B.C. LUMBER WORKER UNION PRINCIPLES MUST STAND DECLARES CCL’s A. R. MOSHER Fefusal to violate trade union principles or conditions should not walify workers, either while employed or unemployed, for bene- rf under the Unemployment Insurance Act. / _~ Changes to this effect were urged at a recent meeting.in Ottawa _ of the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Committee, of which he is a member, by A. R. Mosher, President, Canadian Congress of Labor, A He President Mosher sought three nges in the Act to accomplish protection for workers: Against disqualification if, while employed, they have re- fused to carry out instructions which are contrary to recognized union practices or principles. Against disqualification for x fusing to accept employment in _ a plant with a company union set-up. Against disqualification when _ referred to 4 plant from which they have become separated due to unsuccessful strikes. ¢ existing provisions of the as pointed out by President her deal only with “refusal to accept employment”, This sec- tion designed to protect workers applies only to those who are out of work and not to those now loyed. the opinion of the Congiess is a limitation that cannot be justified. Conditions on the job may jeopardize the union status of the employed as of the unem- ployed worker. ‘Nothing should. be allowed, _ stated the CCL President, to in- terfere with the intention of Par- liament to fully protect the right _ of a worker to become or con- tinue to be a member of a trade union. Loss of employment for refusal to violate trade union principles disqualification, he urged. The purpose of this col- umn is to provide a means whereby our readers’ who want information on Unem- ployment Insurance can ob- tain it. . If you have a’ question respecting Unemployment Insurance, write it out and, send it to the editor. For identification purposes it would be well to include your name and address. We will send your ques- tion to the Unemployment Insurance Commission at its head office in Ottawa. The answer will be pub- lished as soon as possible after being received. Do not hesitate to send in your question or questions. The Commission has ad- vised us that it will be glad to furnish answers as ra- pidly as possible. SO.SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS a ployee if he leaves that job, When The following questions and 0 he becomes unemployed, it should answers have been received; _ Q. How much money Has been paid out to unemployed workers ; | Commission. ; Since unemployment insurance began? > A. Figures issued by the Un- & employment Insurance Commis- sion show that the total up to the end of January 31st, 1949, was $149,103,119. Payment of benefit under the Canadian Un- employment Insurance Plan started in 1942, In the ten months of the present fiscal year, from April ist to January 3ist, the sum of $31,616,614 had been paid in benefit. Payments have varied from over $6,000,000 to less than * $2,000,000 in a single month. ? ' Q. Is the cost of running un- employment insurance paid out of the fund built up by contribu- tions from employers, workers and the government? ~ _ A. No. The cost of administer- ing unemployment insurance and the National Employment Service is not chatged against the fund. It is paid out of the general rev- enue of the government, The en- tire fund is available for payment of benefit. ? _ Q. Who keeps the workers’ in- _ surance books? ~ _*A. When a person takes a job in insurable employment, he or she must be registered and, obtain an insurance book at one of the offices of the Commission. An fication card showing the number allotted to that, on is issued. It should be carefully by the person re- it. The unemployment in- ee book is kept by the em- because it is his respons- to “record contributions p . The book should, i returned to the em- opening of my NEW DENTAL Carrall, hay- A 1 Douglas Q. How can a worker tell if he is insurable? I understand unem- ployment insurance does not ap- ply to all workers. A. Under the Canadian Unem- ployment Insurance Act a worker is insurable, regardless of age or amount earned, if employed in Canada under’ the usual em- ployer-employee relationship and paid by the hour, day or by the piece. If paid on a weekly, semi- mission basis, and, earning not more than $3,120 per annum, a worker is insurable. There are however, a number of exempted employments, and workers in these are not insured. Some of these are agriculture, fishing, hunting and trapving, some parts of lumbering and logging, dom- estic service, except in a business organization or a club, etc. This is not a complete list and if there is any doubt about a person’s status under the Unemployment Insurance Act, he should ask at one of the local offices of the Commission. ATLAS PRINTERS Social & Commercial Printers 356 Alexander Street VANCOUVER PAcific 3723 oo 2 should not furnish the basis for be left at the nearest local office of the Unemployment Insurance monthly, monthly, yearly or com-|- | Second Aniicle ‘ THE CO-OPERATIVE VIEW By G. D. FERG ‘THE co-operative movement had its beginning in the laboring people of Great Britain. It arose from the privation of the work- ing class—the people who carry lunch pails. : They were no super business men, these people who gave birth to the first successful co-opera- tive. They were 28 humble peo- ple of Rochdale, England, scarce- ly able to earn enough to eat. They saved their pennies out of weekly starvation wages and started business with $140 and a tremendous fund of hope and en- thusiasm.~ t at had the Rochdale Pion- cers in mind when they started out? They did not open a store with the single intention of sell- ing goods. Behind the little store was a great and noble philosophy which was to be realized through the organization of purchasing power. ’ Protection They said “as soon as practical, this society shall proceed to ar- range, the power of production, distribution, education and gov- ernment.” In other words, they had an ideal ‘of a better social transform the society—twenty-eight of them! There have been many more of them since. Twenty-five years after the opening of the little store at Rochdale, England a body of men in the United States got together to oragnize their economic power. These men were farmers. They organized. the body known as “The Grange”. What did they propose to do? In their declaration of purpose thev said “we propose meeting together, talking together, buy- ing together, selling together and in general, ‘acting together for our mutual protection and ad- vancement.” DRUGS BODY BELTS TRUSSES FIRST AID SUPPLIES DRUGGIST Can Supply All your Medical Requirements BY MAIL Write to 15 East Hastings — Vancouver PAcific 6371 SEE We think it is impossible to improve upon that as a definition of co-operation. You might call it “togetherness” — a complete recognition of the interdepe ence of the human family. Wo: ing at doing things together. Why? Because it is the only. way by which we can assure to hu- manity a just and equitable d tribution of the wealth which every worker, every useful mem- ber of society is engaged in cre- ating. Are these aims not one and the the same as those of organized labor? Is it not now clear what co-operation has to do with labor and vice versa? Modern labor unions are effec- tively organizing our earning power. Now let organized labor assist in organizing our purchas- ing power through dissemination of co-operative information and assist in actual organization of co-operatives of various types. There is an old Egyptian pro- verb which says: The poor man has no strength to save himself from him that is stronger than he. Modern labor organizations have seen the answer to this pro- verb and it has become: The poor man has no strength to save him- Loeal 1-357 IWA Dr. King, one_of the pioneer co-operators of England, gave 2 message to-the workers that goes as follow: ei “Your rongest weapon is purchasing power, provided it is organized. Unorganized, it is a weapon to keep you in subjec- tion.” Th s were spoken over 100 years ago and how true they are eyen in these modern times. Report From Zeballos Manning Timber Co. Ltd., Zeballos, B.C. ~ z This is a line that the new sawmill just started into opera- tion a month ago, and the boys were all pretty well joined up with the IWA, except for a few loggers that came from the main- land who are WIUC. I was elected as President up here for the mill, and we want to get certified as soon as possi- , So will you let me know . ble. what we have to do, because none of the boys know. So will you please do what you can for us up in the bush? : ‘Will you please send us about 30 union buttons, 10 safety cdm- mittee and five job steward but- self from him that is stronger than he, except by organization. | tons? President M. S, Tkachuk. PORT ALBERNI GUIDE MacGREGOR’S MEN’S WEAR For Everything a Man Wears WORK, SPORT or DRESS We can afford to Sell the BEST for LESS MacDONALD’S PHARMACY Prescriptions, Drug Sundries First Aid Supplies Registéred Optometrist Argyle §t. 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