THE BC.

Representing the Organized Loggers and Lumberworkers ot Britivs. Columbia
Published Every Second Monday By
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO)
DISTRICT COUNCIL NO, 1
22,000 copies printed this week

Subscription Rate: $1.00 per year
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Editor: B. J. MELSNESS Advertising: MATT FEE
Room 504 Holden Building—Phone PAcific 4151—Vancouver, B.C.
Authorized as Second Class Mail, Postofice Dept., Ottawa.

e.
‘The deadline for the coming issue is 4 p-m.
Thursday, May 9

May Day Greetings

the organized workers of Canada and ‘the world, the Inter

national Woodworkers of America again takes great pleasure
in extending the warmest fraternal greetings on this, the first
peaceful May Day in six years. May Day is traditionally a day
on which workers review their achievements and defeats of the
past and, looking ahead, rededicate themselves to greater efforts
in the struggles that are their heritage.

By uniting in the past, labor has raised
position of drudgery and apparent helplessness
look forward with hope to a world of freedom from the
fears of persecution which are being overcome. During the
war period, labor sacrificed many things to help bring about
the defeat of fascism and among them, their traditional May
Day demonstrations. This year all over the world, May Day will
be celebrated on May 1, and in Vancouver particularly, . the
workers are being asked to turn out and march in support of
labor's present program.

For the International Woodworkers of America, May Day
this year is more significant than it has been for many years.
This May Day finds the IWA leading the struggle for wages,
jobs and security for the workers of the Dominion of Canada.
The District Council has therefore issued a call to all members
to show their solidarity and determination to win, by marching
in the May-Day parade.

This year, too, May Day in Vancouver has a double signifi-
cance, It is the 60th anniversary of two great events; the winning
of the shorter working day and the founding of the City of
Vancouver. The workers are proud of the part that they have
played in the building of our community. They are also proud
of the achievements which they have made in building their
organizations, through which they have established the best
wages and working conditions in this country. This is a year
for celebration of gains made in the past, and a time for the
renewal of our pledge to fight more consistently than
for our rights.

Be sure you march on May Day!

itself from a
and can now

ever

Preparations

YW ITH strike action imminent in our industry, the first and fore-

most task of every member at the present time is to make
certain that the proper machinery for the conducting .of a
strike is complete. The various local unions must concern them-
selves with making arrangements which will maintain the high-
est degree of efficiency possible throughout the whole period.
Committees must be elected to take care of picketing, with
picket captains for each operation; publicity; canvassing, speak-
, ers; relief and social activities. AN such committees should be
“established prior to any strike being called, so that no time
will be lost in taking care of the numerous problems which
will arise.

The committees in each operation should immediately take
steps to register each person working in camp and record in
the registration, the number of dependents, etc., which each
striker has. Relief committees should attempt to ascertain as
closely as possible, the number of families who will need assist-
ance and have this information in the local office so that
the District committee will not be hampered in its functions
by numerous direct appeals. The entire membership must under-
stand that in 2 struggle such as we are facing, relief will only
be paid to those who are in dire need and it will be the
responsibility of the local committees to determine and make
recommendations to the District Committee on this basis.

The local committees must also ascertain prior to the strike
being called, what will be necessary in the way of supplying fire
protection, etc. in fhe plants on strike. Work permits will be
issued at the discretion of the local committee for watchmen and
for firemen and engineers, in cases where it is necessary for
such personnel to maintain steam pressure for fire protection.

Every member should be prepared to activize himself in the
work, whether it be for picketing, canvassing or duty on the
committees. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! Confusion can ‘be

LUMBER WORKER
By Don

Heading Out... %22.

The Union Hiring Hall at 206 Holden Building is still func-
tioning and will continue to do so until our negotiating committee
has something definite to offer on the positive side of the present
negotiations on the union’s demands for 25¢ per hour increase in
wages, 40-hour week and union security. So far the offers have
been so negative that it would be worse than useless to call a
representative meeting of the membership to discuss them. I
regret that your Hiring Hall manager does not have a crystal
ball into which I could gaze and foretell the future, but at the
present moment if one could use the expression of the individuals
who make. up the IWA, at least that portion which comes to the
Union Hiring Hall for information, one would have to assume that
nothing short of the 1946 demands would suffice.

Certainly there always has been a large turnover in labor in
the logging industry, but I doubt (recent reports to the contrary),
if the situation now developing has any bearing whatsoever to
that particular problem, because I find just as many men willing
to depart to the point of production as there ever has been. It
may be that other Hiring Halls do have an entirely different
picture of the situation, because there can be no doubt they have
less reliable information on the present situation than we at
206 Holden Building have.

In reading some “boss” propaganda in a certain magazine the
other day, I came across this gem of wisdom—“When you work
only five days a week, you have two whole days to spend what
you made in five, and don’t try to tell me that people don’t do
this, because they do. The only way you can make the 40-hour
week work is to make the worker, through compulsory invest-
ments in insurance, old age, sickness and unemployment, take
care of the future. If you do that, he won't have any money to
spend on Saturdays, with the result that he would just as soon
be working.” This is just as sensible as the Irishman who did
not want an increase in wages because he lost enough as it was
when he laid off work. i

And to all who read this Hiring Hall report, I wish to extend
MayDay greetings; the day that exemplifies the deathlessness of
the working class.

Without Apology De

HILDHOOD memories are beautiful things, but there is no
reason why they should remain that way. So, with profuse
apologies to those who cherish said childhood memories, I should
ke to present a Teredoized version of “The Walrus and the
Carpenter,” appropriately entitled “The Union and its Demands,”
-. or, the IWA in Wonderland.

The employers and its agency
Were walking close at hand
They wept like anything to see
The Union's wage demands.
If these were only cleared away
They said: “It would be grand!”

The union and the employers,
Talked on a mile or so

And then they came upon a wall
Over which they could not go.
And all the union members came
And waited in a row.

It means some 7 million bucks
Which we can ill afford, they said.
It would leave us high and dry,
And if this were done, we fear,
We would be unable to operate,
And they shed a bitter tear.

But wait a bit, the employers said
Before we finish our chat.

For some of us are not convinced,
And all of us are fat.

‘No hurry, said the union,

They thanked it much for that.
Then offers came and offers went,
It was a merry chase.

Nor do we know the outcome,
Or who will set the pace.

But the victory we are sure is in
‘The hands of the IWA.

I weep for you, the union said,

I deeply sympathize. :
With sobs and tears it sorted out
Its counter-arguments.

Holding its pocket handkerchief
Before its streaming eyes,

Zone Meeting Sets Up

O come and bargain, the both of
us

And we will seek to show.

The employers said, “why we
can't pay,

The union said, Oh, no?

For this was odd, because, you
know,

Their profits were not low.

The time has come, the union said
To tall of many things.

Of union security, wage increases
The 40-hour sting,

Of how to get our just demands,
and when to pull the pin.

The union members gathered
round to vote,

And yet another four.

And thick and fast they came
at last,

And more and more and more.

All waiting for the final word,

prevented if our strike is organized before it starts.

On what would be the score.

Complete Strike Machine

The first strike zone meeting
within Local 1-217 was held on
Thursday night in the Boiler
makers’ Hall for the False Creek
or City Centre zone. The meet-
ing was well attended and all
committees were elected for con-
ducting the strike, Meetings will
be held in the near future of a
similar nature, for the North
Shore zone at 8 P.m. on Monday,
April 29th, in the Legion Hall; for
the Marpole zone at 11:30 am.
in the IOOF Hall in Marpole on
Sunday, April 28th, ana for the
zone east of Fraser Street on the
river in the Victoria Community

28th) at 2 p.m,

Local 1-217 asks that all mem-
bers make a special effort to ate
tend these meetings, so that
everything will be in readiness
for the coming strike.

Hello, Boys!

The editor give me a letter
from one I shall describe as
RB, a vet who has evidently
taken a course in the power saw
schools upon his return to civil-
jan life. My last column on
“Schools for Bullcooks” seemed
‘to have riled him up. First, T
want him to know that there
was nothing in my article con-
demning vets for taking a school
course in power saw falling and
if he has done, O.K., good luck
to him, But like the Whistler,
“t walk by night and I hear
many things,” and I know other
vets that have been duped, per-
haps not by the schools, al-
though it is a factor leading to
it, finding themselves out in a
camp falling timber for their
board until they have the practi-
cal experience that a school can-
not give.

Now, there are lots of vets
and if R.B, thinks this particu-
lar phase is right, then I offer
him a Mae West inyitation, you
know, “Come up and see me
some time,” and if I cannot
prove my contention, then I will
offer my sincere apologies for
having lived so long. I once
knew a young farmer who when
gettin’ married insisted he would
pay the parson what he thought
the bride was worth to him. The
parson said it would be better
to wait at least a year and then
they would talk business, Well,
at the end of the year the lad
offered the parson a half a sack
of potatoes. Taters that year
was less than a dollar a sack.

Speaking of marriages, al-
though I have never had the
good fortune because the gals
that I would have had wouldn't
have me, and the ones that
would have me, the devil
wouldn’t have. However, Mickey
Kilbride has been more fortun-
ate, as the following from the
“grape vine” will prove.

The home of Mr. and Mrs.
J. E. “Jimmy” Kilbride was, on
the, evening of April 23, the
scene of rejoicing. The occasion
was a wedding reception for
Mr. and Mrs, J. M. “Mile” Kil-
bride. That a good time was
had by all seemed evident by
the angle of incidence some of
the guests displayed whom I
met on my way home in the
“wee sma’ hours.”

I wasn’t present but I heart
the event and
join with Mike's many friends
here in extending to him and
Mrs, K. every good wish, ~

Now take this controversy in
the labor councils of Vancouver
over the recent Labor Lobby,
Whether it were a sell out of
labor to accept the 44-hour weelt

ily coneur in

in place of the 48-hour week, in-

stead of going “whole hog” of

40 hours a week, as Iabor has

and is demanding. I reckon the
resolution dealing with O’Brien,

Pritchett and Murphy was very
subtle, like the lad who said

to his gal, “Lay down
I want to talk to you.”

So long, boys.