o 7 |Around the | | Slipways al it ey By Charles Saunders Sq 8 2 ea 2 enced shipbuilders in Oakland, California, decided to start .4 Shipyard of their own. The president, a ship’s fitter, the mp cretary-treasurer, a boilermaker, and the directors are all ba-tive workers in the yard. The initial capital, fixed at a 2,000, was subscribed by men who had always worked “3t wages and had never before invested money. They , were granted a contract from Washington to build steel in- | y2sion barges, and the first barge has already been launched. 7% ® si DROPERLY functioning labor-management production com- = mittees can obtain very much the same results. The fact sj, Of course, that although the shipyard managements here save Set up such committees as urged by Elliott Little, then jmector of National Selective Service, there has not been puch enthusiasm shown. For instance, the committee in forth Burrard yard has not met for the last two months, and ery likely wall not meet again if it is left to the management. ithe shop stewards on this committee would form themselves ito a regular plant production committee, they would be able > call these meetings themselves. A labor-management pro- uction committee, to be effective, must meet regularly and ommittee and an integral part of the whole operation. e TNE representatives of the Confederation of Shipbuilding - \ and Engineering Unions, are now in Vancouver on a tour ivhich has taken them to most of the major shipbuilding cen- res on this continent. They are to be accompanied on their Sour of Canada by representatives of the CCL and the AFL, “iput so far no arrangements have been made for them to meet jind discuss mutual problems with representatives of the men #0 Vancouver, E understand that the delegates are here as jzuests of the federal government, but it cannot be denied that beneficial if opportunity for discussions with local trade union .d tticials and the men in the yards had been given. Local of shipyard workers in Vancouver, at which the British trade jinionists could have given their impressions of the various yards they have visited and told of their experiences in the shipbuilding industry in the old country. : : © HE transit contro! is still studying the question of _over- : crowding on the North Vancouver ferries. The trouble is that too much time is spent in mulling over these things e] without definite steps being taken to adjust matters where a “remedy is offered. It has been suggested often enough that ithe situation could at least be ameliorated by having two ferries leave the wharts at the same time, at least during those ¢hours when the shipyard workers are travelling. Our war effort is more important than the desires of any municipal official, and the government should take immediate steps to jsee that the means of transportation are used to the utmost + efficiency. There is still that matter of the service for the men jon the midnight shift at Burrard Drydock. At present the men have to stand around for 25 minutes after arriving at the North Shore before starting time, while if they wait for the 12:30 ferry it means arriving five minutes too late. There is no # logical reason why a ferry could not leave at 12:20 a.m., arriv- ‘ing at 12:40. It would mean a slight readjustment in the pres- sent ferry schedules which would hardly inconvenience the {regular passengers at all. © A TUG which has been twice sunk by enemy action is still doing duty for the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. Once she was sent to the bottom, during the Greek campaign, by a near miss from a bomb which opened up her plates. She @ had only just been raised and repairs started when the Allied 1 evacuation of Greece began. Her skipper started out for a British port with only a bosun, a consular official and two Greek soldiers in place of her normal crew of twelve. On the other side of the Mediterranean she was struck by another ‘bomb which exploded between decks and sent her to the 4) bottom. After a year she was refloated again, and towed to a beach where a steam engine and winches had been rigged to teceive her. It took the crew a week to work her up the slip- way clear of the tide and jack her up like a car with a punc- tured tire so that the shipwrights could get below and make the neeessary repairs. 1 J MMEDIATELY after Pearl Harbor a number of experi- ~ jot at the whim of the company. It must be a responsible Candidates Supporting Union Stand Signed by seven candidates for office in the Boilermakers and Jron Shipbuilders Union defeated in last December’s election, constitutionality of which is disputed by the CCL national executive, this state- ment was issued this week: The following statement is issued by the undersigned members of the Boilermakers and Iron Ship- builders Union in order to clarify their position regarding the condi- tions which presently exist within our organization. We were all candidates at the recent elections and were defeated at same as a result of the vote polled at that time. We are not particularly sympathetic to the pol- icies of the elected executive com- mittee but feel at this time there are far greater considerations than differences in policy. : In our estimation there is only one principle at stake in the pres- ent struggle—that is—as to wheth- er a group of bureaucrats in Ot- tawa is going to dictate to the rank and file members of our or- ganization as to who is or is not to be our executive committee. We maintain that that is one right which should be left to the membership to exercise and in op- posing the policies of the adminis- tration and supporting the right of the recently-elected executive com- mittee to hold office, we are only asserting the position that any red- blooded trade unionist would be forced to accept under similar cir- cumstances. May we again offer to the shop stewards’ committee, our fullest cooperation and support in their struggle to maintain the principle of democratic control within our trade union. W. GRIFFIN, A. McLEOD, J. CUNNINGHAM, THOS. G. Mac- KENZIE, J. P. LUCAS, ED. FEN- TON, DON GRAHAM. Continued ~ Steel Mill a steel mill here an imperative need for the future of industrial benefit in the post-war period in the province. Text Of Resolution A NSUG Hirt Want Hearings Open To Membership Following is text of the resolution unanimously adopted by shop stewards of the Boilermakers Union and released to the press when Pat Conroy and J. E. McGuire, members of the commission appointed by the CCL national executive council, failed-to meet the deadline set by shop stewards for an answer to the points the resolution raised: This meeting of shop stewards entrusted by the members of Boilefmakers Union, Local No. 1, with the solemn duty of guarding the interests of the union, with the aim of fully re- storing democratic process in the union, goes on record as follows: statements would not be. sub- 1 The present dispute has been ject to the scrutiny of our mem- caused by the undemocratic and bers. vneonstitutional measures of attempting to foist on the mem- Therefore, we insist as a condi- bership an appointed adminis- | tion for our continued cooperation tration consisting of individuals with the investigating committee: in whom our members have no | That all sessions of the investi- gating committee atswhichsevi- dence is given, be open to all paid members of the SBoiler- makers’ Union, to the extent that space is available and that ated this dispute were taken such sessions for this purpose as a result of false informa-| - be held in a hall in ‘which tion supplied behind the backs there is room for at least 100 of our members to officers of listeners. _ é pereets) the Congress by McAuslane, O’Brien and a few other dis- 2 gruntled individuals who do not represent the sentiments of our members or even of any con- siderable section thereof. confidence, and a number of whom were defeated candidates in the recent election. 2 We believe that the unwise and harmful measures that origin- That all statements or accusa- tions niade’ to the committee be subject to refutation on proof according to the laws of evi- dence. Sees That a full stenographic report be kept of all proceedings and that a copy of this material be made available to the Shop Stewards from day to day. . We have welcomed the setting 3 3 of an investigation committee as a measure that can serve to help restore fully democratic process in the union and have offered to cooperate with the committee for this purpose only, because we desire, if pos- sible, to remain affiliated to the Ganadian Congress of Labor. Only by such a procedure can the confidence of our members be restored and a democratic investi- state that