Official Publication Internationa] Woodworkers of America,, B.C. District Council No. 1

Vol. XIV. No. 21.

VANCOUVER, B.C., OCTOBER 8, 1945.

(354)

8 Hour Day Now Est
Interior Lumber Operations

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Pickets on the job at the Ford auto plant in Windsor, Ontario.
President of Local 195, UAW, and Liberal-Labor MPP for Essex-North. Beside him is Roy Eng.

land, President of Local 200.

Workers and picket lines have been established on a 24-hour
gates, to prevent strike breakers and thugs fromentering the

On the left was Alex Parent,

The fight for union security is spearheaded in the strike of the Ford
basis at each of the company’s 11
plant.

Ford Strikers On “Front Line’’
In Battle For Union Security

As 11,000 Ford Motor Company strikers enter their

third week in their battle to

break down the feudal Ford

system of labor relations, support is assuming national pro-
portions. AFL, CIO, CCL and Independent unions quickly
recognize this strike as the biggest and most decisive battle
to determine the whole future of post-war unionism and

working conditions.

Picketing of the sprawling 245-
acre plant has assumed mass
proportions, with over 1,000 pic-
kets at the main gates in the
early morning hours. Picketing is
organized by shifts, with gates
picketed seven days a week, 24
hours a day. No workers are
appearing to report for work,
and office workers last week left
their lunches to pickets and went
home. Top company officials
have been unable to gain ad-
mission into the plant, and war-
rants for violation of a section
of the Criminal Code have been
issued to at least one picket.

‘The Canadian Congress of La-

————
bor special committee conferred
in Windsor and issued a state-
ment urging the Government to
enact labor legislation making it
impossible for anti-labor mon-
Opolies to flout the legitimate de-
mands of labor. At the same
time, the CCL Committee is act-
ing to mobilize its 250,000 org-
anized workers for full financial
and moral support to striking
Ford workers. Many AFL unions
have indicated support, and the
Essex County Building Trades
Council will not pass the picket
lines, thus holding up any work
which may be contemplated in
connection with the half-million

dollar addition to the
Plant.

Windsor merchants have in-
serted half-page ads in the local
Press indicating their full sup-
Port to the strikers and going
on record as seeking the main-
tenance of wartime take-home
pay as the only means of con-
tinuing prosperity in the city. A
Citizens Committee has been
organized, embodying the local
elergy, business and professional
men. Citizens of every walk of
life have lined up in this struggle
to avoid Windsor becoming a
ghost town.

The officers of the B.C. Feder-
ation of Labor are calling a
delegate conference for Sunday,
October 14, at 10:00 a.m. in the
Boilermakers Hall, to set up a

Ford

Windsor Strike Committee to
mobilize financial and moral
support,

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blished

Victory For IWA.
Clears Road For

Interior Contracts

The International Woodworkers of America has scored
another victory with respect to hours of work in the indus-
try. Cancellation of regulation No. 1 which permitted hours
in excess of eight hours per day and the 48-hour week
in the interior will come into effect October 31, 1945. This
means that after that date the lumber industry throughout

the entire Province will be on

Broad Group

: Meets Cabinet

A broad delegation. represent-
ing labor, veteran, civic, church
and business organizations, ar-
rived in Ottawa last Monday and
met with the Cabinet to press
for inclusion of labor’s four point
program and reconversion plans
of federal authorities.

The delegation, which includes
official representatives of the
provincial government and civic
administrations, is asking for the
establishment of a 40-hour maxi-
taum working week, with no re-
duction in take home pay; imme-
diate reconvening of the Do-
minion - Provincial Conference;
severance pay for laid off war
workers and maintenance of the
shipbuilding industry in B.C.

Unanimous agreement on la-
bor’s program marks a distinct
victory in maintaining pressure
for realization of a united front
for labor, government, and man-
agement in directing an appeal
to Federal authorities. Since the
Vancouver Labor Council first
called the great mass meeting in
Capilano Stadium, close on the
heels of the first big layoff, the
trade union movement has taken
the initiative in fighting for im-
plementation of a realistic pro-
gram to meet the situation.

Veteran organizations, quick
to realize the importance of
maintaining a close alliance with
organized labor in this crucial
period, have consistently sup-
ported labor in its demands. De-
cision of the provincial govern-
ment to pay expenses to three
labor, one veteran and the min-
isterial association delegates to
the meeting with Ottawa offi-
cials, as well as financing a rep-
|zesentative from the provincial
government is to be highly com-
mended and marks an additional

victory for labor.

the same basis.

The action of the Industrial
Relations Board came as a re-
sult of official hearings in the
cities of Penticton, Kelowna,
Vernon, Kamloops and Prince
George, in which the Interna-
tional Woodworkers of America
argued in favor of the eight-
hour day and the forty-eight
week being instituted east of the
Cascades,

With the passage of this order
all obstacles are removed for the
signing of industry wide agree-
ments for many certified opera-
tions under the jurisdiction of
the six interior IWA Locals. The
employers in the past contended
that such agreement could not
be entered into unless they em-
bodied a fifty-four hour week.

Three Killed;
Toll Now 37

The death toll in B.C. lum-
ber this week rose to 87.
Andy Griffin, hooktender at
the Oscar Nei-
37

mi Camp, and
popular mem-

Woodworkers | ber of the
have been IWA, was kill-
Killedin BC’s | ed September

_ lumber in- | 29, when a sap-
dustry since

ling struck
him.

A belated report was received
this week by the “Lumber
Worker” of the death of An-
drew O. Alain, chokerman at the
Oscar Niemi’s logging camp at
Britain River. Alain was set-
ting chokers when a log rolled
and crushed his foot, He died
a month later, June 19th, from
a blood clot in the lung.

An’ old-time, well-known mem-
her of the IWA, Alex Bialobrocki
was killed in Kelly's Camp,
Church Creek, Q.CL., _ while
working on a cold deck pile. A
log slipped and crushed his
chest on October 5 at 2:30 pan.

Jan. 1, 1945