PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS h 1, No. 14 =ieS< 5 Cents | VANCOUVER, B.C., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1945 pint Union zed labor and the public : Labor Board’s refusal to 2st for a six cent wage in- se were being initiated by lt Railwaymen’s Union ad- y board at press time this inning to x Yrades and Labor APL) executive, the advis- board indicated that it i endeavor to arrange for at meeting of the TLC exe- with the Vancouver La- ‘Soumeil executive. on the Sth of an offer of support dint action by VLC Presi- &. E. Leary. Simultaneous- ne SRU~ board decided to ' wepresentatives of all % employees not in the SRU dist their support, and also ed to call a2 mass member- meeting for Saturday, jary 3, at which a full re- would be given the SRU ders: and possibly recom- ations from the joint ad- ‘'y board would be presented. ‘ORANDUM. ‘ vlier the board had released of a memorandum -sent to RU by F. BE. Harrison, west- fepresentative of the federal tment of labor, on the eth of which the board had ed its members to go back ork and make the new ap- aon to the RWILB which was rejected. The union claims its interpretation of the as being in the nature of a ise to the workers that their nds would be granted is cor- ated by its wording. = part of the memorandum /amplied the promise reads: la result of the conference evenings: with the advisory Uttee, the following pro- / was made to the employees © undersigned with the ap- el of the Hon. Humphrey tell’ minister of labor, and MacNamara, deputy minis- = labor, at Ottawa. The pro- is that the employees im- Coun- meet with Van- Conference rged As Solution In treetrailway Dis Efforts to bring the full pressure of all branches of or- for revision of the Regional grant the street railwaymen’s mediately return to work and make a new application to the] Labor Board of British Columbia for approval of Regional War adjustment of wage rates affect-. ing certain classes of labor, al- ready agreed to the pany, and for an increase in the by com- basic wage rate of 6-cents per hour. A previous ruling of the Regional War Labor Board had made a decision granting 414 cents per hour, which the union rejected.” : NEAR PROMISE Releasing the memorandum, Charles Stewart, advisory board chairman, declared: “The advis= ory board felt it had as near a promise as anyone could give. That is why we recommended that the men return to work. We wanted the public to have the service and we felt and still feel that the promise is implied in that memorandum. “We still feel that the evi- Gence we submitted was suffi- ciently strong to warrant us re- ceiving six cents increase. Our contention was backed up by Ar- thur MacNamara, deputy minis- ter of labor, who made the state- ment that our requests ‘were fair and reasonable.’ It was on that basis that the men returned | to work. “Having received such a docu- ment from the representatjye of the: federal department of labor, and wishing to cooperate with the minister of labor to the full- est extent, what else could we do but make such a recommenda- dion to. the members of our union.” The advisory board also in- tended to meet with members of Division 109, Victoria, at morn- ing and evening meetings Fri- day, and with Division 134 mem- bers in New Westminster on Saturday. tr es Terror Nazi Ranks Massive Red Army “Victory Offensive’” was smashing forward toward the heart of Nazi Germany this wee! and had reached within 40 miles of Berlin by press time according to gloomy and almost hysterical Nazi re- ports. Bearing out Soviet claims to have shattered Hitler’s eastern armies in Poland, the Red Army had advanced 80 miles in less than a week on a direct path toward Berlin from central Poland. In underground factories like this, British workers haye been producing war materiel for five long, bitter years. During that time their unions have increased membership by 50 percent. Above, in a century-old quarry, 100 feet under ploughed land in the English countryside, men and machines work day and night producing aero engines. Transcript Reaffirms Turner's Strike Stand What lies Jies behind the smokescreen of CCF phrasemong- ering against organized labors no-strike pledge emerged for all Canadians, and especially CCF supporters, to see in all its stark treachery this week. Recording of the question and answer period of the famous “Town Meeting, of the Air” ses- sion on the no-strike pledge, in whieh Arthur Turner, CCF MLA, launched his all-out attack on maintenance of the pledge, was played back to a group of trade unionists this week at station CJOR with both Turner and Tom MeEPwen, who defended: the pledge at the meeting, present The stenographic transcript of Turners reply to the question based on what would happen if a wave of strikes followed the CGF stand: “If the flow of sup- plies were stopped in wartime, [will our boys come back?” is a. damning indictment of CCF ir- responsibility and opportunist recklessness. “Tf the suppiies the war will stop, naturally.’ This was bad enough. It is an admission of what is the mean- ing and purpose of the no-strike tledge; and it is an admission of what would be the result of CCF policy. The audience indicated jmmediately by their spontane- ous condemnation that they un- derstood that the “cat” had been let out of the “bag.” Turner obviously realized his “mistake” immediately as well. are stopped With millions of German refugees crowding the roads to escape the fury of war, no Sign had appeared that Hit- ler’s transference of troops from the western front had any appreciable effect in stemming the tide of Soviet victory. While German broad- casts hollowly threatened a last-ditch stand in the streets of the capital, evidence was accumulating that the Nazi Vollc. Ksturim “reserves” of old men and youngsters were proving at least ineffective if not a prob- lem in discipline. : ; WESTERN OFFENSIVE Meanwhile indications were that , General Wisenhower was moving his forces into position for a full-scale offensive in the west to take advantage of Ger man withdrawal of forces for the eastern front and to squeeze the Germans in the pincers of all- out two front warfare. ~~ i Other moves on the flaming. eastern front, which. were as- sisting in accelerating the “hor- rid fate in the east” referred to by Hitler in his last anniversary speech of his coming to power, ineluded the rapid capture of all of East Prussia’ where Konigs- berg, capital, was surrounded, and adyances in the Carpathian Mountains in‘ southern Poland. In central Slovakia the Red Army was also advancing rapid- ly and attacks were progressing: in Silesia across the Oder River. EVIDENT DISSENSION No sign of a political crackup in Germany had yet apeared de- spite the many rumors of peace moves. but reference to possibili— ties of a “stab in the back” in. Hitler’s speech was taken to mean that the Nazis were being confronted with evidence of dis— sension. The Allies were appar- ently also attempting to hasten this with leaflets urging Ger- mans to realize that uncondi- tional surrender would prove much preferable to continuing the. war. BIG THREE MEET Definite indications that the “Big Three” meet was in session were given in the evident ab- sence of Roosevelt and Churchill from their respective capitals, end in the announced movements of diplomatic “higher-ups” in Italy and the Middie Bast. Pos- sibility was seen that the Allied Jeaders would have their de- cisions on the major item they are expected to deal with— final —CGontinued on Page 8. — Continued on Page 8.