By GEO, H. BROWN
The transformation of the B.C, Lum-
bera Worker inot a union bulletin, avail-
able for free mass distribution through-
out the woodworking industry of B.C.,
marks another advance of the organiza-
ial offensive of the B.C. Coast District

‘uncil,
true, many will regret, on first
thought, the new departure. The B.C,

Lumber Worker has a tradition; in its
Seven years of continuous publication,
it has had its up and downs, and always,
‘when need arose, our union brothers
in camp and mill have rallied willingly
tto pull our paper out of financial. dif-
ficulties. On the job, our delegates and
agents have “stuck out their necks” to
distribute it, often at the cost of their
job.
With what result?

So far, the B.C. Lumber Worker has
cireulated only amongst union support-
evs, Because of the vicious blacklist our
delegates in camp and mill dared to
solicit only known union sympathizers;

“in order fo sell the paper they were com-
pulled to expose themselves, with the re-
sull so many know—the blacklist. Be~
cause of this, our paper circulated only
amongst staunch union supporters; our
paper was shut off from the thirty thou-
sand or more unorganized men in the
camps and mills, the very men to whom
our paper was most needed.

Financially, the burden fell on the
shoulders of the same 2,000 to 3,000 loyal
supporters. All in all, instead of reach-
ing the 30,000 unorganized woodworkers

(Continued on Page 3)

Governor Olson
Steps In

April 3 two thousand employees of the
Red River Lumber Co., of Westwood,
California, comprising members of both
the C.L.O, and A-F\L, organizations, went
back to work this morning.

It is understood that Governor Olson
brought pressure to bear on the Red
River Lumber Co., which has resulted
in the reinstatement of all employees
until after the N.L.R.B. election, which
will decide which organization is to be
vecognized as the official bargaining
agent between company and union of-
ficials,

This brings to an end a long and
disgraceful period of brutal beatings and
vigilante persecutions; of gangster meth-
ods and inhuman outrages instituted by
the company in an effort to break the
strike.

Attention, Subscribers!

The business manager of the B.C.
Lumber Worker wishes to notify all sub-
seribers already on the books that they
will receive copies mailed directly to
them as usual, until they have received
the number of copies af present outstand-
ing on their paid up subscriptions.

BLUBBBER BAY STRIKE
DONATIONS, APRIL 4

Previously acknowledged .

$6,880.96
5.50

6

Stop Wages Without

~ Consulting Workers

Workers Urged to Investigate Closely Before Agreeing To
Latest Plan of Bosses

©

TWO MORE BLUBBER BAY
STRIKERS RELEASED

On March 23 last we had two very
welcome visitors to this office in the
persons of Joe Eng, and Lim Chung, who
were on that date released from Oakalla
Prison Farm after serving one hundred
days of sentences meted out to them
for their alleged manhandling of stal-
wart Provincial Police at Blubber Bay.
The boys were fat and sassy and
seem to be just as hard to scare as
ever, The ever genial Joe Eng reports
that they were not badly treated, and
that all the boys in Oakalla are full of
vim and vigor and in the best of
spirits, Joe and Lim were employed in
the laundry during their
“guests” of the government.

sojourn as

They report that the guards at) the
institution refer to the boys as “Reds,”
but more in facetiousness than any other
spirit, and many of them carry the con-
viction that the boys should not be thore
at all. Ronald MacDonald has been
made a “trusty.” A. Williamson, the
courageous ex-cop who beat up Robert
Gardner’ behind the protection of his
uniform and authority (and got six
months for his pain) is constantly pre-
dicting his release on parcis but, sur-
prisingly enough, there have been no

signs of it to date.

It has come to the attention of the
District Council that men shipping out ~
to Vancouver Bay Log. Co., have a charge
made against them of $190 per month.
This charge is made on the transporta-
tion slip before the men ever leave town
and is deducted from the pay cheque for
every ensuing month in which the man
may be in the employ of this company.

The legality of such a procedure is
very doubtful, Although it is a fact that ”
the mere act of signing on makes a man
a party to a contract which allows his
employer to deduct $1.00 per month for
hospital fees, the fact remains that the
man is not even consulted and really
has no voice in the matter. It always
seems a rather high-handed procedure
when some one nndertakes to appropri-
ate part of one’s cheque without deign-
ing to ask permission,

Without
from the good work which the Colu
Coast Mission is doing up and down
Coast, it would not be out of place to
suggest that caréful thought be ‘given to
this latest arbitrary move on the part
of the powers that be. Some of our unig
officials interviewed the superintend
of the Mission and learned some fact
that are worthy of a little serious con- *
sideration, In the first place comes the

very serious fact that the workers in-

volved were not consulted. In other

(Continued on Page 3)

.C. District Council Outlines New Policy

‘he quarterly conference of the B.C.,the industry. Since that time, however, ,culation would range from 5,000 to 10 The change to a bulletin will by no

Coast District Council was held in the
Miners’ Hall, Nanaimo, March 26,
Various questions were raised and
@iseussed. ‘The most important of these
was the B.C. Lumber Worker. For some
time it has been questionable whether
the B.C. Lumber Worker was fulfilling
its role as an organizer in the lumber-
_ ing industry of British Columbia.
‘This of course has been discussed pro
Peon very extensively by the execu-
and was discussed in the Nanaimo
in that Jight.
the B.C. Lumber Worker was
AS the official organ of our
" it was then the lumber workers’
“industrial union, with no International
affiliation, and, in fact had very little
m with the Eastern locals, with
exception of through the medium of
‘ ers’ Unity League to which is
At that time an of-
of the B.C, district was neces-

our union has gone through many or-
ganizational phases. First to the Brother-
hood of Carpenters and Joiners and
finally to the Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations, when the LW.A. was formed
in 1937,

In the last few years the results ac-
complished by our publication have not
met with the requirements demanded
by the council and the locals. Therefore
the conference, after a very broad discus-
sion, saw fit to change the policy to
meet the needs of the existing. condi-
tions within the industry. Up to the
present time, the Lumber Worker has
been distributed in numbers ranging
from 1,800 to 2,000 copies per week, at
all times reaching the same people, and
thousands of unorganized workers have,
as a result, been ignorant of a paper
known as the B.C, Lumber Worker.

Therefore it becomes imperative and
Vitally necessary to change the policy
50 as to serve a larger section of the
lumber workers within our district. To
do this the conference decided that it
‘would continue to publish the B.C, Lum-
ber Worker as a trade union bulletin

with free distribution, and that the cir-

kL

oe

000, according to the organizational
ability of distribution. Within a very
short time it is expected that we will
have facilities whereby we can distribute
anyhere up to 20,000 copies if it should
be necessary. The size of the bulletin
will also be increased should necessity
demand it.

It can readily be seen that the policy
carried out in this way will result in
reaching additional thousands of new
readers; and will also result in involving
additional thousands of hitherto unor-
ganized workers in our union,

The cost of distribution of this bulletin
will repay itself tenfold by securing the
active participation of the hundreds of
sympathetic and union conscious men
who have heretofore been practically un-
Imown to our union.

The cost involved in the distribution
of the paper under the old policy has
proved to be prohibitive, particularly in
the slack seasons in the industry.

In reviewing the financial statements
of our paper we find that there is a debt
of $873 which has been incurred since
the Iast financial drive for sustaining
funds was made in the spring of 1937.

means solve the financial problem, nor
will it liquidate the outstanding debts,
which have accumulated in the past two
years. There will be a referendum vote
sent out to all locals in connection with
the 10c per capita to be paid to the
B.C, Lumber Worker. This per capita
will not involve an additional levy on
the membership, but will be paid out of
the dues collected. This, however, will
ultimately become the main source of
finances to guarantee the publication
of our paper. It will require the active
cooperation from our members and locals,
to meet current expenses while, at ti
same time, our debt is being liquidat

The council wishes to express
gratitude and appreciation to the
dreds who have supported us i
past and hope that they will conti;
do so. To the membership at 1;
want to impress upon them ti
sity of cooperating with us in

policy and help us in every
sible to build our organization,
this {t will place us in a muel
position to fight for and win an
ized industry in B.C,