Page Two - B. Cc. LUMBER WORKER Executive Board Member: ecutive Board, Local of Local 1 - 357 1-357, New Westminster, gather for house-warming of new home, recently purchased. Local 1-80, Duncan RANJIT SINGH RALLIES EAST INDIAN Brother Ranjit Singh, of Vic- toria, recently addressed a meet- ing of over fifty East Indian brothers employed at the Hill- crest Lumber Co, An explana- tion in their own language of the situation now existing in the IWA was warmly appreciated. The speaker was closely ques- tioned and was given the assur- ance that all present would con- tinue to support the IWA. Local 1-80, through the co- operation of Brother Gus Ar- mand, an expert projectionist, is now ‘providing film entertain- ment for IWA members in the Duncan Hospital, This diversion is keenly apreciated by the pa- tients, A message recently issued by the Press Committee states in part: “Fortunately in Local 1-80 there were men in all branches of the woodworking industry who instantly realized that the dis- affiliation move was a direct threat to the freedom of the labor movement, and who unselfishly devoted their time and efforts to maintaining and increasing the membership in the IWA even though in many instances it in- volved personal sacrifice. “They realized that this break- away group represent the most vicious and dangerous type of IWA MEN totalitarianism under which the free men of many countries are prostrate. “This helps to explain why many men, young and old, who had previously felt frustrated in doin~ Union service, now quickly enter the struggle and work tire- lessly for the IWA. This helps to explain why many scores of new members flocked into the IWA in all operations of Local 1-80 at that time and since. “Tt helps to explain, too, why in nearly all operations only a hand- ful of men revoked in comparison to the membership remaining loyal to the IWA, culminating in the record of Chemainus mill, where of our membership of half a thousand no more than two xevoked. “So now we commence a New Year. Our 12th Annual Conven- tion has been held and a new and vigorous program for the year has been approved. If all mem- bers will continue to do their part, as Job Stewards, in Com- mittees, attending Union Meet- ings and keeping a watchful eye on those things that will make a bigger and better Union, then we can rest assured that the smoke rings of Unele Joe’s pipe cannot enter into our organization in the mills and camps of our fair province.” Local 1-77 - McEwan, Home “Get Cracking’’ The logging camps in the juris- diction of Local 1-71 which are now opening will receive imme- diate attention under the special organization drive initiated by the Local. For the next few weeks, this special effort will re- ceive the backing of the entire district organization, as in- structed by the recent District convention, On Sunday last, President Jim McEwan, accompanied by George Home, secretary of the B.C, Fed- eration of Labor, adderssed 2 ca- pacity meeting representative of all logging operations on the Sechelt Peninsula at Roberts Creek. Organization plans were fully outlined and grievances dis- cussed. The sentiment revealed at the meeting was that of un- qualified support for the IWA, and determination to strengthen the bargaining position of the IWA prior to negotiation of the 1949-50 agreement. On Monday, Brothers Jim Mc- Ewan and George Home left for a three weeks’ tour of the camps on Northern Vancouver Island the Queen Charlotte Islands. They plan to visit Englewood, Alice Lake, and Holberg’s first, and continue later on a tour of the camps on the Queen Charlotte Islands. ‘ 1-217 Gets Two More Plants Certification for the IWA has been secured in two additional plants, Lama-Wood Products and Norwood Lumber Co. The membership drive spear- headed by the shop stewards, with an objective of 1500 .new members, has netted 150 new members to date. As the cam- paign gathers. momentum, the daily rate of new applications is mounting rapidly. President Lloyd Whalen predicts an en- rolled membership of 7000 in six weeks, Mission Laughs At Pritchett The shut-downs in mills and camps due to weather conditions, has enabled the officials in 1-367 to overtake the set-back occa- sioned by the recent fire which damaged their records. The new offices above the Foodland Mar- ket, Haney, are now well estab- lished and re-equipped to service the needs of the. members. Attention is directed to the new address, General Delivery, Haney, B.C. Phone Haney 219, Some amusement was caused IWA members in Mission over the results of a meeting held under the auspices of the WIUC, at that point. Harold Pritchett was advertised to appear in order to discuss the unemployment situation. Twenty-five persons were in attendance but not Mr. Pritchett. Unemployment needs were forgotten, and the entire proceedings were devoted to at- taeks on the IWA and officials. Tells Story of THIS is the story of Local 1-35: + | Ibis a good story, of struggle against odds. It és the story of the IWA in British Columbia, ‘| It reveals the background of the struggle of WA members assets total around $30,000. being of the membership. group. ‘THE actual birth of Local 1-857 took place in 1940. Organiza- tion of an “underground” charac- ter was carried on throughout that year and the following year. Not until the Spring of 1942 was it possible to bring the organiza- tional drive out into the open. Mainly this work was done among workers in Fraser Mills, and the Mohawk Lumber plants of New Westminster. Our organi- zation plans were laid behind lumber piles and in private houses. Employers’ opposition was vindictive. There was no pro- tection for those who did the or- ganizing, either under the law or through signed agreements. Impetus was given the organi- zation by: militant action on the part of the members and crew at Fraser Mills when they estab- lished first, equal pay for Orien- tal and white workers on the job and, secondly, by the establish- ment of time and one-half for overtime on Sundays. Also, later, by the same job action, an in- crease of five cents per hour was won for all workers in that plant. These gains were responsible for a tremendous surge in mem- bership which resulted in Certifi- cation of the plant of the Can- adian Western Lumber Company at Fraser Mills and, later, the Mohawk Lumber Company’ and others. The Charter of this Local was installed in a membership meet- ing in the Queens Park Arenex on November 8th, 1942. Officers elected at this meeting were: President, Harold Pritchett; Vice-presidents, Stewart Alsbury and Perey Smith; Financial Sec- retary, Ora Cole; Recording Sec- retary, George Mitchell; Warden, Jack Lindsay; Conductor, Sam Ostrikoff: Trustees, Art Canuel, George Pulling and Vera Smith. In the following meeting of De- cember 20th, 1942, by-laws were presented and adopted for this Local. soe 8 REVIOUS to the Charter be- ing granted to this Local, all members were organized into Lo- cal 1-217 in Vancouver and in all this underground work mentioned above, mention should be made of several members who took a leading part at that time and are still with us, namely, Brothers Myers, Stevens, Bergman and George Mitchell, the latter being our present Financial Secretary. Brothers George Mitchell and Stewart Alsbury are the only members of the first Executive Board who are still members of the Board of this Local. I should point out at this time the flaunting of the International Constitution by Harold Pritchett, who accepted the Presidency of this Local Union while not a member of this Union. In addi- tion to this he accepted a salary from this Local of $120 per month to augment the $80 per month he received at that time as District President. Right from the time the Char- ter was issued and the Local be- gan operating, the real Trade The Local is fnancially sound. It has served the well- ‘Biggest and Best’ Local Success 7, New Westmnister. | to retain control of their own organization. Events in New West- || minster mirrored events throughout the province. It is told by a veteran of this struggle, at the request of The ),| B. C. LUMBER WORKER. + * © | By RAE EDDIE JN the New Westminster Local we make the friendly boast that we have the largest and best in the whole International. We think we enjoy the best contracts, wage scales and working conditions in the industry, and our Our record shows what can be done when the rank and file take control and run the organization for the members rather than for the interests of any political party or Unionists in the picture began to notice that the workings of the Local were being controlled and initiated by some body other than the members. The weight of the organization was being used con- tinually to forward the policies .| and beliefs of the Labor Progres- sive Party, rather than the poli- cies of a ‘Trade Union. Control of the Union was being kept in the hands of those peo- ple who were members, or were willing to advance the policies, of that political party. It was no- ticed also that meetings were “rigged”; elections of officers and delegates were decided before- hand and enough of those people were always present at meetings to see that this “rigging” worked. ome ‘Tus led to the formation of the so-called “White Bloc”. Those of us who had become wise to this “rigging” by the Commu- nist Bloc, decided that the only way to combat it was by the set- ting up of an opposition Bloc, which we did. This opposition Bloc was not immediately suc- cessful as it took years of hard work and numerous setbacks to get any tangible results. ‘We were branded as “Company Agents”, “Stool Pigeons”, “Boss | Blockers”, ete. The same Commie line is still used. But we did have a certain amount of results that kept us at it. We did manage to inform the membership as to what was going on in the Local. We did get our share of officers in the Local elections and in the elections of delegates to conyen- tions, so that the Party had to work to their utmost to keep con- trol. We were a perpetual menace to their schemes. Finally, in_1946, a serious shortage in the funds of this Lo- cal was discovered. At that time practically all income of the Lo- cal was in cash dues, That is the blue slip method. There was dis- covered, during an investigation by a Committee set up for this purpose, blue slips totalling $2,- 80000 for which there was no cash to cover. We had suspected for some time’ that our funds were being pilfered and now we had reason to act. The investigation was carried through. While the guilt could not be fastened on any,specific person, there was sufficient evi- dence to show that money had gone astray through loose meth- ods employed in the Local office. This occurred in spite of regu- lar audits by the Trade Union Research Bureau, which in our opinion were inadequate. The Investigation Committee did recommend, however, that our President at that time, Perey Smith, and our Financial Secre- tary, Jack Lindsay, as the re- sponsible officers, be asked to re- sign. This they did and that was the break we were waiting for. ‘We were able to show the mem- bership that we were right in. ‘PD dae denouncing very poor tion of the Local union. | (See Page 5) a r v STU’ AND ‘DOC’ Members of Local 1-71, TWA, discovered this week that they had an old friend as a new bor. In_ re-entering dental prac-' tice in Vancouver, Dr. R. Liewel- lyn Douglas established his offices almost next door to those of the a ers’ local” at 9 Hastings St. Yi ais On his way to 3 Yvisit the office of Local 1-71 for a onference, reeent- sy, District Presi- ent Stewart Als- ury deserted his | ompanions sud- enly and disap- eared behind a entist’s sign. It right be a tooth- che, they said, S| nd waited and “waited. A search made later disclosed “Stu” and the “Doc” yarning in the back office, blissfully unaware of both. conference and patients. It seems that when “Stu” was playing with the Salmonbellies, the “Doe”, then practicing in New Westminster, was Hon. Vice- president of the team, Both were claiming credit for winning sev- eral Dominion lacrosse champion- ships in a row, When Dr. Douglas Jeft New Westminster and opened his practice in Vancouver, he gave as enthusiastic support to labor as to amateur sport. He put sev~ eral labor programs on the air, including “Green Gold”, when such sponsorship was far from popular in business or profes- sional circles. The staff in Local 1-71 think he is just as good a neighbor as dentist. Local 1-217 IWA Credit Unions Thrive by Harry Bardsley, Chairman, Credit Committee, Local 1-217 Credit Union. A group of about 13 members from Local 1-217 started a Credit Union in February, 1948. Today, we have over 140 members and a share capital of - more $12,000 which is growing every day. Local 1-357, New Westminster, has a good Credit Union which has been operating for two years with a membership of over 600. First, I should explain that a j Credit Union is not in any wa; connected with trade unions. It is a group of people with a com- mon interest who co-operate to use their savings for their mutual benefit. In order to join our Credit Union, you must be en: in the woodworking industry in. Greater Vancouver. That is our common interest. You become a member by paying the $1.00 en- trance fee and one $5.00 share. The Credit Union is a system by Bee ne workers save a small part eir earnings each pay, but instead of putting it the bank, they put it in it in their own association where it is to fellow workers who need ni assistance, at a much lower 5 of interest than could get from the banks. :