Page Four

LABOR’S CHOIC

ONCE again organized labor in British Columbia will go

to Victoria to approach the Legislature, and the Coali-
tion Government which controls, asking for amendments
to labor legislation which will bring the law more into line
with labor’s needs.

Removal of the ambiguous clause which defines a labor
organization in such a way as to permit the formation of
company unions will be sought. '

An attempt will be made to have the much-hated super-
vised strike vote eliminated.

-A demand will be made for the streamlining of concilia-
tion proceedings to eliminate present delays.

‘THESE and other reforms will be sought by the trade

: B.C. LUMBER WORKER

union movement by the time-honored method of re-||>

spectful petition. It remains to be seen whether the govern-
ment will receive these representations in the equally time-
honored manner of vague assurances of “careful considera-
tion”—a diplomatic term which is applied to the old run-
around. :

This being an election year, the government may lend a
more sympathetic ear to labor’s voice than usual. On the
other hand, just because this is an election year, the Coali-
tion Government may feel it has to be attentive to the
people who provide the campaign funds, rather than to the
workers, many of whom seem willing to support the Coali-
ee Government anyway, in spite of Bill 39 and the Sales

‘ax.

‘HIS year the trade union movement should sit down
after the annual trek to Victoria and cast up accounts.
Put on one side the things labor has asked from the

Coalition Government since it was formed, and on the
other side of the ledger the things the Coalition Govern-
ment has done for, and to, labor since it came into office.

Once this accounting has been done, the labor movement |

will be in a position to judge whether or not its present
policies of political action have been effective.

[® IT appears on examination that polite appeals to the
Coalition Government, have been useless, then labor will

simply have to face the task of changing the complexion ||}

of government.

Subsidised M anagement

FOREST management license has been granted cover-

ing a tract of Jand on the Hast coast of Vancouver Is-
land. Included in the tract is the area on which the Pro-
vincial Government has been carrying out a program of
reforestation for several years.

Many thousands of acres, left in a barren and unproduc-
tive condition by those who logged the virgin timber,
have been replanted at public expense—an expense of some
$11 an acre.

Now this area, plus other areas of remaining mature
timber, is to be set aside as the preserve of this corpora-
tion.

ADMITTEDLY it is necessary to have large “working
circles” of forest land under one management, if there
is to be a permanent industry based on sustained yield.
But it is doubtful if logging corporations which have al-
ready profited heavily from the public domain, are entitled
to receive an extra bonus in the shape of young forest
areas, planted at public expense.

SO FAR the Minister of Lands and Forests has not men-

tioned what arrangements, if any, have been made to
reimburse the provincial treasury for the expenditures on
these forest lands which have now been turned over to
private interests.

GHOST PICKET LINE

(EK LPP are tireless diggers-up of corpses, and floggers

of dead horses, and raisers of dim ghosts. So we need
not be surprised that they have announced their intention
of holding a seance to resurrect that very dead ghost, the
so-called picket line at Iron River.

What they may hope to accomplish by such a move is
difficult to see. The record proves that the overwhelming
majority of workers at Iron River have rejected the LPP,
the WIUC and the phony picket lines.

They know this and they don’t attempt to deny it. But
still they figure on going ahead with their silly obstruction-
ist tactics.

E three men'who were the original cause of the trouble
‘at Iron River, seem to have been quite forgotten.

The LPP were never really interested in them anyway.
They proved that when they refused the offer of the IWA
members to pay these three men their wages while the
matter went to arbitration.

All the commie gang were interested in was to find some
peg on which to hang a nuisance tactic to hamper the IWA.

'E IWA gives notice here and now that any attempt to

set up a phony political picket line at Iron River or else-

where will not be tolerated. The organized lumber workers

of British Columbia have no intention of letting themselves

be intimidated by goon squad tactics, or by lying propa-
ganda.

If the LPP want trouble at Iron River, they can have it.

Encouraged

The Editor:

Having attended the 12th An-
nual Convention of the [WA as
an alternate delegate of 1-118, I
would appreciate the privilege of
saying to the entire membership
that the keynote of the delegates
gathered there seemed to me to
be one of justice, equality and
tolerance.

Personally, I feel that justice,
equality and tolerance practiced
by all our people in the mills and
the woods in 1949 will find us
thoroughly united and strong by
the time the 13th Annual Con-
vention takes place.

E. W. HAW, Card No. 2437.

PAC Wanted

The Editor:

The 12th Annual Convention of
District 1, IWAtCIO-CCL, has
unanimously gone on record en-
dorsing the Political Action pro-
gram of the Canadian Congress
of Labor and in addition, the
delegates resolved to form P.A.
committees in locals where the
members of a local so desired.

Does this mean that one or two
locals are going to carry the ball
for P.A., or are we all going to
do a job and get those commit-
tees started?

The political domination! of our
union in the past has caused
many of our members to adopt a
hands-off attitude, when it comes
to P.A. Information and educa-
tion on the subject will show our
members that political domina-
tion and Political Action are
exact opposites in meaning and
purpose.

We all know we need better
labor legislation, improvement in
our Pension and Compensation
pets, action on housing, prices,
ete.

What some of us don’t seem
to realize is that only through
PA can organized labor accom-
plish these things. Some of us
may remember those days in the
infancy of the IWA, when a fel-
low worker would be asked to
come into our union and after
much yerbal dodging, his final
answer of “wait and see” could
be well summed up in these few
words: “I think unions are a
good thing—you join.”

Is that the attitude the mem-
bers of the [WA are going to
assume when it comes to PA?

Let’s get behind the 400,000
members of the CCL and get
these PA committees started.

» G. FRASER, Local 1-357.

ur Space Boys!

Legends

The Editor:

Lately “Forest and Mill” has
been printing some interesting
articles and legends about the
B. C. Woods. However, along with
the entertainment, comes a lot of
editorial comment and a history

Readers
Thinkel

pression and short on the profit-
able years.

“Forest and Mill”, is of course,
the official publication of the lum-
ber operators of B.C. By all
means let us continue to read
“Forest and Mill”. But remember
it is a bosses’ paper, written from
a boss’ point of view.

TONY GARGRAYE,

of the sawmilling industry. The
Local 1-217.

history dwells long on the de-

LET THE CHIPS FALL

by Weady Woodpacher

HAROLD PRITCHETT is tramping around the skidroad
these days with a new brag. The boast is that a dapper
little gentleman, one Daniel O’Brien, has been appointed
an organizer for Harvey Murphy’s Mine, Mill and Smelter
Union in Timmins, Ont.

WE’RE not surprised. The news follows the logical se-
quence. After all, Danny was the stooge for what became
the “Woozies” when he was titular head of the B. C. Fed-
eration of Labor last fall.

O’BRIEN’S new job is the same one which he tried to
do on the IWA. He was forced to resign from the Federa-
tion when his anti-CCL, anti-[WA tactics became too ob- —
noxious to be tolerated any longer.

DANNY, you’ll remember, chaired the packed meeting
at New Westminster the night of the October “Backstairs”
Rebellion and plumped straight out for the saboteurs.

Tongue-in-cheek, he “didn’t condone, didn’t condemn”
Pritchett’s move to split the CCL strength in B.C. His
oath of office to the CCL just didn’t mean a thing.”

THE FACT that Danny, as the Commie stooge, didn’t —
do that job well enough to prepare the ground for a mass
exodus from the CCL hasn’t stopped Harvey from finding
him another spot on another payroll.

UNION men must realize that Murphy will use O’Brien
as a tool for one purpose—to widen the Communist-engin-
eered breach between the decent, honest Mine, Mill mem-
bership and the 350,000 unionists in the Canadian Con-
gress.

MINE, MILL bosses are on the road to duplicating
tactics which failed the LPP in B.C. and they'll get
same results. :

Poor Danny ... one failure isn’t enough . . .
mined to go under for a second time. :