, XIX, No. 34

Ss

January 13, 1949

S*

Vancouver, B. C.

FOR W

MINE’ MILL
MEMBERS
~ REBEL

P SY orvey Murphy, the Mine,
will union leader, who ad-
mitted receiving IWA money
after the split and later giv-
ing it back to the “owners”,
is in trouble with his own
union over the transactions.

At the union’s district conven-
‘tion in Vancouver, later this
month, spokesman for a majority
of the members will ask a stern
“why?”

If the allegations are proven,
James Byrne, chairman of the
joint council of Kimberley and

i] locals, speaking for almost
5,000 of the 8,000 members, will
“take appropriate action to deal
‘with the situation.”

Byrne, who is president of the
Kimberley local, made his state-
ment after reading the reports of
the trial of two ex-[WA men at
Duncan.

Will Take Action

In that hearing, it was stated
that a total of $14,200 was trans-
ferred early in October from IWA.
funds to Mine, Mill officials.

Byrne_ stated, “Our member-
ship is shocked to learn that cer-
tain officers of our unions are im-
plicated in such allegedly illegal
transactions,

“What is even more impor-
tant to us, is the indication that
certain officers have sympathy
for, and willingness to collabor-
ate with, the group of secces-
sionists in the WIUC, who are
seeking to destroy the IWA, a
Jegitimate international trade
union, joined with Mine, Mill in
the CIO and the CCL.”

IWA officials have charged
previously that more than, $80,
was in fact wrongly trans-
ferred out of IWA trusteeship to
the Mine, Mill in “custody”,

Murphy, in a letter to Al Har-
tung, on October 31 admitted,
‘that “any funds which have been
Jeft with us haye been dealt with
in strict aceordance with the in-
structions given us and were re-

turned to their owners several
weeks ago.”

Murphy is in Toronto this
week, and the date of the Janu-
ary convention is not yet settled,

_An eke pectal ppt Te
d to see the sup in
IWA from within the

eras Sa if) naw,
been the one and only spokesman.
SE ea: tdgnd., geatetcl fo

and action in this

S

minimum annual wage.

forests and mills.

AGES, S

TURDAY is IWA Day in B.C.
One hundred and thirty-five delegates from the refreshed, revitalized, 24,000 strong

No. 1 trade union in B. C. gather then for their vital, two-day district convention.

The political raiders who tried feebly to wreck the IWA are running for cover.

Among the big news to be reported by the officers is:
@ $15,000 token payment has been disgorged from the $250,000 missing from

IWA trusteeship and returned to its proper owners, the IWA.

@ Criminal prosecution faces those who left their “finger prints” behind.

@ One of the arch-plotters of the anti-[WA move, Harvey Murphy, is on the

hottest spot of his Communist career. See separate story).

@ In the hands of the delegates will be the power to draw up concrete plans for

bigger pay cheques, improved conditions, solid safety checks, union shop, guaranteed

Bill Akey and Mike Sekora.

Membership of the Inter-
national Woodworkers of
America (CIO-CCL) in Bri-
tish Columbia now officially
stands at almost 24,000.

This announceemnt was made
by provisional district President
J. Stewart Alsbury after study of
the per capita check-off figures
for October and November, 1948.

Membership figures for the 12
IWA locals are given below, the
check-off date in brackets:

New Westminster,

1-357 —---. 6,421 (Nov.)
Vancouver, if

1-217 .... 5,252 (Nov.)
Duncan, 1-80 2,398 (Nov.)
Mission, 1-367 _.. 1,474 (Noy.

Prince George,

1-424 ..___._ 617 (Nov.)
Victoria, 1-118 .. 813 (Oet.)
Courtenay

1-363 ___._... 1,293 (Oct.)

ON THE HOP these days, is the office staff of District
No. 1, as the convention approaches. Attending to the
numerous details are: left to right, President J. S. Alsbury,
Miss Pearl Kerluk, Miss Beverley Hiles, Lloyd Whalen,

Artray Photo

OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP
SHOWS IWA 24,000 STRONG

Port Alberni

1-85 __. 1,500 (Oct.)
Loggers’, 1-71 _. 2,965 (Oct.)
Cranbrook,

1-405 400 (Oct.)
Kelowna, 1-423 _ 352 (Oct.).
Kamloops,

1417 ___. Oct.)

TOTAL —

made their break to form their
so-called rival union they claimed
20,000 followers, but this claim
was put into its proper perspec-
tive by president Alsbury.

“We in the IWA didn’t rush
to make fantastic claims. We
waited for the per capita fi-
gures,” he said.

“The so-called WIUC, never
properly started, is finished. It
remains now to polish them com-
pity. from existence, and to get

iown to the uninterrupted busi-
ness of fighting the boss for the
benefit of the workers in our in-
dustry.

|

1 = CJOR, Hucrsday, 1 p.m.

These conclusions are drawn from the factual review of the past four months pre-
pared by the officers for the district convention. :
It is also a call to action in building bigger living standards for the workers in the

B.C. District finances, in the report signed by a chartered accountant, are
shown to be in a sound postion.

The District office and staff
have been made ready once more
to service the needs of the mem-
bership.

The report on the state of orga-
nization reveals the attempted
damage by the officers of the for-
mer regime, and at the same time
the effective measures taken to
restore the bargaining strength of
the union.

Full credit is given the assis-
tance rendered by the Interna-
tional officers in filling the breach
until the self-government of dis-
trict affairs became possible.

CONTRACT TALKS

An efficient and hard-hitting
crew of organizers will continue
in the field to organize the unor-
ganized. Weak spots will receive
special attention. Bigger and bet-
ter organization has number one
priority.

The last Contract Conference
was sabotaged, according to the
evidence in the hands of the dis-
trict officials. Negotiations were
not conducted as agreed upon by
the members of the union at that
time. Delays and political excur-
sions weakened the presentation
of the union’s case in bargaining
with the operators.

The campaign to raise a huge
strike fund was planned, not for
strike action, but to finance dis-
affiliation.

The Pritchett-Dalskog clique
had ignored the warning of the
Labor Relations Board in April
1948, and omitted mention of
board rates during negotiations.

BOARD RATES

‘This error has been retrieved to
some extent by the present offi-
cers, Board rates are now subject
to collective bargaining, and ne-
gotiations for a favorable adjust-
ment are under way.

The next Contract Conference,
scheduled for April, will pave the
way for an all-out effort, without
any double-talk, to get wage de-
mands and union security.

Control of the B,C. Lumber-
worker has been regained, and
the necessary steps taken to
make it an effective organ, as an
eight-page publication, to pro-
mote the interests of the lumber
workers of the IWA.

Continued - See IWA, Page 2

ry

CONVENTION HEARS IWA ‘49 PLANS -
ECURITY, SAFETY

The 1949 fight is on.

CRIMINAL
CHARGES
START

Two former officers of the
Duncan Local have been.
committed for trial at the
Spring Assizes on a charge -
of fraudulently converting

$14,200 of union funds.
Other criminal actions
are now being considered
against those who have
taken nearly a quarter of

a million dollars belonging

to the members of the

IWA.

Some of this money, including
that from the Duncan Local was
turned over to the International
Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter
Workers. In all, Harvey Murphy
received on behalf of the Mine
union the following sums of IWA
money:

$1,000 from the District Of
fice.
$9,000 from Local 1-71.

$4,500 from Local 1-217.

$3,000 from Local 1-85 (Al-
berni).

$14,200 from Local 1-80
(Dunean).

Total, $31,700.

Murphy, in reply to a demand
for the return of this money,
stated that he had already re-
turned “any monies he had” to
its “rightful owners”, presum-
ably his LPP friends in the
“WwIUC”.

John Stanton, well-known LPP
barrister, received $8,500. Stan-
ton has now returned this money
to the IWA. It is reported that
the Law Society took a dim view
of his acceptance of it from the
former LPP leadership,

Continued - See Funds Page 2 ©

E WHAT’S |
INSIDE

CONTENTS
Page
Officers’ report in
full _ Sh) 63

Editorials _____. ties |

Letters and Woody
Woodpecker

Convention
Agenda ........... sy

On the Air...

Mike Sekora
Reports -_.._... =

Wages
Conference