-

Costs

force Action

) An application for a “ten-cent adjustment all round” was
§ied before the Regional War Labor Board this week by

Het Railwaymen’s Union, Division 101, it was announced by
| [les M. Stewart, acting business agent.

je increase is considered nec-
iy by union members to meet
Se ily risine costs of living.

Yur chief argument in our
=z to the board is the growing
; atisfactiion of employees be-
sic of high prices. We feel
‘ the price index is no true
esction of the situation, and
+hold that the increases in
hi cases are considerably

jer than shown in the index.

| are convinced that an up-
| revision at this time would

'a the general interest. The
s would be more satisfied and
® msequence the labor turnover
$3 be lower,” said Stewart.
isting wage scale for the rail-
Saen employed by BC Hlectric,
Scularly for motormen and

conductors, are much too
points out the union brief.

“In the case of maintenance men,
Wages are cut to the minimum
through loss of time due to wet
weather,’ said Stewart.

it will not be necessary to cancel
the present union agreement which
will not expire until March, be-
lieves the union, since adjustments
can be made through a supple-
mentary agreement. E

“This would be no precedent,”
Stated Stewart “as a supplement-
ary agreement was signed in 1933
at the sugestgion of the company.
At that time the union agreed
to take a five-cent wage cut, al-
though the general agreement in
force then still had 18 “months to

low,

0.”

VA Women Protest
gar For Wine Makers

Hupport of the war effort was pledged, and allotment of
ix for wine-making and canning purposes condemned at a
ting called by Ladies’ Auxiliary, Local 30, International
dworkers of America recently.

3 Meeting, which was -open
ili nousewives in, the area
Fed by Locat 30, took the stand
swhile they were not in favor
§ dangerine sailors’ lives by im-
Bag larger amounts of sugar,

proposed a more equitable
s bution ,of supplies now on

resolution, to be sent to Ot-
_ declared:

©, the housewives of Lake
Rehan, strongly condemn the

ment of one ton of sugar for

one ton of fruit for commercial
wine-making and demand that this
sugar be diverted to housewives
for making jams and preserves
which are necessary to supply en-
ergy for their families. We also
unanimously approve rationing of
all available supplies of ‘Syrups,
honey, jams, jellies and canned
fruits to ensure an even distri-
bution.”’

Two delegates were elected from
the meeting to attend a conference
in Vancouver sponsored by the
Housewives’ League of BC.

eee

Iwo American sailors hit it off with two Irish girls in a
North Ireland port where American forces have taken
over the defense of this vital sector of the Allied front.

ransit Men Ask Wage Boost

wep

thi

y

=

“TAVERYONE admits there is a

Manpower shortage in ship-
building. What we are concerned
with is how we are going to over-
come the problem. In my opinion,
there are two immediate courses
open.

“First, examine those unessen-
ital industries stil} utilizing work-
ers with the necessary physical re-
quirements who could be used to
better advantage in the shipyards.
This field should be surveyed at
the earliest possible moment.
“Second, the employment of wo-
men, great numbers of whom are
able to do this kind of work and
are only prevented from doing
their part by the false conception
many men have as to their physi-
cal abilities.

“Tf women are employed, how-
ever, they should work on an equal
basis with the men as to pay and
opportunities for upgrading. When
they are hired I suggest that com-
petent people be put in change of
selecting them, and that such per-
sonnel directors make sure that
they are assigned to suitable jobs,
that they receive proper instruc-
tion, and be fully informed in
eyery way as to their position on
the job.

‘Hinally, it is quite apparent that
if women are to be hired to over-
come the manpower shortage,
creches and day nurseries should
be maintained either right at the
plants or in convenient locations
and under the supervision of
trained supervisors.

If these steps are taken, they
will open up an almost untapped
reservoir of competent labor that
will go a long way to strengthen-
ing the seven-day plan.”

ATTENTION:

Rehearsals for the huge ship-
yard revue, sponsored by the
Labor Youth Federation of B.C.,
will begin within the next few
weeks, and casting will start al-
most immediately, it has been
announced by the committee in
charge of the venture. All in-
terested industrial workers and
their friends are asked to com-
municate with Ruth Turner by
phoning MArine 6929.

Labor and management in
Vancouver’s shipbuilding in-
dustry faced a serious problem
this week arising basically
from a growing manpower
shortage that has already
slowed down production on a
number of ships and even
threatens the successful operation
of the seven-day production plan.

Representatives of shipyards
brought the issue clearly into the
open last weekend at a meeting
of the Vancouver Shipyard Union
Gonference called to go into all
phases of the labor-management

production committee setup. It |

was apparent to delegates at that
meeting that in addition to the
need for revitalizing the labor-
Management setup, steps would
have to be taken jointly with the
managements-to iron out some of
the manpower problems.

Qn thing was clear, that the la-
bor shortage was in a sense an
artificial one, created in part by
the companies’ reluctance to make
use of the big reservoir of poten-

til women yard workers. Only one
or two yards had made progress
in this direction despite the fact

Shipyard Unions Act To Save
Seven-Day Production Plan

L. ANDERSON

pe labor is given an opportun-

ity to study production prob-
lems and to eliminate bottlenecks
and inefficiency in the shipyards,
we could bring about a 25 to 30
percent increase in production al-
most immediately,” Lawrence An-
derson, Amalgamated Shipwrights’

that the shortage of help had been
felt for months. Specific obstacles
to employment of women were also
cited by delegates as further rea-
son for slowness in acting.

One union, the Boilermakers and
Iron Shipbuilders, had already !
moved to solve some of the prob- |
lems this week by calling a meet-
ing to deal with the special prob-
lems of women in the industry.

The Boilermakers’ position on
the question was put forward to
The People by Ed Simpson, as-
sistant business agent. Declared
Simpson:

“The seven-day production plan
is in danger because of lack of
manpower. The obvious answer, of
course, is that the yards must
employ woman-power, and that
Selective Service must tighten up
regulations moving men to essen-
tial industries, and putting women
in their places.

“But when women are employed
in the yards, special arrangements
to accommodate them must be
made. Transportation problems
must be solved, and day nurseries
set up to accommodate the chil-
dren of working mothers. While
we feel that the play school plan
now being arranged is a step in
the right direction, union men also
feel that the plan should be con-
siderably broadened. and the school
hours inereased so that shipyard
women as well as housewives will
benefit.

With a view to getting repre-
sentative opiniom on this all-import-
ant production problem, The People
this week approached other trade
unionists for their views, some of
which appear elsewhere on this
page. In each case they stressed
the need of labor-management co-
operation as the main basis for a
solution and were insistent that if
the seven-day production plan was
to be successful two things were

essential: first, functioning labor-
management prduction commit-
tees, and second, a sensible

handling of the manpower prob-

business agent and chairman of
the Joint Shipyard Union Confer-
ence declares.

“The present setup of labor-
management committees where the
word ‘production’ has been

dropped, where delegates have even
been told by management repre-
sentatives that production is none
of their business, must be radical-
ly altered if the production coun-
cils are to carry out their intend-
ed function.

“The managements have used
these councils as a sounding board.
They let the men talk but the
meetings have no authority to
make decisions. They don’t want
the councils to have any such au-
thority. They have no patience
with the time consumed by the
meetings and can’t forget that they
are paying men by the hour, They
are anxious to bring the meetings
to a close so that the men can
get back to their work, completely
ignoring the tremendous gains that
could be brought about by open
discussion of some of the hind-

rances to production, and forth-
right measures to eliminate all ob-

maximum production.
“Managements must be made to
listen to TYabor’s suggestions, and
must act on them. Today it is not
a question of ‘Who’s running this
plant, but ‘How can this plant
most effectively contribute to the
defeat of the enemy?’ The work-
ers in the yards have every right
to be critical of inefficiency, of
stupid blundering, of the policy of
giving labor the cold shoulder. This
is a principle of democracy. Morale
will be greatly strengthened and
absenteeism reduced to a minimum
when each worker feels his re-
sponsibility as an individual and
as an integral part of the collective

lem.

effort,”’

Sstacles now barring the way to

mots