MAGAZINE SECTION T. No. 12 <=> 5 Cents Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, March 27, 1943 “Until 'Labor Minister Mitchell is removed from his post and re- placed by some- one in whom Canadian work- ers have confi- dence, all labor’s efforts to cooper- ate with the government are hindered.” HUMPHREY MITCHELL Ths Ime} nple ‘ : nail) OTHING is easier to rade in nd @ helective 6: What’s Hol state than the policy of selective service. It is simply a series of arrangements by which fervices of every available and potentially available \2r in Canada can be utilized to the greatest possible jitage in the war effort whether in the armed forces, in jroduction of munitions and other materials of war, or in roduction of essential civilian goods.” % stated National Selective Se Director A’ MacNamara tawa, July 9, 1942- In the address, after outlining of the administrative prob- of selective service, he con- tention these difficulties, not iy apologetic spirit, but ' to indicate realistically he goal of selective service which we hope to approach loser and closer, but which talize we shall never com- + reach.” after three and a half of war, the people of Can- iSist that the goal of selec- service must be reached, that lanpower and womanpower be utilized to the greatest le advantage, in order that ar May be won as speedily =sible! i importance of a sound Manpower policy in a coun- | War is obvious. In Soviet #2 it was taken for eranted the Nazis attacked that the and muscle of every citi- jyould be required for vic- Almost overnight women ed men on assembly lines, ids, on ships and railroads. ji brigades of children or- B:d to take in the harvest. qi novite groups in every plant 2d and tripled production. Great Britain, which lacked advantage of a socialist my, it was not long before ction-groups were organ- ® women without children ordered to report for civilian e, and production commit- Mow required by law in @& plant on war production) d to increase output. Canada, however, such was ie case. Last fall two mem- eof the British labor depart- @ made a tour of Ganada. they saw that this country Min a state of only partial ization they quite frankly siabor leaders and selective fe Officials what they thought j Bi-y saw, first of all, that . Setting off for strangely enough Canada suffered from two main labor problems, a Shortage and a surplus. They saw that in cities where few war in- dustries had sprung up there were large numbers of unemployed, haunting selective service offices, distant towns when news of defense work leaked out, only to find more often than not that only a few jobs were available and they were left stranded: At the same time, logging camps on the west coast were badly in need of men, and production of one of our most vital war materials — airplane spruce — was suffering? @ RANTING that such an un- dertaking as the mobilization of a country’s manpower is a tremendous job, under present conditions, let us review the facts briefly. The National Selective Service Mobilization Act provides that the minister of labor shall “take such steps as may be neces- Sary to ensure the: most effici- ent use of manpower by employ- ers.” The Act gives. selective Service officers the right to re quest any employed person to “take employment other than that in which he is employed ... where it is in the national interest.” Selective Service in Canada comes under the jurisdiction of the De- partment of Labor, and MLabor Minister Humphrey Mitchell. The administration of Selective Service is entrusted to over i100 branch offices across the Do- Minion. When an applicant reg- isters for work he fills in a card listing experience and training, which goes into the “live” file. When a2 position requiring a man of his capabilities comes up, he is sent—perhaps with several others of similar qualifications, to be in- terviewed by the employer con- eerned. If he takes the job, his card is transferred to the “dead” file, where it will stay unless an employer whose business is more essential to the war effort ap- plies for a worker, and no one else is available. ervice... ding it Up? HAT, in short, is how Selec- tive Service works .And it sounds efficient, too. But now listen to some of the complaints. First of all, listen to the story of a woman waiting in line, day after day, before a placement of- ficer’s desk. 2 “My husband is in the army. I feel that I should be doing some- thing to help lick MHitler. But When I come here they tell me there Is no work, that only skilled labor is needed. What can I do about it?” Now listen to the story of a se- lective service official who — for obvious reasons — wants his name kept secret. By CYNTHIA CARTER “We have thousands of orders for workers for Island and north country logging camps, but men don’t want to leave home. Every day people come in from the prairies, looking for work in the shipyards. The Selective Service Act instructs us to direct men to any job we think they’re suited for. Ottawa seems to think peo- ple aren’t educated up to the point where they will cooperate fully for the sake of the war effort. In the meantime, our war effort is being hampered for need of men in basic industries.” Wow listen to an official of one of the largest trade unions whose members are engaged in a basic industry. “We have shortages of labor in the logging industry,” Nigel Mor- board gan, IW=A ~ International member, told The People re- cently. “Yet I know personally of 500 loggers working in the ship- yards because no guidance is be- ing given to direct surplus labor into the proper channels. many cases workers are complete- ly umaware of which industry they could make their greatest contribution towards the destruc- tion of Hitlerism.” HAT is the answer? The sol- dier’s wife figures it out like this: “I suggest that I, and others like me, be given proper training to fill vital war jobs, or that we be placed immediately to release some man for heavy industry, and that nurseries for my children be set up, and that my work hours be arranged so that I have time for my weekly shopping.” The selective service official believed the problem could partly be solved as follows: “Since our greatest need is for skilled labor, it is obvious that more labor must be trained. When it becomes apparent that persua- sive methods are not doing a good job, compulsory methods—as pro- vided in the Act—must be *util- ized. However,. compulsion shouldn’t be necessary if proper publicity is given to the vital ne- cessity of war work. The people of Canada are patriotic: If the situation is carefully explained they will cooperate—as organized labor already has—one hundred percent.” Nigel Morgan, echoing the sentiments of trade union leaders everywhere, put it this way: “Flliott Little’s memorandum could be used as a basis for a com- prehensive selective service act. Much of the responsibility, and authority, of a manpower pro- gram should rest with organized labor. A production coordinator should be appointed and charged with the responsibility of seeing that functioning labor-manage- ment production committees are set up. These production commit- tees should then be united to form industrial production boards, which in turn would meet with those from other industries to form nation - wide production councils, whose duty it would be to allocate labor and speed up production. Such a board could mobilize the full energies of Jabor, management and govern- ment, eliminate bottlenecks, and bring about full utilization of all Inexisting resources.” ESIDESS the above excellent suggestions the necessity for an overhauling of the govern- men’s labor policy should be seri- ously considered. When asked recently for a statement on the value of the present labor policy, Birt Showler; chairman of Van- couver Trades and Labor Coun- cil, remarked, “We haven’t got any; that’s the trouble.” Until the government of every province, and the federal govern- ment in Ottawa, recognize the right of labor te bargain collec- tively with management through unions of its own choice, our manpower policy will be weak. Until production committees are seen as an essential part of our war effort, we cannot expect efficient labor allocation. And until Labor Minister Hum- phrey Mitchell is removed from his post, and replaced by some- one in whom Canadian workers have confidence, all labors efforts to cooperate with the government are hindered. In his New Year's greeting in 1942, Humphrey Mitchell told Ca- hadian labor: “Never before has such a weight of responsibility rested upon the shoulders of the workers of Canada. ... Labor has a tremendous task before it. A half-hearted effort is not enough; nothing short of a whole-hearted effort can avail us.” If Mr. Mitchell has his ear to the ground, he can héar those words echoing back to him, from every trade union that has de- mmanded his resignation: “We, Ga- nadian organized labor, agree that half-hearted effort is not enough, and that the responsibili- ty for a wholehearted effort rests on our shoulders. Don’t you worry, Mr. Mitchell, we intend to make sure that the war over Hit- lerism is won!” TN a recent interview, W. Mc- Kinstry, regional superinten- dent for National Selective Sery- icé in British Columbia, could give The People absolutely no as- surance that Seleetive Service leg- islation would be enforced more efficiently in. the future. The re- sponsibility, therefore, rests with the working men and women who, having spent their lives on the farms and in the workshops, can provide the solution. Labor’s task is to insist that the government's labor policy be im- proved and that the whole selec- tive service machinery be put in good working condition. And these are the things labor de- mands: a AS 1. Creation of a Ministry of Pro- duction, with labor representa- tion on all war boards. All-in- dustry production committees to work with management and the government in problems of pro- duction and labor supply. 2.A sound federal labor policy, recognition of the right of col- lective bargaining. 3. Better dominion training pro- grams, for both men and women; university curriculi geared for total war. 4.Setting up of day nurseries, arranging of work hours so that women with home responsibili- ties will be able to shop, and to enable older or disabled workers to work on a part-time schedule. S.A new minister of labor, in whom the working people of Canada can place their trust. @ NLY through the efforts of the working men and women, who stand to lose most through a fascist victory, can this import- ant all-out labor program become a reality. Organized labor in British Co- lumbia, through unity, was respon- sible to a large extent for the passing of the ICA Act amend- ments. Organized labor in Canada, if united, can be instrumental in bringing about complete mobiliza- tion of all our countries’ re- sources, men, materials, and sery- ices, in the job of bringing vic- tory to the United Nations, and with that victory the hope for a better world.