ae THE PEOPLE - Published every Wednesday by The People Publishing Co., Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 Wrest Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. Telephone: MArine 6929. .. Hat GRIFFIN Kay GREGORY Eprror Manacine Eprror Business MANAGER Epona SHEARD Six Months—$1.00 One Year—$2.00 Printed at Broadway Printers Limited, 161 East 8th Avenue, Vancourer, B.C. Labor Is Watching Parliament ps present session of both provincial and federal parlia- ments hold promise of better things for the labor move- ment and Canada’s war effort generally if present indications materialize. Production figures quoted by Prime Minister W. L. Mac- kenzie King in his address following the speech from the throne gives an excellent picture of Canada’s capabilities and we have reason to be proud of the record: 1942 1941 Corvettes and minesweepers ...........- 74 85 Garco) shipse ee 1 Wilitaryscairerarpecs cree 1,700 Armored vehicles: <2. 2 3,000 Mechanical transport -. 120,000 Even the prime minister himself apparently did not realize the potential capabilities of Canadian working people geared for all-out effort, since he remarked: “I simply don’t under- stand how Canada has been able to do what she has done. It is beyond me.” That Canada was able to step up her production so much in one year is not ‘beyond’ the understanding of the labor movement. Workers in the shipyards, in aircraft, steel, logging, fishing and mining know that such records are possible; know, too, that these records can be surpassed and doubled if the present problems which are holding up improved industrial relations can be satisfactorily ironed out with a government united and intent upon letting nothing stand in the way of winning the war. 6 yee plans agreed upon by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin D. Roose- velt at Casablanca have given a lead to all Allied Nations that big things are brewing in the near future. Wot an hour of labor, not a man in uniform, not a single sacrifice can be begrudged or held back in this hour. And it is in this urgent need for speed in offensive action that the speech from the throne was lacking. It is to be hoped that in the debate following and in future business, representatives of the Canadian people will bring out the fact that parliament must get into step with the war and with the demands of the people for action against Hitler. c LV bee items of particular interest to labor are to be dis- cussed at Victoria, one of the most important being the proposed amendments to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbi- tration Act, which has been a bone of contention and source of many an industrial dispute for several years. The Act as at present constituted has proven a stumb- ling block in the way of harmonious relations between man- agement and labor, preventing the setting up of proper em- ployer-employee relations which would solve the majority of problems preventing increased production. Of statements concerning the industrial act already made in the house, one made by Dr. J. J. Gillis (Lib., Yale), may be a significant signpost to something intended for inclusion in the new Act. : After enumerating several requirements for organized labor such as a ‘living wage’ and its “God-given right to form unions and to bargain collectively,’ Dr. Gillis declared that “the time has come when there should be some way of supervising union funds. ... The hard-earned contributions of the men should be protected and they should know how the money is spent.” Coming at such a time, a statement like this will arouse resentment among the workers, implying as it does that the workers themselves are not capable of administering their own unions, or electing responsible officers to look after their funds. It revives a proposal, fought by trade unionists for years, of ‘incorporating’ unions. Inclusion in any new industrial act of a clause concerning control of union funds would not serve to improve the present ineffectiveness of the Act to work for industrial harmony, but rather would tend to increase hostility, worsen relationships between government, labor and management, and may even defeat the whole purpose of the Act, ie., quick settlement of problems arising on the job so that production is not impaired by long disputes. Trade unionists of British Columbia will be watching with great interest the proposed amendment to the Industrial Con- ciliation and Arbitration Act to be presented by Labor Min- ister George Pearson. ; {L00 SE TA Lik: costs 2 LIVES i : 2 ; ; ---GOODBYF HONEY (4... WE RE SAILING fp | | ‘ @ TONIGHT !? of amous Soviet Spa District Liberated A WONG the Red Army victories in recent weeks which are regarded with particular pleasure by Soviet trade union- ists have been those in the North Caucasus, where Soviet troops have now completely liberated the famous spa dis- trict, containing many luxurious rest homes and sanitariums owned by trade unions. When Minerlny Vodi was retaken, Trud, national trade union daily, commented: “The presence of the fascists poisoned the salubrious air of the Caucasus.” Perhaps nothing outraged So- viet trade unionists so much as the thought of fascists recuper- ating from last summer’s bitter campaign by drinking Narzan mineral water in labor’s great Kislovodsk sanitariums. Under the blows of the Red Army, the German’s retreat was so rapid that they failed to destroy the sanitariums before being driven out, and soon the spas will again be functioning to restore the health of wounded Red Armymen. Of the 1,500.00 workers who spent their annual vacations in union-operated rest homes before the war, some 200,000 came to the spa area “of the Caucasus. The 46 Sanitariums in Kislovodsk were visited in 1940 by more than 100,000 workers. A great expan- sion in the area followed adoption of a new national health plan in 1935, and the outbreak of war interrupted the building of sev- eral new sanitariums. Between 1943 and 1937, 60,000,000 rubles ($20,000,000) were spent in de- veloping the area. The entire region was under the supervision of a special de- partment in the Commissariat of Health, which managed the springs. Individual groups, main- ly unions, built the sanitariums from their social security funds (the USSR social insurance Sys- tem is administered by the trade unions out of taxes on the wage fund of their industries). Other organizations besides unions which owned Kslovodsk sanitar- iums were the Commissariat of State Farms, the Central Con- sumers Co-operative and the Commissariat of the Food Indus- try. The All-Union Central Coun- ceil of Trade Unions sent Stakhan- ovites and leading union members to its Kislovodsk sanitarium. Trade Unions Have Post-War Role HE important part trade unions are playing in the de- velopment of war industry, through the medium of joint pro- duction committees, regional pro- duction boards and other govern- ment agencies, must continue after victory is won, Sir Stafford Cripps, Minister of Aircraft Pro- duction, said this week at a con- ference of the Association of Architects, Surveyors and Techni- cal Assistants, “There can be no question of allowing backward-looking cor- porations or individuals to des- troy the partnership of workers_ in industry, which is now a major factor in the national fight for victory.” he said. “The methods now being used to increase war production must equally be used in peacetime, if the living stand- ards of the people are to be main- tained.” “Today trade unionists still have to maintain their rights and living conditions, but in addition, they have to share responsibility for efficient production.” “SHORT JABS — by OV Bill Obituary! A LONELY old man! A tras phrase such as that best c seribes the closing career lz week of one who, at one tin earned and deserved the gra’ tude of unskilled workers of Lc. don—John Burns, leader, wi Tom Mann and Ben Tillet, of t London dockers in the famo i strike of 1889. “aa Ben Tillet died a few days lai> but his career differs somewh!/ from that of Burns. Tillet w péver much above the rank of © demagogic laborite, a trade uni” leader with little or no politic understanding, who as secretar” helped to lead-dockers in th. historic strike during the perii of the “New Unionism” of mu skilled London workers, but wi used all his influence to curb & growth of the gas-workers at t same time. Tillet’s passing notable only in that he Liv through over half a century” © British trade union officialdom. Burns was different He was socialist when the movement the unskilled laborers of the Lo don district grew into the “Ne Unionism,” when unions of labo ers as distinct from tradesme¢ were springing up all over Lo don. He was a member of 7@ Social Democratic Federation which Hyndman was the leadir spokesman. Burns, Tillet and Tom Man were all arrested and jailed ~ connection with the docke strike but that was no new ¢& perience for John Burns, who hi already felt the hand of Joi Law in a free speech demonstr tion in Hyde Park several yea previously. 2 Deserter! NOTHER result of the strié was that they decided to ri Burns for parliament. He w elected MP for Battersea and t came ‘Burns of Battersea.” F a time in”the House he was : right. Engels wrote in a letter a friend just before he died 1895 that Burns stood alone, 5 ing attacked by both Keir Hare and Hyndman. He had not been in parliame long when a change came oy him. He began to despair of t political organization of the wo! ing class. This loss of faith the workers is one of the reasc why he accepted a cabinet pi as president of the Local Gove: ment board. In 1914, he resign on the issue of participation the war. = A Vancouver newspaper ec orial said of Burns at his deat “Nothing could have been m¢ complete than the public ecli] in which John Burns had lin since his resignation from ~ British government in 1914” The eclipse of John Burns car not in 1914, but eleven years ea er when he admitted his loss faith in the workers who t him from the lathe and put t in parliament to work for th On that day in 1905, when he came a cabinet minister in a eral government, he suffered total eclipse. Today, no one mourns his dez not even his liberal colleag If he had stayed with his c class he might not have slept Windsor Gastle but his pass would have been regretted sincerely as that of Tom Ms the only one of the three dock strike leaders who remained t to the cause of the unski workers who launched the “D Unionism.”