@:z: B.C, LUMBER WORKER @ Page Three LETTERS Sawmill News “Every Reader a Correspondent” REPORTS "SAWDUST ‘By GREEN-CHAIN PETE Here it is time for the paper to go to press and me with no Chips or Sawdust. The editor is about to break a blood vessel be- - cause he says that he has a dead- line to make, Editors are funny that way, always worrying about _ something, especially if you don’t get copy in on time. You know everything that happens around this IWA is always so big that it ‘makes headlines and that is not the best thing for someone like me who is trying to make an honest living out of the small things in life. Take this QCI strike, for in- stance. This is just about the big- gest thing that the labor movement has had to face for some time. There is the whole question of collective bargaining at stake, not only for the loggers but for all labor. It has got to be won! Don’t forget either that you are going to have to help, ‘The way the boys in the shingle mills are going to town on this organization business is big news too, but the editor missed this _ time, maybe he is slipping. They tell me that there is not one mill now that he has not got at Teast a few IWA members and most of them are well on the way _ to the one hundred percent mark. ‘They'll make it too, if I know my _ shingle workers. ____ I notice that Sitka Spruce is not in the headlines this week but that does not mean that they are not on the job, According to all reports they are not slacking off at all ___ but rather increasing the tempo of their campaign. They expect to go for certification to at the end of the three month period required by _ the ICA Act. While I was sitting here trying to think up something to write someone came in and whispered ve the job that the boys at Robert- ‘son & Hackett are doing in the way of organizing. Apparently the mem- bership there is really growing. From all accounts it is badly need- Go ahead, boys. the IWA has program that can do a real job these cases. mennsenenseneeeessees MONEY TO LOAN 4 ‘Men’s Suits, Overcoats, Log- ¢ Boots and Sleeping Bags 4 Francisco Tailors } WEST HASTINGS ST. ¢ rs West of Beacon Theatre } neeeeesessssesenes Workers, Lab-| eee tiets at the CAFE Ltd. ere All Union People Eat OF TASTY MEALS there are already seven mills in B.C. working on this basis. In one plant where the management re- fused to grant the 44 hour week the employees took it upon them- selves and are now, in spite of the Management’s refusal, working only 44 hours each week. Recently the crew at the Boun- dary Road Mill instructed the union to apply for certain adjust- ments in the wage scale and also for~a guarantee for Sawyers and Packers. The Company in the meantime, contrary to their de- clared policy of discussing such matters with the union, applied to the Regional War Labor Board and received permission to grant certain changes. However, the re- sult was unsatisfactory to the men and they have again instructed the union to proceed with the Brief to the Board requesting further ad- justments on a more fair basis. The Boundary Road crew is scheduled to go into arbitration ‘on the question of a signed union agreement in the very near future. The application has been made to the Minister of Labor for such a Eburne Crew Organizes The latest Vancouver Sawmill to really get under way with a real organizational drive is the Eburne Mill in Marpole. The men there have established a good shop stew- ard committee which meets regu- larly to discuss problems regard- ing organization. Growth of the or- _ that I mustn’t forget to mentionyganization in this mill has been almost phenomenal in that, within the short period the committee has been active they have been instru- mental in signing up a good per- centage of the crew. Brother George Pulling, International Rep- resentative, reports that, within the near future, the fifty-one percent required for certificafion will have been obtained. When in VANCOUVER Stop at COLUMBIA ' HOTEL LICENSED PREMISES 303 Columbia Avenue MAr. 3757 Red Band Shingle Crew Seeks 44 Hour Week Last Week the employees of Bloedel Stewart and Welch Red Band Shingle Company at Boundary Road, members of IWA Local 1-217 voted 85 to 5 for a 44 hour week. The vote was taken after the Union Bargaining Committee had attempted to negotiate the matter with the management, the manage- ment refusing to believe that a 44 hour week was desired by the crew. This is not a precedent in the Shingle industry as it was learned recently that@ Board and Mr. Jack Price has been nominated by the crew as their representative on the Board. Retroactive order. The Chinese Brothers took the matter up with the Union who Production, tailed. operations to the extent Alberni Plywoods Cuts| The Alberni Plywoods (McMillan) two weeks ago cur- Considerable dislocation was caused due to the fact that many of the people working in the plant had been recruited from the Prairie Provinces and the interior of British Columbia. Among the various reasons given for the lay-off, none of which were substantiated, were shortage of shipping space, shortage of logs 121 Laid Oft of a lay-off of 121 employees. Pay For Chinese in Circle “F” Another victory for the Chinese Brothers in the IWA was won last’ week when word was received from the’ Regional War Labor Board that they had ordered payment of retro- active increases to all oriental laborers employed in the Shingle mill at Canadian Western Lumber Company, to February. 4th. The equal pay for equal work was ordered by the Board quite some time ago and the Company failed to comply with the immediately took tthe matter be- fore the Board who have now ef- fected a satisfactory settlement. . A similar case, a few months ago on the Island, resulted in several thousands of dollars back wages being collected for oriental work- ers. Equal pay for equal work has been definitely. established, not only as a principle by the Board, but this requirement is a part of every order of the Board. Infrac- tions of this principle should be re- ported to the union office as the matter can be straightened around. and the necessity on the part of the. Selective Service to place more people in the Aircraft Industry. In a mass protest meeting in the city of Port Alberni the citizens, including many employees at the plant and in other saw mill oper- ations, attacked the Government and management for failing to take the workers into their confidence. As a result of the lay-off a large number of the Plywood workers were signed into tthe union, IWA Local 1-85 and a drive is now un- derway to get the plane one hun- dred percent organized. The em- ployees feel that the best assurance against the recurrence of the situ- ation is a signed union agreement between the Company and the IWA. 2 When “No. 151 Wing, R.A.F.” left Murmansk, after spending some months on special duty, based at Viango aerodrome, two English Hurricanes dashed in and out of the clouds. They were piloted by Maj. Gen. Kuznetzov, commander of Russian air forces in that sector, and by Safonov, the great Russian air-ace, in a farewell gesture of friendship and good- will which was a god omen for the future. Hastings Steam Baths 164 EAST HASTINGS ST. _ Government Registered Masseurs in Attendance J, WEPSALA, Prop. Also Agent for... Norwegian and Swedish American Steamship Lines High, 6240 ALWAYS OPEN MODERN and OLD-TIME DANCING EVERY WED. AND SAT. All Modern Every Friday. Hastings Aulitorium 828 Kast Hastings MODERATE RENTAL RATES LABOR DEP’T TO CERTIFY AERO MANAGEMENT WILL NEGOTIATE Negotiations with Aero Timber | Products for a union agreement covering their nine Queen Char- lotte Islands operations appeared a step nearer today following an announcement by Ernie Dalskog, secretary of IWA-CIO Local 1-71, that an arrangement had been worked out with the Federal De- partment of Labor for the appoint- ment of a government commis- sioner to certify the Local’s right to represent the Aero crews as the legal collective bargaining agency. Manager R. Filberg of Aero Timber Products agreed to negotiate with the union committee, which in- cluded Ernie Dalskog, District President Harold Pritchett and In- ternational Board Member Nigel Morgan as soon as he is officially advised Local 1-71 properly repre- sents the employees. Appointment of the commissioner by the Federal Department of Labor is expected early next week. Previously Local 1-71 had sought certification from the Provincial LIGHT CRUISERS Always the BEST ° Ask for them in the A, W. JOHNSON & CO. 63 West Cordova St. JOHNSON’S Department of Labor, but was ad- vised recently by Minister of Labor Pearson, that as Aero Timber Prod- ucts was a “crown company,” oper- ated by the government, it came under the jurisdiction of the Fed- eral Department. The fact that Aero is a govern- ment operated company, brings it under the provisions of Order-in- Council PC 10802 which provides: an obligation on the company to comply with the government-de- clared policies of recognition of the proper bargaining agency with ~ a view to the conclusion of a col- lective agreement. PC 10802 sup- ports the union demands and should be the means of obtaining a regular contract, as has been done . in other industries. LONDON — Of the 33,000,000 people in Great Britain between the ages of 14 and 65, 25 million are employed in the war effort, either in the armed services or in industry.