THE'BC. LUMBER WORKER. December 31, 1945 Interior Activities FROM CRANBROOK, NELSON, PRINCETON, KELOWNA, KAMLOOPS AND PRINCE GEORGE > aa Cranbrook Hearings To Commence About Jan. 15 CRANBROOK, B.C.—According to word received here last week the Concilaition Board established to hear evidence in the dispute between the Cranbrook Cartage and Transfer Co. Ltd. and the International Woodworkers of America, Local 1-405, will com- mence hearings here on or about the fifteenth of January. The Board members are: for the union—Harvey Murphy, International Representative of the IUMM&SW (CIO); for the company—Mr. Falkin of Cranbrook. The chairman of the Board will be Mr. Charles Little, well-known merchant of the city of Cranbrook. Improvements Gained At Aleza Lake To the Editor: The Press Committee of our local would like to have the fol- lowing article accepted in the next edition of the Lumber Wor- ker. The active job stewards at the S.B. Trick Lumber Mill and Log- ging Camp are pleased to re- port a 100 percent enrollment and 100 percent cooperation “among the brothers and manage- ment, The food is #Me and living conditions, especially at the mill, are good. A bathhouse with shower is now under construction at the camp. Through the efforts of the Social Committee, dances, etc., are being put on to establish a sub-local fund which will also enable, representatives to attend head local meetings besides sub- local entertainment. We will have more to report when the camp reopens after a temporary shutdown. ALLAN PURDUE, Aleza Lake, B.C. LOGGERS For a Good, Reliable TAXI Phone VERNON 190 Kal Taxi (Bob Carswell) 21 Eighth St. Res. Phone 515 VERNON, B.C. GOOD LUCK TO THE IWA-CIO { See Us for... Johnson “ARCH-KING” LOGGER BOOTS e The Skeena Mercantile MeA George peenen Fren ————————— Seeretae. ee EE Genuine MSA Skullgards Molded For Safety FI iv’ en ce al TARE ALE The dispute arose last spring when the company refused to agree to the union’s demand for the forty-eight-hour week, all the other union demands were agreed to. Later, under concilia- tion proceedings the company agreed to the hours of work clause but were prohibited from signing by the Interior Lumber Manufacturers Association of which the company is a member. The establishment of the con- ciliation board, which has now been set up, was withheld at that time pending a ruling by the Board of Industrial Relations on the eight hour day, in hopes that such ruling would settle the dis- pute. The company, through the Association, however, still refus- ed to sign and the union was re- quired to request the minister to establish a board. The outcome of this case will no doubt be of great importance in the settlement of similar dis- putes which exist between the IWA Local 1-405 and some sev- enteen other companies in the East Kotenay and Crow’s Nest Pass Districts and also have an effect on the progress in other parts of the Interior. The case for the union will be presented by E. Dalskog, Inter- national Board Member for IWA District No. 1 and Bert Melsness, IWA Special Representative, who has been working in the Interior for the past three months. The ease for the company will be presented by J. H. Ruddick, per- sonal relations officer of the Ca- nadian Manufacturers Associa- tion. Enderby Members Stick Close During Shutdown To the Editor: c The IWA is getting a good foothold in our logging industry. We have a good percentage of the camps signed up, and are now waiting for the certifica- tions to be put through. Our Sawmill has been closed for the winter, but the IWA members are still turning out to the meet- ings and there is not one mem- ber behind in his dues, Some of our members go back to farm- ing during the winter, others go out to the camps; but they are all keenly interested in the jobs ahead, mainly the union shop to Insure good working conditions, fair wages, and to have a smooth functioning crew, 3 I guess that’s all we have fo1 the present. We'll be back with a better letter next time. long, brothers. J. DUGALE. Press Agent, Enderby Sub-Local. Is It Union Made? By S. LAPEDES, National Representative United Garment Workers of America Members of your organization, when purchasing garments, should know some of the facts connected with producing the shirts, trousers or overalls we wear. Report No. 26 of the Dominion Department.of Labor (Wage Rates and Hours of Labor in Canada, 1948) is a shocking condemna- tion of the low wages prevailing in the work clothing and shirt industry. . The national average wage rate for work clothing machine operators is $17.77 per week and drops as low as $14.76 in Quebec towns for a 48-50 hour work week. On shirts, the sewing machine operator’s national average for the whole of Canada is 34c per hour with a drop to, 25¢ per hour in other Quebec centres for a 48-50 hour work week. Now the Government also tells us that these wage rates of 25e and 34c per hour include a 40.8 increase for work clothing workers and 35.9 increase for shirt workers since 1939. ee Just figure it out—what magnificent wages we had in 1939! Getting back to normal will mean returning to starvation wages. Now, we all agree that there is very little to be proud of in the wages paid to shirt and work clothing workers or their work- ing. conditions. Millions of garments bought and paid for by union men and women are being produced under inhuman, sweatshop conditions. The assembly-line production system is now’ being introduced and will still further increase the profits of the manufacturers. Members of labor unions and women’s auxiliaries can help immensely by insisting on the Unon Label whenever purchasing shirts, pants, overalls, windbreakers and leather jackets. It isn’t enough to ask, “Is it Union Made?” Ask to be shown the emblem of free labor—the Union Label. Your well-being as citizens of Canada depends on the earnings of other people and, as long as there are many thousands of Cana- dian working people who work for a pittance, your own wage standards are in danger. If Union Label “stock” does not go up, your wages will come down. Five New Locals To Send Fifteen Delegates Five new IWA Locals in the interior of B.C. have elected their delegates for the Ninth Annual District Convention to be held in Vancouver on January 4, 5 and 6, Local 1-405 at Cranbrook is the only interior Local established before the 1945 Convention. Delegates credentials submitted to the District Office are as fol- lows: Local 1-417, Kamloops, B.C., Wm. S. Lynch, Mike Serora and Carl Hagensen; Local 1-418, |— sat 5 old Latrielle and A Princeton, Harol ie] Extend Film Board Service Walter G. Smith; Local 1-243, F. M. Fulton, J. Dugdale and D. The National Film Board is anxious to establish contacts Gallacher; Local 1-424, M. Frey- linger, August Newman, F. Pet- throughout the interior for the purpose of showing films to rural zinger, A. E. Papke and Grant Bunce; Local 1-425, George Ar- audiences. IWA locals are asked to give all assistance possible. gatoff and W. Langmead. Cre- The following are a few facts dentials for local 1-405 had not about the National Film Board. arrived at press time. That NFB has trained enough projectionists to enable a Volun- Netherlands Suffer Since the month of March, 1945, 8 out of 10 newborn babies in the Netherlands have died Soj from starvation. Every day in Rotterdam over 400 persons die of starvation and want. The province of Utrecht, Neth- erlands, has had no stove gas since October 25, 1944, and the neighboring province of Gelber- land has gone without gas elec- tricity since September 19, 1944. In order to escape death by starvation, Dutch people are still compelled to feed on tulip bulbs. P.O, Box 158 The Most Complete Store in the Interior For LUMBER WORKER'S to Outfit is W. D. MacKENZIE & SON (Bill MacKenzie) VERNON, B. Phone 155 a eee ENO teer Projection Service to oper- ate in at least 60 urban commun- ities, Volunteers from National service organizations are thus able to show films on subjects of community interest. The Preview Library of the National Film Board contains ap- proximately 700 flms which may be obtained for circulation by national organizations. In ad- dition to Canadian productions, the library keeps prints of Bri- tish and American films of spe- cial interest to Canadians. Improved methods of farming developed at Department of Ag- riculture experimental farms are demonstrated in films shown to audiences on the National Film Board Rural Circuits. Plans Made For Japanese Return Home | ¥ederal Minister of Labor, Hon. Humphrey Mitchell arrived in Vancouver last week to initi- ate final arrangements for de- portation of a large part of the country’s Japanese population to their native land. Armed with authority’ by Order-in-Council announced in the House of Com- mons last Tuesday, Mr. Mitchell will issue instructions for the following classification of Japa- nese subject to deportation: 1. Japanese Nationalists who have applied for repatriation. 2. Naturalized Canadians of Japanese origin who have simi- larly applied. 8. Canadian born Japanese who have requested deportation to the land of their parents. i Troopships Not For Gl's SAN FRANCISCO (FP). — How real is the shortage of ships which the War Shipping Admin- istration claims is holding up the return of thousands of high- point GIs from overseas? Just about as real as those scare ‘headlines blaming all the world’s headaches on labor strikes, ac- cording to two enterprising re- porters from The Dispatcher, newspaper of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehouse- men’s Union (CIO), The two uniori men were aboard the SS Mormactern Noy. 30, the night before it left for Argentina and three days be- fore 90,000 maritime union mem- bers staged a 24-hour strike to protest government delays in get- ting the GIs home. Morris Watson and Dick Merrifield pick up the story from here: ARGENTINA JAUNT “The SS Mormactern sailed for fascist Argentina at 12:55 a.m. Dec. 1 in an atmosphere of complete embarrassment. ‘The ship was once equipped to carry 1,500 troops. She brought 400 from the Pacific in October. But today she had the more import- ant business of carrying socialite Marcia Gerstle to Buenos Aires to visit relatives, and her decks were not lined with happy sol- diers coming home, but covered with drums of kerosene for the land of the Colonel’s lodge. “No ships capable of carrying troops have been diverted to com- mercial purposes, says the WSA. That’s what WSA said, but away sailed the Mormactern this morn- ing to pick up more passengers and cargo at San Pedro and then head for the Panama Canal, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.” Anglo U.S. Loan LONDON. — The well known columnist, Mr. Arthur Krock, makes the following interesting commentary on- the Anglo-U.S. loan. He points out that the total amount involved represents only the cost of waging the recent war for about fifteen days. While that money was all for destruc- tive purposes, this is to construct a free and productive world econ- omy.