COUPLE

a

ia

LABOR’S VOICE

eo -! ~

FOR VICTORY

LH. No. 22.

5 Cents

Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, June 5, 1943

Murphy Se

ith eight locals and 3,300
fnational Union of Mine, Mi

es Basis For

nionizing Metal Mines

members in the province, the
ll and Smelter Workers within

mast three months has laid the basis for complete organiza-

™of BC’s metal mining ind

miaal reprsentative, told The
fe this week. Murphy is in
Pouver on union busness fol-
m= weeks of organizing in the
ston-Trail-Kimberley areas,
is returning to the Interior
s Feek-end.
}tr union wrote a new chap-
)n labor history last Satur-
| when we signed an agree-
}i with Granby Gonsolidated
ang the company’s opera-
at Copper Mountain and Al-
i’ Murphy said. “It was
|first closed shop agreement
jie history of the Canadian
© i mining industry.”
er the agreement, the com-
F recognizes the ILUMMSW as
E collective bargaining agient
*tfrees to the dues checkoff.
bwo parties have made joint
fation to the Wational War
§ Board for wage adjustments,
| aye agreed on such points as
Eme pay and holidays with
} The company has also agreed
id a union office at Copper
contract was signed between
| Baillie, vice-president and
fal manager, and Murphy.
‘ers of the union negotiatine
aittee were Angus Gampbell,
's Berryman, William Frew,
= Ogbourne; William David and
Daoust,
)is agreement is going to go
135 way toward improving
| Telations in these operations
hereby boosting production,”
by declared.
h the news of the organizing
in Consolidated Mining and
ing plants spreading through
industry, scores of smaller
fions are clamoring for or-
ation, Murphy reports.

ustry, Harvey Murphy, inter-

Last week two local unions were
set up at the Nickel Plate and Hed-
ley Mascot mines. Officers at
Wickel Plate include Joe Kelly,
chairman, Earl Edwards, financial
Secretary, Joe Rogers, recording

Secretary, and Don Smith and Am-|) : : :
ten in London by National Union

brose Tree. Hedley Mascot, officers
include, J. Buller, chairman, Ben
Alien, secretary, and Harry Ross,
recording secretary. 2

“We expect negotiations to

open with the management of
the Emerald tungsten mine, near
Nelson, around June 10,” Mur-
phy stated. “This mine has been
organized under Local 653 for
a2 month, and the management,
operating as a2 crown company,
has agreed to meet us to nerzo-
tiate a collective bargaining
agreement.”

Preparations are now being made
to send BC delegates to a national
wage scale conference of the
TUMMSW, to be held in Sudbury
on July 3. Harvey Murphy will
lead the BC delegation.

Robinson Tours BC

TRAIL, BC—Reid Robinson of
Denver, president of the Interna-
tional Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, will arrive in
BC during the third week of June
for a speaking tour of metal min-
ing centers during which he will
address local union meetings. He
will be accompanied by Chase Pow-
ers international board member.

Robinson will speak at Copper
Mountain on June i7, Trail on
June 18, and Kimberley June 19:

It is expected he will later at-
tend the sessions of the TUMMSW
wage scale conference in Sudbury
on July 3.

[i in the nation-wide strike
f2ring’ of the American war
tExecutive Council.
flares the CIO statement:
Ee rights must be protected,
within the framework of ra-
Procedure. On the. basis of
Principles, the CIO must
Tn the actions of John L.
! who rejects established pro-
© for equitable adjustments
yor's true grievances,
Mis man has persistently
ined to undermine duly-estab-

10 Scores Lewis

ASHINGTON. — Sharp denunciation of John L. Lewis,
Ye “personal vendetta” against President Roosevelt has re-

of US coal miners and the en-
effort, has been voiced by the

lished wartime agencies in his at-
tacks on the War Labor Board.
He has jeopardized the just de-
mands of the United Mine Work-
ers of America by exploiting the
injustices in the mining industry
in furtherance of his personal
vendetta. against the president,
though he must know these actions
endanger the very existence of our
nation.”

“Give Labor
Full Rights,’
oard Urged

Seamen Ask
Fair Wages,
Conditions’

That wages and conditions on
British and Canadian merchant
ships sailing out of Vancouver
harbor are much lower than
those on US and other Allied
ships was protested at a mass

meeting of merchant seamen
who gathered at Dunsmuir Hotel

here Sunday and unanimously en-
dorsed a resolution demanding
higher wages and better living
conditions. 2

The resolution, originally -writ-

of Seamen members and passed
by crews: of eight ships in London
ports, and now in the hands of
British MP’s, states: “We seamen,
after reading reports of speeches
by various politicians regarding:
their promises to us about ‘after
the war’ and comparing these
promises with the miserable exis-
tence we now endure at sea makes
us Much concerned ... our wages
are small in comparison - with
those of employees ashore, though
we face continual dangers. The
accommodation, food and general
conditions on British ships are
still a disgrace to the flag we
sail under.”

A large proportion of British
seamen are natives of India who,
Seamen protest, are working under
Slave conditions. The resolution
has been passed by crews of ships
docked at New York and copies
have been sent to the English
press. At a Montreal mass meet-
ing of seamen the resolution was
again passed unanimously, ana
crews of boats._in the harbor sent
in delegates to convey their ap-
proval.

More than 50 crews of British
ships in Canadian and US ports
have given the resolution all-out
approval.

Many Unions At
NWELB Inguiry

OTTAWA, Ont.—The National War Labor Board inquiry
during the past week has heard vigorous representations for
a flexible wage policy and a democratic labor code that would
end delays and make collective bargaining compulsory.

The demand for a thorough revision of federal labor policy,
put forward by a number of big unions, was echoed by the

Chambre du Commerce of Mont-
real, which expressed support of
the principle of collective bargain-
ing as “the most effective method
of solving labor problems.”

Tim Buck, secretary of the Do-
minion Communist-Labor Total
War Committee, presented an “ex=
tensive brief to the inquiry coy-
ering wages, inflation and price
controls, Ottawa's labor policy
and the Communists’ legislative
proposals. Buck was accompanied
by Norman Freed and Hvariste
Dube, chairman of the Quebec
Workers’ Total War Committee

The suggestion that any ad-
justment of existing wage lev-
els will weaken or destroy price
ievels, advanced by Donald Gor-
don, chairman of the Wartime
Prices and Trade Board, was
strongly opposed by all the
labor representatives to the
inquiry.

Thus George Burt, Canadian di-
rector of the United Automobile
Workers, quoted from a speech by
Bryce Stewart, former deputy
Minister of Labor, to the effect
that “adjustments in wage rates
where needed” are not only desir-
able, but are necessary for a proper
man-power policy.

Burt directed the Board’s at-
tention to Britain, where the
problem of inflation and prices
has been handled without the
restrictive regulations in force
in Canada,

“It is noteworthy,” he said, “that
Great Britain, which has under-
gone a total war mobilization, has
not yet instituted a wage ceiling.
A definite effort has been made to
stabilize the general level of wages
and the cost of living, but basic

wage rates have been continuously
adjusted throughout the war by
the normal machinery of trade
boards, industrial councils, the na-
tional arbitration tribunals or other
negotiating machinery or by cost
of living or other bonuses.”

The Industrial Disputes Inves-
tigation Act, the UAW brief de-
elared, was inadequate for the
regulation of labor relations. Its
deficiencies consisted in “the pro-
cedure of making application, the
necessity of taking a strike vote,”
the delays usually entailed, and the
fact that there was nothing bind-
ing in the boards’ recommenda-
tions ence they were made.

Urging equality of sacrifice, im-
plementing of the princple of equal
pay for women for equal work,
labor representation on war boards
the UAW brief said:

“We believe that the time is long
overdue when the government
Should adopt a positive and effec-
tiye labor policy which will facili-
tate harmonious relations and give
workers that sense of participation
that will be productive of their
best efforts. This will naturally
require abandonment of the ex-
isting policy of restricting trade
unions by devious delays and tort-
urous by-paths.”

Adrien Villeneuve and Irving
Burman submitted briefs for the
aireraft Lodges of the Interna-
tional Association of Machinists
and for Montreal Aircraft Lodge
712.

Their submissions, which illu-
strated the weaknesses of Zov-
ernment labor policy on the
basis of the [AM Lodges’ own

See MANY UNIONS—Pace 8

Shown here are the members of the
States and Great Britain conferrin
United Nations’ victory strategy
Churchill and President Roosevelt. At the left ar

are the British.

was planned under

joint and combined chiefs of staff of the United
g during the recent meeting in Washington where the
the guidance of Prime Minister
e the American officers: facing them

are

at

tae