIANG ANSWERS
JAP BOMBINGS

CHUNGEING, China—(Special)
—“Fhe Japanese air forces are not
in a position to break our morale
and our will to resist by ruthless
bombings of civilians,” declared
Generalissimo Chinas Kai-shek in
@2 special statement published in
all Chinese newspapers this week
which called for sreater unity of
the army and the people against
the aggressor.

“During recent days the enemy
air forces carried out over 50 raids
on Chinese towns and cities,” he
stated. “The Japanese militarisis
are trying in vain to prove to
world public opinion that their air
forces are destroying only our mili-
tary bases. The actual aim of
thees barbarian bombardments is
to destroy defenseless towns, to
terrorize the Chinese people, to
worsen their living conditions and
to spread panic among the popula-
tion.”

Pointing out that the Japanese
realize the basis of China’s strug
Sle for national integrity is based
on participation of the widest
Masses, which during the past two
years has reached a degree of
unity terrifying to the invaders,
the Generalissimo declared:

“That is why they resort to ruth-
less bombardments of the civil
population unprecedented in their
barbarity.”

Chiang Kai-shek referred fur-
ther to the fact that history has
furnished no parallel for the pre-
sent situation, when an army of
eccupation, having control of cer-
tain important points, is not able
to consolidate its influence in the
territory it has occupied.

“The Japanese are becomineg
more and more entangled and are
increasingly exposinge themselves
to encirclement and blows by our
forces. Japan has always boasted
to the world of its well-armed and
trained army. But we are success-
fully resisting this army. And the
Japanese air forces are not able
to break our morale and our will
to resist.”

8. Immediate legislation against
profiteering and providing for the
conscription of wealth in event of
war.

Previously the union leaders had
rejected by an overwhelming vote
a reselution suggesting that a gen-
€ral strike be called as a last re-

|tion from being carried out.

sort to prevent military conscrip-

ClO CANNERY
WORKERS OBTAIN
BIG PAY BOOST

$500,000 Added To
Payroll After Long
Fight With Canners

SEATTLE, Wash. Seven
thousand CIO cannery work-
ers will receive pay increases
totalling more than $500,000
through an industry - wide
agreement between Local 7,
United Cannery, Agricultural,
Packing and Allied Workers
(CIO) and the Canned Salmon
Industry, signed here last
week. Wage increases average
15 percent over the 1938 wage
scale, according to A- E. Hard-
ing, secretary of the Maritime
Federation of the Pacific, of
which the UCAPAWA is a
eomponent body.

The new agreement, reached af-
ter three months of heated negotia-—
tions, during which the cannery
workers held their ranks _ solid
against various splitting attempts,
is a closed-shop pact, recognizing
the UCAPAWA as exclusive bar-—
Saining agency and also recogniz-—

ing the Maritime Federation in a
clause which provides that no
UCAPAWA member shall be re

quired to go through picket lines
established by the Wederation.

It will be recalled that Local 7
won bargaining rights for the Alas-
ka canned salmon industry in May,
1938, in a hectic NELRB election.
An AFT, union at that time sought
to srab the bargaining agency and
through intimidation and boss col-
laboration polled a yote that was
close to the CIO vote.

This year tnere was virtually no
threat from the AFT, group, it hav-
ing disintesrated to a large extent
A threat did exist in the AFI-char-
tered cannery tendermen’s union of
Marry Lundeberg, however. This
outfit was used by the Canned Sal-
mon industry, Ime, as a “straw
man” for purposes of a jurisdic-
tional dispute with the Alaska Fish-
ermen’s Union (CIO). This dispute
was cleared up.

The AFU and other affiliated
unions, both ABW, and CIO, belongs-
ing to the Maritime Federation,
have now signed agreements with
the employers, with wage increases
and bettered conditions approximat-
ing those of the cannery workers.

The United Fishermen’s Union
(CIO) yet has to sign a contract,
being delayed because its fishing
season is later than that of the
other unions.

Encouragement is given by the
recent merging of the Alaska Fish-
ermen’s Union with the WUWnited
Fishermen’s Union, into the Inter-
Mational Fishermen and Allied
Workers (CIO).

The cannery workers’ agreement,
keystone of all agreements in the
industry, provides for shop com-
mittees and calls for classing 1939
employes as employes till Febru-
ary, 1940, although the salmon seas-
on closes months before tihs date.

Port Aiberni Votes
On Water By-Law

PORT ALBERNI, BCG, May 25—
Taxpayers will be called upon next
Thursday, June i, to vote on a by-
law to borrow $66,000 from the Feda=
eral CGovernment to extend the
waterworks project.

A Jetter from the Hon. G@ S. Pear-
son, Minister of Labor, informed
the City Council that the loan
could not be finally approved until
an assurance was given that Gan-
adian products would be used in

laying the pipeline.

rail Stages Huge CIO Rally

2000 Smeltermen Turnout

For First Open Union Meet

Called by the {A toeandesal
Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter
Workers, main speaker was Or-

ganizer A. H. Evans who in open-
ing his remarks, reminded listen-
ers that the occasion was historic
since it was the first time in 20
years that an open union meeting
had been held in Trail.

With only one or two feeble at-
tempts at heckling from company
men, Evans devoted considerable
time to an outline of CTO policies
in relation to what bona fide union-
ism would accomplish in Trail.

“The CIO is not here
with any ulterior motives in mind,”
he declared, “but has been organ-
ized to meet the needs of CM&S
employees who are more and more
beginning to see the futility of the
Cooperative Committee system.”

With a mass of evidence, Evans
showed how smeltermen are beings
cheated out of their real wages
by various deduction schemes for
Shares, bonuses, pension funds and
exposed the hypocrisy of the com-
pany in its statement that all these
schemes amounted to charity to
its employees,

“¥ suggest that the smeltermen
should ask for a wage increase
of nine cents a day over the pre—
vailing rate of $4.91 as a basic
rate,” he said. “As a means of
removing present injustices un-
der the pension scheme, you
should also apply to the com-
pany for repayment of all money
paid into the pension fund and
later take over for yourselves
the hospital and pension bene-
fits,” he told the huge audience.
Significant of the recent progress

of the union was the fact that John
MePeake, popular employee of the
lead refinery, acted as chairman.

in Trail +

of the CIO and chairman of this
meeting today,” McPeake said. “I
also know that many hundreds of
smeltermen share my opinion that
only by building a strong interna-
tional union can we gain our just
demands.”

G. J. Belanger, another employee
of the CM&S, also paid tribute to
the union in a short address, cit-
ing the many erievances existing
powerful union divorced from com-
pany control.

Greetings to the Trail workers
were brought from the hardrock
miners of Ymir by George Bar-
nett, secretary of the Ymir local
of the IUMMSW. Explaining
the many gains made by the
Wmir iocal, Barnett emphasized
that similar gains would follow
union organization in Trail

“We're ready to pledge you the
full support of our local in the
present unton campaign,’ he

said.

Eividence of the effect of the
meeting was shown by the reports
in the Trail Times, unofficial or-
gan of the company, which de-
voted almost a full front page in
its May 15 issue, in the ‘Trail
Daily Ad-News and the Nelson
Daily News. All three papers, far
from sympathetic to the union, ad-
mitted the actual size of the meet-—
ing and conceded the support
being given the union campaign.

During the meeting, Organizer
Evans reported that his request for
an interview with S. G. Blaylock,
president and managing director
of the CM&S, for the purpose of
discussing questions relating to
the welfare of employees, had been
refused.

Little Steel Opens Drive
Against Rights Of Labor

taking advantage of the recent

Act, launched a renewed and
labor this week as the Republic
Steel Corporation filed suit for $7,-
500,000 damages against the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations
for alleged losses suffered in the
1937 Little Steel Strike.

The action named President
John LL. Lewis and other CIO offi-
cials, the CIQ Amalgamated Asso-
ciation of Tron, Steel and Tin
Workers and 700 local union ofti-
cials in the state of Ohio as defend-
ants.

Tom Girdler, notorious union-
hating president of Republic,
charges that the CIO “maliciously”
committed illegal acts, bringing
heavy losses to the company and
forcing it to expend large sums for
“protection” against strilkers.

Part of that “protection” con-
sisted in supplying guns, ammuni-
tion and tear gas to police, as re-
vealed in the La Follette Senate
Committee Investigation, resulting
in the bloody attack on pickets at
the Republic Steel plant in South

ALBANY, NY.—The state senate
recently passed the Heck Bil
regulating the use of foreign uni-
forms in New York state and aimed
at the German-American (Nazi)
Bund. The measure exempts for-
eign military and naval officials

and diplomatic attaches.

CLEVELAND, Ohio—American big business and reaction,

Supreme Court decision outlaw=

ing sitdown strikes and provisions of the Sherman Anti-Trust

dangerous attack on organized
~Chicago on Memorial Day in
7 ren 10 men were killed and 90
men and women seriously wound-
ed, as well as the killing and
wounding of strikers in other
parts of Republic’s steel empire.

While observers believe there is
little likelihood of the suit being
Successful, particularly if it goes
to the US Supreme Court, the
action is interpreted as part of the
general reactionary attack on
trade unionism already well under
way through attempts to amend
the Wagner Act, as well as a move
to saddle the CIO with a worrying
and expensive court case.

The Republic Steel’s action was
undoubtedly stimulated by the re—
cent decision of a federal district
court awarding the Apexx Hosiery
Company $711,932 damages against
the American Federation of Ho-
siery Workers as a result of a sit
down strike.

This decision was made under
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and
marked the second time in US
Jabor history that the courts ap-
plied the anti-trust laws to a labor
union. The previous occasion be-
came famous as the Danbury Hat-
ters case in 1908, and a number of
unions were prosecuted under the
act until 1914 when provisions of
the Sherman law applying to trade
j unions were amended.

TRAIL, BC—The drive to organize employees of the giant Consolidated Mining and Smelt-
ing Company took a new and important step ahead last week as the message of international
unionism was brought to an estimated 2000 smeltermen and their wives who turned out to
Butler Park for the first CIO open air rally in the smelter town’s history.
seated in parked cars around the meeting place and on the front porches of nearby homes, also

participated in the meeting through facilities of a public address system.
© “I am proud to be a member®

Hundreds more,

City Hall
Highlights
This Week

IRST step in what may be a
general decentralization of Van-
couver’s social seryice facilities
was taken at City Hall Monagay
when aldermen appointed a spe-
cial committee to make recommen-

dations on proposals to establish
a sub-depot for relief recipients at
the old South Vancouver Municipal
Hall,

Thep roposal has long been put
forward by relief recipients and
unemployed organizations, taking
the stand that unemployed people
in outlying sections of the city
are put to considerable inconventi-
ence and unnecessary expense in
making the journey to the existing
offices in the central downtown
area.

@
HE banks were gently, oh so
fently, chided by aldermen for
failing to clean up their premises
for the royal visit. The matter
came up when the Youth Council
wrote a letter urging the Council
to take action on the matter, and
while councillors expressed the
hope that the banks would take
the hint, they agreed they had no
jurisdiction in the matter.
if any citizen thinks the Youth
Council’s recommendation was not
in order, they are urged to take
a brief tour along the main streets
and glance at our Temples of
Mammon. Many would agree that
these institutions could stand a
Major operation rather than a
mere exterior cleanup.
cs)
Wyceess of the building scandal
of last year, in which contrac-
tors were found guilty of every
kind of cheap grafting in the con-
struction of private homes, were
heard again in Council chambers
this week as the Civic Licenses
Committee decided that unlicensed
construction companies would
have a difficult time securing per-
mits at City Hall. Those who have
mot purchased licenses for this
year will be “blacklisted.”
eS :
6 hares city’s recommendations to
the Provincial Public Utilities
Commission regarding the need
for expansion and improvement of
bus and streetcar services may yet
reach Victoria in a slightly emas-—
culated form if the report of the
special committee favoring a “boil-
ing down” of the 16-point brief is
accepted “by the Civic Utilities
Committee. The special committee,
perhaps a little awed at its “tem-
erity’ in daring to recommend
anything to the all-high BC Elec-
tric, wants another meeting with
BCER offfials to see if there is
any way of “strengthening the
spirit of cooperation between the
groups.”

WASHINGTON, DC—Mrs. EF. D.
Roosevelt has announced that
famed Wegro contralto Marian An-—
derson will sing June 8 before the
King and Queen of England at a
White House reception.

NO CONSCRIPTION’

ter Weville Chamberlain’s plan for comp

Young men of conscript age marching through the streets in
the west end section of London in protest against Prime Min-
ulsory military training. Conschiption is looked on by the British
opie as a scheme of the appeasement premier to introduce fascism.

THEY WON OUT

state three men with back pay,

International Longshoremen and Wyarehousemen’s Union

(CIG) mem-

bers forced waterfront employers to recpen the port of Portland, which
was Closed down when unionists picketed the Luckenback Line following the company’s refusal to rein-

on order of the National Labor Relations Board,

fibbpeatee te