IEOPLE

‘| LABOR’S VOICE

= —

FOR VICTORY

I. No. 29

eS

5 Cents

Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, July 24, 1943

7s holds a good meeting.”

dtienal.”

other word can describe a
a8 Whose audience sat quiet
itent through a program that
' exactly three hours and 20
es from the time that Chair-
illam Stewart of the Boiler-
'* Union took the platform
#2n the proceedings, and which
@+d'to leaye the scene even af-
Harkness had fallen.

=: Buck has that rare capacity,
=t unknown among other Ga-
‘0 political leaders, of being
to’ speak directly to each
Ber of the audience, of cre-
the impression of a small,
nal conference in -which in-
"ial problems are discussed in
ad sense.

» it was Sunday night. They

2 to hear “Comrade Tim,’

of them out of curiosity,

to get the left-wing labor

i” on affairs, the big= major-

cause they wanted to cele-

the re-emergence of the

OF United Labor

here is a saying in the labor movement that “Tim Buck

After last Sunday’s meeting in

# tic Park, with one of the biggest crowds in years packing
ands and overflowing into the playing field to hear the
funist leader launch the drive for a new party of the
vnig in British Columbia, that saying can be changed to read

organized left-wing movement on
the political scene after a period
of illegality, to pledge the per-
manence of that emergence by
helping to launch a new party of
Communists,. and because they
knew that Tim Buck alone could
make clear to them a solutian of
the big problems faced by the
working people in the war and
in the peace to come. :

And they wouldn’t go home. Be-
fore the speaker had finished it
began to get dark. Usually, be-
tween the main speech and the
question period, some of the audi-
ence can be expected to leave, and
the daily press reporters present
were ready to join the exodus.
Instead, there occurred an incident
that testified more than anything
else to the confidence felt in the
Communist leader and the policies
he puts forward. Hundreds left
their seats in the stands, poured

(Continued on Page 8)

Labor To

Gov’t Defied
Sy Operators

Act

Showler. Leary
Rap Lumbermen

British Columbia’s logging and sawmill operators,
more concerned with maintaining their anti-labor, open
shop policy than in promoting better employer-employee
relations for increased production, have hurled a chal-
lenge at both the trade union movement and the labor
laws of the province and the Dominion, and organized
labor and the people of BC are going to accept that chal-
lenge. ;

Reaction this week to the joint staternent by 42 member firms
of the BC Loggers’ Association and the BC Lumbermen’s As-
sociation, representing the most powerful monopoly group in
the province, that they are going to stand behind the Queen
Charlotte Island operators’ refusal to enter into an agreement
with the International Woodworkers of America, has been one
of universal condemnation.

The operators’ statement, addressed to Labor Minister
Humphrey Mitchell, declared in effect that while they were
“willing” to sign bargaining agreements with “single unions
representative of the men” they would not sign with inter-
national unions. This was interpreted to mean their approval
of company “unions” and complete opposition to bona fide
unionism,

Recognizing in this development one of the most serious
challenged to the labor movement in many years, The People
this week interviewed six leading spokesmen in Wancouver.

Their opinions follow:
e@

B i rt S howle r and Labor Council: “The em-
ployers are being very foolish.

They have their own international organizations, yet they are

trying to stop their employees from enjoying the same privilege.

I think the ICA Act will give the men their rights. It is obvious

that employers like these are a detriment to the wellbeing of

the entire province.”
E E Lea ry Council, CCL: “The loggers’ and

“ . lumbermen’s associations are
only evading the question when they claim they will sign
agreements with ‘single unions’ but not with international
union representatives. If the union of the men’s choice happens
to be an international union and happens to have affiliations
with trade unions of our great ally, the United States, then their
position is very ambiguous. It looks to me as though the em-
ployers favor company ‘unions.’ ;
“All BC unions should stand on guard against fmk union
agreements. Every union in BC should stand behind the TWA
in its fight for union recognition. There can be no real col-
lective bargaining unless negotiated with representatives of the
union the workers freely choose to represent them.”

cil: “The press report of the meet-

J G C k P is E ce ing held by lumber operators rep-

resenting 42 companies is certainly contradictory, particularly
when we take into consideration their professed attitude for a
total war effort. I am convinced that if this attitude is pursued
we can look for a development in our lumber industry which
will not only curtail output but adversely atfect our war effort.
“The workers in the industry have met all the require-
ments of our labor legislation in arbitrating the dispute and are
now asking that the award be implemented. The position taken

President, Vancouver Trades

President, Vancouver labor

Alderman, Vancouver City Coun-

See LUMBERMEN—Page 2

FERGUS McKEAN

Provocation

ls Charged

“7 es action of the boss loggers
in BC endorsing the refusal
of the Queen Charlotte operators
to aecept the award of the govern-
ment arbitration board is an open
provocation to the 10,000 union
loggers and millworkers of BE
who have loyally and patiently.
striven for union recognition, with-
out interfering with production, for
two years,” declares Fergus Mc-
Kean, BC Communist leader, in a
press statement issued this week
“The lumber industry is the only
one in the province of any im-
portance where the principal of
collective bargaining has been de-
nied. The provocative POSition o£
the boss loggers is an insult te
organized labor, and in my opinion
the entire trade union movement
of the province should take im-
mediate action to exert pressure
on the provincial and federal gov-
ernments to preserve the right of
collective bargaining.”

Labor Demands
Price Rollback .

WASHINGTON, — Organized 1la-
bor in the United States served
notice -today it will demand re-
moval of Price Administrator Pren-
tiss Brown and scrapping of the
“Little Steel” wage formula if
prices are not rolled back to the
September 15, 1942, level as stipu-
lated by Congress and the admin-
istration.

oe!