‘company refused ito let it eee wharf. off to the girl picket at I Veneer, New Westmin- ster, who stopped Brother Mels- 3s Dalskog, when making pection tour of picket lines, h a very determined look on face and demanded identifi- n. Need it be said they hur- pulled out their credentials! truck driver hauling a ‘of sawdust on strike day d himself on the Georgia t Viaduct at 11:00 am. The les were blowing in all the workers were ‘streaming mit through the gates. The driver ced at his watch, pulled over the curb and climbed out of cab; determinedly walked from the truck saying, “We on strike as of now.” “All the way from Prince Rup- to the American border picket are strung out before every ill and camp that has not sign- on the dotted line. However, eal information shows that al- some seven or eight opera- have signed. Significantly ugh, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE NONE OF THEM CLAIM [ABILITY TO PAY! One of the employers was his mill and giving the the glad-hand as he left. He red a slight change of com- ion as the sound system out the well-known lines “Talking Union.” ... “’till looks out the window and does he see, but a thousand and they all agree, he’s a a.” Need we say more? WOODWORKERS OF A EN! FROM THE WORKERS THE RIGHT TO A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING 50 Per Cent of all Woodworkers RECEIVED LESS Than 78c Per Hour in 1945 4 Note: 52c in 1939 Equals 72c in 1945 — WHERE DID THESE PROFITS GO? OFITS (AFTER TAXES PAID) * Total 1800 Woodworking Operations in British Columbia © INTERNATIONAL ARE STRIKING IT WAS HOT STUFF While the sound truck was Providing a little bit of light entertainment with “Get Thee Behind Me, Satin,” a “bluesy” sort of union song, one of the union maids on the picket line tapped her toes vigorously. When the record was finished she came over to the truck. “I like that. It’s a union tune,” she sald. “But it jumps!” ‘The WEA was showing a film to a group of pickets. A scene came on showing scade and scads of pickets marching the line dur- ing the big GM strike in Detroit. One of the boys proudly whisp- ered to his chum. “Darn near as big a picket line as the one we had Wednesday.” His friend smiled, “Yeah,” he said. “But I bet it ain’t no more golid.” At one of the lonelier union outposts onthe Fraser, the sound truck made a short pepper-upper stop. Someone commented that it must be pretty lonely walking the line in such a quiet locality. “Sure but it's worth it, if we win,” a picket said. “Pardon me, WHEN we win, I shoulda said. Sam Guthrie, MLA.; Cowi- chan-Newcastle: “I am whole- heartedly in support of the IWA’s three-point program for 25¢ an hour increase, 40-hour week and union security. It is my con- tention that the labor wepart- ment should step in and bring about an early settlement.” This modern age: The Kam- loops local reports that they have hired a local pilot and an airplane and IWA strike bulle- tins and copies of the Lumber- worker will be distributed to all camps in that district by air. NNUAL $ 3,588,572 $ 5,131,644 $ 1,683,689 $10,403,905 Fm AAT BC LUMBER WORKER ‘PRESIDENES | El COLUMN By HAROLD PRITCHETT Rumors and propaganda de- signed to break down the morale of the striking woodworkers in our Province, are featured in the Public press constantly. Sor Some of these rumors, purport- ed to have come from Govern- ment sources possibly haye some basis of fact. I refer to a press seatement to the effect that the Federal Gov- ernment contemplated passing a special Orderin-Council author- izing the Regional War Labor Board to set wages and hours for the industry, or a further attempt at mediation by Chief Justice Gordon M. Sloan with new and possibly binding powers. In order to offset these ru- mors and the possible effect which they may have on our member- ship and on the public, I again reiterate that under no circum- stances will the workers in the wood working industry of Brit- ish Columbia return to work un- til our basic demands of 25c per hour wage increase and the forty- hour week are satisfactorily ne- gotiated between the employers and our union. We are wililng and ready at all times to cooperate with Govern- ment or management to effect a peaceful settlement and abide by the ruling of an arbitrator on the question of union security, pro- vided the question of wages and hours can be negotiated under free collective bargaining condi- tions, Labor must no longer be ham- strung by wartime Orders-in- Council which are now obsolete and can only tend to bring the workers’ standard of living down to a new low level. We must put our shoulder to the wheel and fight for a rising standard of living, shorter hours, free collective bargaining through the union of the workers’ own choice and democracy on the job through union shop and check- off. In our struggle for these con- ditions we must not forget the vital necessity of impressing on government the need to maintain price ceilings in order to avoid inflation and resulting deflation. Let us not be fooled by rumors designed to disunite and weaken our position. We are strong and can fight together with workers throughout Canada for our pro- gram which is in essence the peoples’ program. Picnic, Rally Set For May24 A mass rally and picnic has been arranged for Friday next, May 24, at Lumbermen’s Arch, Stanley Park and application to hold this affairs has gone to the Parks Board. It will be con- firmed on the Union broadcast CKWX—6:25 to 6:30. HOW SOLID IS STRIKE? By JACK GREENALL, International Trustee How solid is the strike?. How determined are the wood workers? These are questions that the lumber operators are worrying about at the moment. aoeee ‘Well, I think I have the answers from my own experience during the past three days. I was working as carpenter at Silver Skagit Logging Camp near Hope when the deadline was reached. We: had loaded a bunkhouse on skids ready to be hauled to a loading platform and then onto a truck, The foreman was sweat- ing and straining to beat the deadline. The men worked hard and earnestly, but insufficient time had been allowed. A caterpiller tractor started out, dragging: the bunkhouse behind it. ‘Rhey stuck on a bend in the road for a few moments. The cat driver looked at his watch and showed it to the foreman, who promptly threw up his hands, He unhooked the cat. The bunk- house is still there. NO CONFUSION HERE - There was no confusion. No orders were given. At eleven o'clock, loggers, road men, mechanics, truck drivers, all em- employees came in. Tools were stored away. Pickets previously appointed took up their positions, and the strike was on. Under instructions from the union, the boom crew worked right through until all logs in the pond were stowed. Next day two pickets escorted all booms to @ safe anchorage in the Pitt River. On Thursday afternoon I went with one of these squads up the Hope-Princeton trail to where Pete Bain has a saw- mill, about fifteen miles from Hope. The Japanese crew were working, and as we stepped out of the car, they watched us, and I heard one man say with a grin, “Here comes the union.” CR ic: A simple request at the headsaw and the mill was shut down. They didn’t want to agree to anything until the woods crew were brought in, so a delegation of their own men was dispatched to advise them that “The union is here.” * * * We had to wait for almost an hour for the loggers to come in and while we were waiting, “Pete Bain” came storming down. He threatened and cajoled, but it was no use. He wanted to throw us off the property, but he wasn’t big enough, When he finally left us, he demanded, “Well, what about that mill up at Tashme. How about shutting that one down, too?” We promised faithfully that we would. On Thursday night, at the request of the District, I came to town with Shelly Rogers, Business Agent for Local 1-367. We called in at Chilliwack and heard that similar flying squads were operating from there. Shelly reports that the same is true around Mission and Harrison Lake. “Unorganized crews are coming into the office and signing up to goon strike,” he said, In town on Friday, and assigned to write this article, I visited my home local in New Westminster to see how things were going. I found that a Publicity Committee, headed by George Langstaff, had set up a stand on Columbia Street with a gramaphone, some militant union recordings, stacks of union literature and a big sign advising the public that a strike was on. They were in front of the Royal City Cafe where Manager H. Cristal was supplying them with electricity for the loudspeaker, PS aby Bob Mason was preparing a broadcast—the Local is putting one on over CKNW every day at 4:25. He said “Boy! I wish Mr. Stuart or H. R. McMillan could have been with us last night when we toured the picket lines. It was like a tonic. Wood- workers in this town may have beén willing to compromise in order to avoid strike, but not now. They're after the whole de- mand now and they aren't fooling.” sige aa HOT LUMBER _ I saw some big signs in the office which said on them “Hot Lumber.” Percy Smith, Business Agent explained. “Some of these companies Ipaded a lot of scows and tied them up away from the mill, planning they would load ships during the strike. We maintain that lumber in transit is one thing, but lumber on scows Is very little different from being stored in a mill. A picket boat went up the river yesterday and plastered the scows with “hot lumber” signs. The longshore- men won’t touch them now.” Coming back to Vancouver, I heard stories from pickets in Local 1-217's office that indicated the tremendous enthusiasm that is growing. Typical of these is the one about the “Fraser Wood Products” plant, where they manufacture veneer boxes. A crew of 11 girls, unorganized, sent word to the union de- manding an organizer. Vern Carlyle, President of the Local, went down and signed up the whole crew, just beating the deadline so they could come out on strike. a aia 6 I saw Don Barbour jjust after he got off the boat after a trip to Squamish. His pockets were stuffed with receipts for union dues and initiations. He said: “I never saw anything like it, There was no organization up there but they went on strike at the deadline. I got writer's cramp from signing up new members,” he added. Page Three