Page 2 — April 21 £ 1945 HERBERT GARGRAVES CCF MLA and delegate to the Westminster Vancouver - New Trades and labor GCF, inferring that none was received by him personally. Council, claims the B.C. section of the CGF did receive $300 from the Toronto headquarters of the Inion a A Stee tee x 23 lworkers Protest Paymen sa i To The logical result of the kind of labor political action advocated by C. H. Millard, Canadian director of the United Steelworkers of America, and other leading CCF trade unionists, was revealed this week in the startling disclosure»by local union officials of the USW that Millard has been pay- ing union funds to the CCF for political purposes over a consid- erable period of time. The story broke this week in the Vancouver Sun when Coray Campbell, president of local $207, United Steel Workers, and secretary of the USWA_ sub- distriet council ~presented the newspaper with information re- vealinge that money had been paid out of union funds to Her- bert Gargraves, CCF-MLA, for “sromotion of relationships be- tween the CCF and labor.” Campbell was acting on behalf of the executive members of a number of USWA locals who are protesting the diverting of union funds for political purposes without their knowledge. ‘According to the Sun story, information concerning political use of union funds had ‘come into the hands of USWA members in March. At a special meeting of 35 executive members represent- ing nine local unions, it was de- cided to forward evidence in the matter to Philip Murray, inter- national president and head of ihe CIO, with a request that he institute an investigation. Presi- dents of four USWA locals in Vancouver—lL. C. Dafoe, Local 3229; A. Port, Local 2655; A. period of time. knowledge of the locals. directly have occurred. Partisanship — LL honest Trade Unionists will be astounded and indignant at the evident skulduggery revealed in a report carried in the Vancouver Sun this week. The re- port reveals that funds of the United Steelworkers have been used to finance the activities of the CCF, over a long Protest of the Steelworkers locals in Wancouver is adequate evidence that payments were made without the Statements issued by C. H. Millard, National Direc- tor of Steel, member of the CCF National Executive, and H. Gargraves CCF MLA to whom money was paid, are contradictory. Millard paid to Gargraves personally; Gargraves that the money ‘was turned over to the BC executive of the CCF. The story as revealed on this page is a sordid one. Above all things it points to the disastrous results that logically accrue from a policy of attempting to tie the trade union movement to the tail of the CCF. It reveals the unscrupulous and partisan aims of the CCF leadership, their insane desire to capture and control unions irrespective of method or affect either on the Trade Union concerned or organized Labor as a whole: If the Steelworkers had followed a policy of non- partisan political action, these shameful events would not It is evident that Steel must clean house, and set up their organization along non-partisan lines, not only in the interest .of their own union, but in the interests of the whole Trade Union movement. states the money was # Kemp, Local 3302; and Campbell, were authorized by the meeting to forward the letter to Murray. When Murray gave no imme- Giate reply as to what action was intended, rank and file mem- bers, by now aware of the gen- eral situation, began pressing for action. The story was then given to the press as a2 means of re?- istering protest and to ‘forestall further use of union monies for similar purposes. ; Truth of the charges laid by the USWA members locally was tacitly substantiated by state— ments from both Milard and Gargraves which, though contra- dictory, conceded that union funds had been earmarked for CCF purposes. On the basis of | their statements, and of the facts presented to the Sun by Coray Campbel, the. following picture emerged: @ ‘That copies of letters be- tween the Vancouver office of the union and C. H. Millard in- dicated that money had been paid to Gargraves. @ That the special USWA committee which asked for an investigation by Phillip Murray is In possession of a photostatic copy of a check for $100 made cut to James “Shakey” Robert- son and signed by “James Rob- ertson, in trust,” at least $90 of which was given to Herbert Gar- graves, provincial CCE Trade Union Director, for organizing purposes. @ That the Vancouver mem- bership of the USWA, number- ing some 850, had been given no report of the disposition of a special fund of $19,000, estab- lished for political action work, despite a decision that this money was to be used according to the wishes of the members. Campbell expresses the fear that if the policy 6f giving money to the CCF is being followed in British Columbia. then the same situation may exist in other provinces. The statements of both Mil- lard and Gargraves agree in one essential—_that money was taken from USWA funds and handed to the CCF. They disagree, how- ever, as to how the money was handled. Gargraves claims the B.C. sec- tion of the €CF did receive some $300 from the Toronto headquar- ters of USWA in 1943, inferring that tione was received by him personally. Millard declares that ‘no money was paid directly to the CCF.” It was paid to Gargraves personally “as an individual to promote relationships between the CCF and labor, and also as a general educational chairman.” No steelworker here recalls seeing Gargrayes’ name men- tioned as an official educational chairman of the union, nor can any recall his having been offi- cially listed on the union pay- roll. : Unique feature of the situation lies in the fact that Gargraves, while receiving money to pro- a: miote the “interests” of the Unit- ed Steel Workers, a Ganadian Congress of Labor affiliate, is at the same time a member of the API, Painters and Decora- tors Union, and is a delegate from that union to the Vancou- ver Trades and Labor Council. Meantime an attempt to force the resignation of Campbell as secretary of the USWA sub-dis- trict council at a meeting this week failed to suceed because of lack of a two-thirds majority vote. Pen Baskin, a member of the council, tried to in- terpret this as indicating that Campbell, in issuing his state- ment to the Sun, had not been authorized. The fact, however, that L. Dafoe, A. Port and A. Kemp, all presidents of local unions, voted with Campbell at Beas. mt the meeting indicates that he speak for a good section of membership. - ee “T- have never claimed [ — speaking on behalf of the ed Steel’ Workers in this mat: Gampbell later declared. “RB think I spoke in the interest: the majority of steelwor. across the Dominion when {- posed what I consider the proper use of union funds? The actions of Millard in whole affair are seen as a tural outcome of his policie;: the unions. As national ch man of what remains of the litical Action Committee of CCL, he was responsible for move which committed PAG partisan support of the CGH, - led to withdrawal of most of major unions from the comm) early this year. From sw ing the PAC-CCL to suppor one party, to providing mc for that party out of union fn is seen as a logical sequel, Millard’s Record Show Grounds For Action The news that funds Of the United Steel Worker America have been paid out by C. H. Millard to the CC} British Columbia comes as no surprise to labor men ac Canada who have watched the relatively short career of Canadian director of the USWA in the labor movemen It was just two months ago that Millard was elected by national referendum to the position he holds by a narrow margin of votes, after having held the posi- tion for several years previously by mere right of appointment. That appointment as Ganadian director of the USWA followed a short term as Canadian direc- tor of the United Automobile Workers of America, which posi- tion he lost when Homer Martin, UAW international president, was ousted from office by the GIO at the demand of the membership. Millard, for various reasons, Was then made director of the USWA for Ganada. At the time of the appointment, the biggest steel locals—in Sydney, Trenton, Algoma and Oshawa—had already been organized. The big job be- fere him was to organize Gana- da’s steel industry—estimated to employ some 125,000 workers. In- stead he apparently busied him- self building a personal machine by appointing organizers account- able to the national office, and by 1944 had staffed the USWA with 38 field organizers and repres- entatives, the biggest machine of any union in the country. Had this powerful machine been used to get out into the field and organize the unorganized, the situation in the steel industry would have been vastly different than it is. What actually result- ed became the scandal of the trade union movement as well as the union. With 75,000 steel’ workers allegedly covered by union con- tract, the monthly average of dues paying members in 1944 was only some 23,000 at most, very little more than when Millard was given the job. The union books show that: | December 1, 1942, to Novey’ 30, 1948, Millard’s office = $228,013—more than a que | of a million dollars — yet - USWA gained only a seatt few local unions, mainly in important areas. As a basis of comparison United Automobile Workers, — only 14 organizers in the — and with an expenditure of than $100,000, grew to be biggest union in Canada, Some 52,000 members. Meantime, with his positic © director made reasonably se Millard busied himself with 7) ties, becoming one of the nat | leaders of the CGF and a mei of the Ontario legislature, 2 leading CGF trade unionist — was one of those responsible the deal which committed the nadian Congress of Labor in - to support the CCF as the “ | tical arm” of labor, though : ferendum among the GCL m1 bership as a whole would resulted in rejection of | policy. sre His entire trade union Té has been distinguished by Such moves. It was these which prompted thousands steel workers to vote against in the recent referendum. Vancouver, for example, hi ponent, George MacNeil of ney, N.S., carried the vot nine of the 15 USWA locals. ” story was repeated in Sever the largest locals in Eastern | ada. But in this year’s electic Millard machine was too ha. beat. The story may not b Same next time.