PEOPLE

\\LABOR’S VOICE FOR VICTORY

nf. OL. No. 19

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5 Cents

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Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, May 15, 1943

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lal Griffin

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Signed temporarily as a special
*spondent to the Northwest
zice Command of the US Army,
tavelled over the Alaska High-
=m by carryall from Dawson Creek
jfhitehorse, YT, then flew from
horse to Fairbanks by US
sport .plane because travel on
Highway was restricted dur-
he breakup period. Griffin also
td Waterways, in Northern
tia, and went over the Aba-
S development in the Alberta
=) ands.
he old Canadian Northwest
“ Alaska, as it was when I was
there ten years ago, is being
=, 3formed from an isolated fron-
“| to an advance base of the
~)ed Nations,” he- told The Peo-
this week. “What little more
@ year ago was still] only par-
“mapped wilderness is now
‘crossed with a network of
8 linking pioneer settlements
@ tewns in a yast plan for carry-
the war to Japan, and further
loping the territory in the
“war reconstruction period.
Ehe full story cannot for ob-
18 reasons yet be told but when
is it will be one of achieve-
it despite immense difficul-
. Under the impact of war
normal development of half
sentury is. being compressed
} a very few years. As a re-
Be, the war against Japan in
‘Pacific will be materially af-
ted:

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slot only that, but in the post-
#¥ period the new developments
| have a profound effect on
sida’s future and on interna-
al relations between Canada,
United States, the Soviet Union
§ China. Alaskans are confident
B the new development work
= be extended to Nome, and they
§ Canadians in the Northwest
ftoday keenly alive to the fact
= only the Bering Strait separ-
© the Americas and Asia.

‘here will be no longer hun-
Bs of miles of trackless wild-
Pss dividing the Soviet Union
& the USA, but in its place a
travelled route across the top
Pthe world: Throughout the
“thwest, people are now dis-
Bing the Soviet Union and its
tre in relation to their own.
he Alaska Highway is today
'f an answer to those who said
-ould not be built and main-
pra it was built, and in record
+, by men without any great ex-
k without even knowledge

Ea eS a :

Returns

tom Alaskan Tour

HOPLE in Alaska are confident that an offensive to dis-
lodge the Japanese from the Aleutians will be launched
i, declares Hal Griffin, Vancouver writer and editor, who
erned this week after an extensive tour of Northern Alberta
u@ British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska.

*sriffin is at present writing
“@he Canadian Northwest and

a book on the development
the Alaska Hishway.

of the country they were work-
ing in, and often without sufficient
equipment. They only knew they
had a job to do, and they did it
splendidly.

“A few months before most of

these American soldiers had been

following civilian occupations. They
found themselves set down in a |

bush country few people had ever

‘travelled, and told to build the

road. Understandably, they missed
the bright lights of the city on a
project in which there was little
opportunity for entertainment and
only hardship and hard work.

“But the important thing is
that they built the road, and that
since it was built truck convoys
with scarcely an interruption
have been rolling over it. Today
the feat of building the Alaska
Highway is béing duplicated on
half a dozen other projects.

“In Norman Wells, northern Al-
berta, at Waterways and adjacent
areas in the Northwest Territories
a great oil industry is being de-
veloped, which can be of tremen-
dous importance in developing the
territary after the war. Immedi-
ately its purpose is to supply at
least part of the needs of the new
supply bases in the north.”

Griffin also felt that for the

See ALASKA — Page 8

|Road Opened |
For Invasion
| Of Continent |

>
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Allies Acelaim
African Victory

The Allied victory in Tunisia is complete. One
of the decisive battles of the war, brilliantly en-
gineered and courageously carried out by the
Anglo-French-American forces, has been smash-
ingly successful and the United Nations now dom-
inate in the Mediterranean.

It is a great victory, one that opens up the real possibility
of complete victory over Hitlerism in 1943. On the Soviet
front the Red Army is smashing the Nazis in the Kuban and
by taking the initiative is shoving into the sea the spearhead
of the expected Nazi drive into the Caucusus. Coupled with
the Tunisian success, the time is close when blows from the
East and the West will synchronize to crack the German-Italo
forces and end the menace of a Hitler-dominated world for
all time.

The victory of the Allies is all the more significant in that
it secures them the domination of the central position in the
Mediterranean Strait—Sicily. The stratesic communication be-
tween Gibraltar and Suez is now restored. The shortest route
to Italy is opened, and the entire Mediterranean coast of Af-
rica, with all ports, bases and airdromes, can now be fully util-

ized as a base and jumping-off point for concentrated blows at

Europe.

The victory has heartened the peoples of the United Na-
tions. Talk of the second front is now on everyone’s lips. The
great storm of 1943 is breaking. Now more than ever, the cam-
paign for the offensive must be pressed. The enemy has been
badly defeated on two fronts, but not yet vanquished. That is
the task for the Canadian, British, American and French
soldiers on the Western front who will join forces with the Red
Army soldiers on the Eastern: front for common blows against
a common enemy.

For the German-Italian fascists are going through a grave
crisis. Hitler can no longer ignore the fact that events are
bringing nearer the prerequisites of victory made possible by
the African campaign—that of organization of the second front
in Europe and the complete destruction of the enemy.

R F e e

ring Of
Union M

nion qn
Protested

In an apparent attempt to

weaken the leadership of Aero-
nautical Lodge 756 and elimin-
ate those who played a leading
role in the recent campaign for
rest periods in plane produc-
tion plants, =management of
Boeings, Ropeiaft of Canada
this week Arbitrarily dismissed

one man without cause and at-
tempted to fire another,

a

A meeting of shop stewards and
members of the union went on
record as being in favor of a
fight to the limit for reinstate-
ment of Elgin Ruddell, whose serv-
ices were terminated by the com-
pany on Monday as a result of his
activities as chairman of the work-
ing committee which asked for 10-
minute rest periods in each shift.

Union spokesmen declare that
the notice of termination given
Ruddell was blank, contrary to Se
lective Service regulations which
require cause for dismissal to be
stated.

A committee which met Boeing
representatives received no satis-
faction, union members declare.

‘Despite the fact that the com-
pany has not seen fit to recog-
nize our protests, the union in-
tends to fight to the limit,” one
Boeing worker stated. “We do
not intend to let such discrimin-
ation pass unchallenged.”

Union delegates who travelled to
Ottawa for conferences with G. D.
Howe, minister of munitions and
supply, are expected to return to
Vancouver FEriday morning with
proposals to settle the dispute over
rest periods which resulted in a
five-day lockout of plane workers

here recently.

Secure Holidays With Pay, Premium

Wages

All Unions Sign Yard Agreement

Agreements signed this week providing for seven-day con-
tinuous operation of Vancouver shipyards bring to a close
negotiations covering a period of several months, during which
all unions having jurisdiction in the shipyards made a thorough
study of conditions of work andJ|to 5-3-2 instead of 5-2-1 as previ-

brought forward many proposals See : —
that will contribute to increased PhOLO NS GEN ONG hae doe h

. . opment for industrial and con-
production by smoothing out the! struction workers, are also provid-
hindrances formerly obstructing

ed for in the agreement, although
efficient operation and maximum | the National War Labor Board has
production of ships.

still not agreed with the union’s
; 3 interpretation of the clause goy-
Under chairmanship of Justice’! o-ning qualification for holidays,
S.. E. Richards, conference after | In spite of the fact that the clause
conference has been held and the | still doesn’t measure up to expecta-
agreements now in effect provide] tions, it remains an advance in
many benefits for shipyard work-|labor history and a step forward
ers, and facilitate implementation | that will contribute greatly to com-
of the 19 points recommended fol-| batting absenteeism and increas-
lowing the inquiry heard here last | ing efficiency on the job.
Fall, including increased premium
pay for workers on the second and

Shipyards on the west coast
third. shifts, wage revisions, and

have operated on a seven-day con-
tinuous operation principle since
boosting the ratio of men employed

April, 1942, when supplementary.

agreements were signed by the ma-
jority of unions in the yards.
Joint Conference of Shipyard
Unions functioning at that time to
study all questions involyed in
increasing production, sent a dele-
gation to Ottawa and were instru-
mental in having a commission ap-
pointed under chairmanship of
Justice Richards.
. Unions of every affiliation par-
ticipated in the conferences and
a@ striking degree of unity and co-
operation was manifested in the
recommendations put forward, and
in the determination of all unions
to do their utmost to boost pro-
duction of ships and to keep up
Credit is due to all who took part

in the deliberations and the men
in the yards are to be congratu-
lated for their refusal to be
stampeded into hasty action when
at times the going was none too

smooth.

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