} B i { |Around the Slipways By Charles Saunders ;VERYONE with the interests of our country and its 4 people at heart has recognized the necessity for war dustries to work continuously to meet the urgent needs ' the battlefronts. In order to meet the demands of a juntry at war, men and women “in essential industries tve to work day shifts and night shifts-regardless of their jjvyn comfort and convenience. A good percentage of them nve Sunday as a day off, and, having worked all week, ey rightly feel they are entitled to some recreation on e one day they have free. Surely then, there can be no logical objection to open- "= the shows on Sundays to accommodate those workers ho have no other time to attend. True, there are a )w midnight shows, but these do not help those workers @50 come off shift at midnight, nor do they help a large ‘“imber of other workers on swing shifts. In the United States, in cities where there are large @2r industries, entertainment and recreation is provided © workers on all shifts, on weekdays and Sundays. Rec- ational facilities are arranged for the convenience of the ar workers and not, as in this city, on a pre-war basis nich makes no allowance for an increasing number of Zi orkers. It is time we took a lead from across the border ™ this issue. .) “HE Sunday program, Shipyard Neighbors, broadcast - from Seattle, brings to the microphone excellent talent om among the shipyard workers in that city. | Perhaps our local broadcasting officials are missing a jod bet. There is certainly no lack of talent in Vancouver lipyards, as the recently organized male voice choir of the furrard Drydock War Workers Social and Athletic Club monstrates. A weekly broadcast from CBR here would @: enjoyed by thousands of people all over the province and ight well be developed as a CBC network program. The idea might be developed still further, and a competi- on arranged between entertainers from all of the big war dustries in the country. s HERE have been many changes in the local shipyards | since the days when the bullgang waited patiently in Se basement of the North Burrard yard for Jim Andrews * pick out the few extra men he needed for repair work. me were lucky to make two or three days’ work on a pay those days. What a different picture today! The bullgang of those ys has grown into the 3,000-strong Dock and Shipyard orkers’ Union covering many different categories from skilled te skilled workers. The same growth is evident all other departments. The yard itself has changed out of all recognition. The sw ways, outfitting docks, cranes and workshops, com- etely overshadow the original yard, while there is a short- fe Of manpower to the extent that women are being em- oyed on jobs that once were formerly thought to belong reclusively to men. The Vancouver shipyards have demonstrated their ab- ty to build ships as efficiently and speedily during the st three years as anywhere in the Dominion, and when |.€ comparison is made in terms of man hours spent on .¢ whole operation, as anywhere on the continent. The one great handicap imposed on the Vancouver yards the constant threat of a holdup in the supply of steel. a steel mill were established here, as now proposed, there mo reason why there should not be a permanent ship- (gilding industry here after the war. Vancouver is the gical place for such an industry. Possessing one of the nest natural harbors in, the world, it is situated geographi- uly in the centre of what will undoubtedly be the future orld trade routes, while climatic conditions are a distinct ivantage over eastern shipyards where construction is assible only during the summer months. The ships atready irned out by local yards have established the high quality = the workmanship here and the best skilled workers in ie country have been attracted to the Coast by the relative- ' high standards established. There is no logical reason why a permanent shipbuild- ig industry should not prevent a return to those old base- lent-waiting days. Richards Submits Proposals In Shipyards Discussions Counter proposals for a 50- 96-56 basis in the shipyards (the present basis is 50-54-54) were advanced by Justice E. S. Richards when trade union spokesmen and representatives of ship- yard operators reconvened Tuesday to continue their discussions on operation of the seven- day continuous production plan. Discussions were adjourned three <¢ Weeks ago, after agreement had been reached on union proposals, including time and a half for the whole of the sixth day, one week’s holiday with pay and wage adjust- ments, to await Labor Minister Mitchell's review of the recommen- dations submitted. Justice Richards proposed: @ That hours of work on the sec- ond shift. be cut from 7 hours, 40 minutes to 7 hours, 30 min- utes. Drive Winners Asked To Make Selections The central press drive committee has issued a list of books from which supporters who individually raised $40 or more in the press drive just concluded are asked to make their se- lection. Monday, Nov. 30, has been set as the deadline when all @® That hours of work on the third shift be reduced from 7 hours,}/names and selections must be-in the hands of the drive com- 10 minutes to 7 hours. itt & @ That these two shifts be paid | MICE. Emile Burns; Marx and the Trade on @ basis of 56 hours a week| Names should be forwarded to)|{nions, A. Lozovsky; Class Strug- and the day shift on a basis of |The People office through local|gles in France, 1848-50, Karl Marx; 50 hours a week, but that this|a;ive committees, which should|Highteenth Brumaire of Louis apply only to those working their full six shifts a week. Schedule of ship production in B.C. yards is to be stepped up con- Siderably, and steel will be forth- coming, Howard Mitchell of War- time Merchant Shipping assured the conference, when he spoke about layoffs at West Coast Ship- builders. Western shipyards have been under fire, he said, for un- economical use of manpower, for which chronic absenteeism, whistle- beating and similar factors were mainly responsible. However, Mitchell agreed with union representatives that no man should be laid off allegedly for in- efficiency or absenteeism, if the real reason for the layoff is in- ereased efficiency of operation. Burrard Worth and North Van- ecouver Ship Repairs do not antici- pate any layoffs, it-was reported by representatives. The conference heard a delega- tion of shop stewards from the West Coast, but Justice Richards stated that the question under dis- cussion was not a matter for the conference, and it was arranged that the delegation should meet with & E. Harrison, western repre- sentative of the federal labor de- partment, and the West Coast man- agement. Order Rent Reduction PRINCE RUPERT, B.C.—Drastic reductions in rates charged by rooming-houses and hotels in this district was ordered after exhaus- tive enquiry into the situation by a rental committee set up recent- ly by the Wartime Prices and Trades Board. Taking advantage of the acute shortage of accommodation here, landlords had charged exorbitant rents. In some cases, 75 percent re- ductions were ordered, but gener- ally a cut of 50 percent in rental rates was ordered by the new com- mittee. : Wartime housing projects in this city have been held up by shortage of building materials and labor. Qne of the chief obstacles to effi- cient full-time operation of war in- dustry in this area has been the turnover of labor, which, although despatehed through Selective Ser- vice, has virtually been forced back to Vancouver by exorbitant prices and lack of suitable accommoda- tion for families. Prompt action on the part of the rental control board will to some extent ease the situation, but only an organized plan for housing es- sential labor for war industry will overcome what threatens to become a major bottleneck in the shipbuild- ing industry. also state the amount in both dona- tions and subscriptions raised by those qualifying and the titles of the books selected. When this information is receiv- ed, the central drive committee will announce the winners of the three prizes offered, to the sup- porter raising the largest amount in donations and subscriptions combined, to the supporter collect- ing the largest amount in donations, exclusive of subscriptions, and to the supporter selling the most sub- seriptions, exclusive of donations. Secretaries of the three leading drive committees are urged to call at The People office to arrange for presentation of the sets of books offered as prizes. These commit- tees are: Worth Burrard, 281 per- cent of quota; City Committee, 233 percent; Mac-Paps, 225 percent. | Following is the list of books from which those raising $40 or more are asked to make their se- lections: Fiction: The Edge of the Sword, Vladimir Pozner; Two Captains, Benjamin Kaverin; Proletarian Literature in the United States; Out of the People, J. B. Priestly; My Sisten Hileen, Ruth McKenny; A Thousand Shall Fall,Hans Habe; Four Soviet Plays, Maxim Gorki and others; The Copperheads, Wil- liam Blake; Dragon Seed, Pearl Buck; Industrial Valley, (Ruth Mc- Kenney; Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck; Wative Son, Richard Wright. Non-Fiction: Marxism and the National Question, J. Stalin; An American Looks at Karl Marx, William Blake; Britain on the World Front, R. Palme Dutt: A Short History of Soviet Russia, D. WN. Pritt; What is Philosophy, How- ard Selsam; A Textbook of Dialec- tical Materialism, David Guest; “Science and Everyday Life, J. B. S. Haldane; Handbook of Marxism, si = Bonaparte, Karl Marx; Critique of the Gotha Program, Karl Marx; Peasant War in Germany, Freder- ick Engels; Revolution in Spain, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; I Change Worlds, Anna Touise Strong; Trials of British Freedom, T. A. Jackson; Only the Stars Are Weutral, Quentin Reynolds; History of Great American Fortunes, Gus- tavus Myers; Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman. Newsguild Signs With News-Herald An agreement between Vancouver News-Herald and members of its editorial, circulation, advertising, and business and maintenance staff was signed this week, making the WNews-Herald one of the few all- union newspapers in Canada, with every department organized and holding agreements. The agreement is held by Van- couver Newspaper Guild, Local 2, affiliated with the Canadian Con- Sress of Labor, according full recog- nition to the local as bargaining agency, and was signed by G. B: Delbridge on behalf of the manage- ment, Barry Mathers for Local No. 2, and D. O’Brien for the Canadian Congress of Labor. With the Vancouver Sun already organized into Local 1 of the Van- couver Newspaper Guild, the Daily Province is the only one of the city’s three daily papers whose edi-_ torial and business office employees are not organized. MODERN and OLD-TIME WEDNESDAY and SATURDAY Hastings Auditorium 828 E. Hastings MODERATE RENTAL RATES Send For Your Copy Now ! ANNA LOUISE STRONG’S “The Soviets Expected It Special Edition — 50c Postage Paid © Moscow News Weekly - = = @ International Literature - UNIVERSAL NEWS 138 East Hastings Street oe 5c 50c¢ STAND Co