e

Way Opened For

full Unionism

a “he International Woodworkers of America will act im-

b

‘iately to secure labor department certification of union

§ ibership in eleven major logging and sawmill operations on
eouver Island in a preliminary to negotiating for union con-

QF <s as a result of last week’s
Rego Development Company

=. won the first collective bar-

Haig agreement in the history
=e BC lumber industry. 3
wed by labor generally as the
@ real union achievement in the
Mi against the open shop lumber
miry resulting from amend-
bs to the IGA Act, the TWA-
Wea agreement calls for the
(e shep, union checkoff of dues,
and-a-half for overtime, and
fiishment of a labor-manage-
im committee for increased pro-
fon in the interests of the war
pm t.
ar success at Batco opens the

lhange In
York Hours

| Asked

mands for an 8 am. starting
for each day’s work for men
ing less than eight months
y year will be placed before
@ abor Department by Cannery

Reduction Plant Workers’

3, it was decided at a special
ng of the union last week.

er several weeks of negotiat-

f with Canadian Fishing Com-

and BC Packers Ltd., no satis-

"y agreement has been reached.

lispute began when cannery

i 2rs in seasonal plants asked

gard allowances in addition to

Wage already set for the in-

a” ¥- HEishing companies turned

request down, and workers

‘d to drop the demand if man-

ent would agree that 8 am.

i be the starting hour of each

work. ~

the past, they maintain, no

_@ ol was placed on hours. Since

As have been reduced to 230

© M™month, companies want the

“i lege of changing starting time

-@ day to day, depending on ar-

sae= Of fish in each plant.

H order not to delay the opening

fe canning season, the union de-

“i: to place the case in the hands

== Labor Minister, and all crews

| | eave for their plants as sched-

b)

successful negotiations with the

at Oyster River in which the
way to resumption of negotiations
with the managements of a whole
number of operations on the Island
and Lower Mainland,” Nigel Mor-
fan, international board member
for the IWA in BC, told The Peo-
ple. :

“We have already sent out in-
struction to local and sub-local
unions on the Island to apply im-
mediately for certification from
Labor Minister Pearson as to the
number of TWA members in cer-
tain big operations,” he said.
“Since we have a clear majority,
amounting in some cases te 100
per cent, in certain operations at
Cowichan Lake, Chemainus,
Fanny Bay and Port Alberni,
there is no doubt we will obtain
certification and then will be
able to proceed to negotiate with
the managements concerned on
collective bargaining contracts.”
Most of the operations referred

to by Morgan had previously ne-
gotiated with the IWA but had
postponed further talks pending
revision of the ICA Act At that
time several managements had ex-
cused their refusal to bargain by
referring to the fact that they were
not required to do so by law and
that no other logging or lumbering
operation had, up until then, signed
a contract.

IWA members now point out that
both these arguments are no longer
justified and confidently ‘expect
favorable results in future contract
negotiations. :

Morgan termed the agreement
with the Batco Company, signed
by Local 363, as “one of the finest
in the country.” Containing 15
clauses, the agreement includes rec-
ognition of a camp committee to
settle grievances; no discrimina-
tion; recognition of safety commit-

management from committee mem-
bers in performance of their duties;
and seniority rights. The contract
will remain in effect for one year,
during which period there will be
no strikes or lockouts.

The IWA leader particularly em-
phasized the importance of the
clause calling for setting up of a
labor-management committee.

“This is perhaps the first time
in Canada that an agreement has
provided for such a committee,
and it will undoubtedly help to in-

crease production,” he said.

labor Board

ird recently handed down
Hrd, which not only rejects

® handling molten metal, when
fi are at present being paid 80
)5 for this work. Small increases
Mi: 242 cents to ten cents were
} ted to a number of lower paid
‘m™ zories.

ssion members also find peculiar
Setting of two rates of pay for
apers and grinders. The Board
fs, apparently, that a higher
e= Should be paid to men chip-

heavier work. This idea is non-

Reduces

ages Of Cranemen

Mioulders and Foundry Workers here are protesting an

by the Regional War Labor
their application for a 15-cent

ease, but actually sets a rate of 75 cents per hour for crane-

sensical, according to foundry
workers, since chippers and grind-
ers must take work as it comes,
heavy or light, just as moulders
take a pattern for heavy or light
work as it is handed to them.

The decision to take action in
protesting the award was reached
at a special meeting called this
week by Joe Groton, Moulders
and Foundry Workers’ Union presi-
dent.

tees with no time deducted by the |

Fishermen’s Union
~

elected vice-president.

WA Signs First Agreement

Officers For 1943

From left to right: Helbert. Stavenes, re-elected president; Wm. Burgess, re-elected secre-
tary-treasurer; Harold Malm, newly-elected general organizer,

and Colin McKea, newly-

The Story Behind the Convention Decision -

UFFU Prepares For New Gains

Behind the decision of the United Fishermen’s Federal

Union te reorganize its setup by establishing locals and sub-
locals in key districts lies the story of a trade union develop-

convention, pointed to the fact that,
“the present administration of the
affairs of the union through the
one office is becoming an impos-
Sibility .. If we are to organize
the unorganized we must set up
both geographical and sectional
locals . each electing its own
officers and having full autonomy
in arriving at decisions important
to their local or sub-local.”

Two factors were responsible for
Burgess’ recommendations to the
convention, which were later en-
dorsed by the delegates. One was

‘the remarkable growth of the UF FU

since 1939. The other was the ac-
companying centralization of actiy-
ity and authority within the con-
fines of the Vancouver local, ne-
cessary during the first few years,
but in recent months a definite
hindrance to further progress,

In 1940 the United Fishermen’s
Federal Union was a relatively
small organization of some 300
members, covering mainly halibut,
herring and pilchard fishing, The
salmon purse seining branch of the
industry was organized fairly
strongly under the Salmon Purse
Seiners’ Union, a Trades and Labor
Congress affiliate, while the trol-
lers and gillnetters were led by the
independent Pacific Coast Fisher-
men’s Union. All three groups had
enjoyed considerable success in im-
proving conditions in the fishing
industry, in particular the Salmon
Purse Seiners’ Union, which had
led a notably successful strike of
the seine fleet during the fall of
1938, a strike which was respon-
sible for greatly strengthening labor
unity among fishermen and forc-
ing recognition of the fact that the
fishing unions could play a vital
and necessary role in the industry.

By 1941, membership of the
UFFU had been more than doubled
with the merger of the Salmon

Purse Seiners’ UWnion. The next

ment unique in Canadian labor annals.
The bare statement regarding the change, as outlined by
Union Secretary William Burgess in his report to last week’s

year a further amalgamation with
the Pacific Coast Fishermen’s
Union brought the membership to
over 1,500, and by the time of the
1943 convention, the union could
show a membership of some 2,500
fishermen. During that period it
had consistently fought for and
won better prices, had established
collective bargaining agreements
with the major fishing companies,
and had assisted in the organization
of cannery workers into a separate
chartered local. It was a period of
progress perhaps unequalled by any
other local union in the province.

While this activity was going on,
the UFFU branched out in new
directions. Any outsider, for exam-
ple, who pays a visit to the Fish-
ermen’s Hall at 138 Cordova Street
East, is faced with what may ap-
pear to be a confusing array of
organizations covering almost every
phase of the B.C, fishing industry,
including a cooperative enterprise,
a publishing society, even an in-
come tax information bureau.

Keystone of these related groups
is of course the union itself, cover-
ing fishermen from every section
of the industry.

Next in line of activity is the
United Fishermen’s Cooperative
Association, managed by Karl
Dybhavn. This is a cooperative so-
ciety originally set up on the initia-
tive of the union which functions
independently though under the
general guidance of the UFEU.
It owns and operates the HBisher-
men’s Hall, and acts for its mem-
bers as a purchasing agent for dog-
fish and halibut livers, source of
the valuable vitamin oils. Through
an agreement -with a processing
firm, the co-op purchased a big
proportion of the fish livers de-
livered to the Vancouver market,
has them converted into oil, and
later sells the product to the big
wholesale drug companies. This ac-

tivity alone has grown into business
Tunning into thousands of dollars
annually, and has provided its fish-
ermen members with a steady mar-
ket for their catch, directly under
their control,

Another office in the big one-
storey building, houses the Fisher-
man Publishing Society, where The
Fisherman, weekly newspaper of
organized fishermen in B.C., edited
by W. Rigby, is published in
thousands of copies.

Finally there is the Vancouver
Fishermen's Settlement Service, a
recent development under the man-
agement of V. Christie. It is oper-
ated jointly by the UFF'U and the
Fishing Vessel Qwmners’ Associa-
tion for the settlement of claims
after each trip to the fishing
grounds. Because the problem of
fishermen’s jAncome taxes are es-
pecially technical and difficult to
handle, this office also acts as an
information bureau on tax prob-
lems, and Christie devotes much of
his time to making out tax forms
for individual fishermen, a service
that has become very popular.

It was this complex setup, de-
manding an increasing amount of
attention from union officers,
sometimes to the exclusion of out-
side organizing work, that brought
about the convention decision to
establish new autonomous locals.

Under the proposed changes, ac-
cording to George Miller, executive
board member, the UFFU general
executive board will now become
the active leadership for all locals
of the union, including the Van-
couver branch. The day to day work
of the Jocals will, however, be in
the hands of the local officers,

In addition, sub-locals will be
established where necessary for the
Various sections such as purse Sein-
ers, halibut, pilchard and herring
men, gillnetters and trollers.

Members of the union are confi-
dent that with these changes the
UFFU faces another period of rapid
growth, and predict that ‘within
the next year new thousands of
fishermen will have joined the
union’s fight for increased produc-
tion and a better deal on the fish-
ing grounds,