B.C. LUMBER WORKER

WOMEN’S PACE

meee, YOUR CASE

Do you read the Vancouver dailies?
Have you noticed “Letters to the Editor’ condemning em-
ployees in the lumber industry for asking decent wages?

One such letter said that the
loggers had got themselves into
a nice jam these days, largely
through their demand for in-
creased wages. Another thought
it a crime that woodworkers
should ask so much money, thus
increasing the cost of living,
home construction, etc.

We thought it was the weather
that had put so many loggers and
mill workers out of employment. |
We know that these workers do|
not get too much money at any
time, and certainly not if they
are to be idle as long as they
haye been last winter and this,
plus layoffs for fire hazards in

the summer.

Instead of getting sore at these
letter-writers we thought that, as
workers themselves, they are
probably quite decent people,
only uninformed of the true state
of affairs in the wood industry.

‘That set us wondering whether,
since they themselves write to the
papers giving their side of the
question, some wives of loggers
and mill workers should now an-
swer them and tell THEIR side

of the story.

You remember when the street-
car men were asking for higher
wages, how bitterly the public
condemned them. They did not
know of the staggered hours nor
realize the nerve-wracking quali-
ties of the work. (Don’t hear so
much about them being too well
paid now that this “unusual”
weather is with us!)

The fact is that the lumber in-
dustry has the largest quota of
accidents of any industry in B.C.
The life expectancy is the lowest,
also the length of work expect-
ancy. That, combined with the
other factors of weather lay-offs,
temperamental markets and so
on, makes the life of the lumber
worker's wife “not a happy one”.

You’ve got a case. Why not
‘write in to the dailies and answer
these other letters, simply, truth-
fully and without anger... Only
when workers understand each
others’ problems will we haye
unity.

BARKING “DOGS”

Retail Clerks in Wanamakers
Department Store, New York
oy have won a new contract.
which guarantees every worker
the services of a chiropodist, af-
ter they proved that a clerk must

walk 17 miles a day.

q Sth Lit as

St. Paul’s Hospital

Sisters Beryl Busch, Lucille
Busch, Muriel Bradley and_ Pat
Fulljames visited St. Paul’s Hos-
pital, distributing cigarettes,
matches, copies of the B.C. Lum-
ber Worker, International Wood-

1-217 WA

Women Loyally Support
Union Contract Fight

The regular business meeting
of the W.A. to Local 1-217 was
held Wednesday, Feb. 1, at Room
8, 426 Main Street, and was well
pened despite inclement wea-

er.

Reports heard from the Hospi-
tal Visiting Committees for Janu-
ary showed $81 visited at St.
Paul’s Hospital during the month
by Sisters B. Busch, R. Bullock
and L. Busch, and approximately
56 visited at the Vancouver Gen-
eral by Sisters K. Wood, M.
Slarks and A. Brown.

Hospital Visiting Committees
for the month of February are
Sisters Pat Fulljames and Muriel
Bradley for St. Paul’s, and Sis-
ters Lucille Busch and Gabrielle
McDougall for the General. It
was decided to replenish the sup-
ply of playing cards for the pa-
tients in the Compensation Ward
at St. Paul’s.

Local Council

The Auxiliary, along with other
affiliates of the Vancouver Local
Council of Women, is preparing
an Annual Report of its activities
for the past year, to be given at
the March meeting. The Febru-
ary meeting of this Council being
held Monday in the Club Room,
Hudson’s Bay, will be attended
by four Auxiliary delegates,

District Convention

The following fraternal dele-
gates reported briefly on the re-
cent District Convention held in
Nanaimo — Sisters K. Wood, P.
Fulljames, L. Busch, M. Bradley.
All made mention of the many
speakers heard at the Conven-
tion, and especially of the very
interesting speech by Adolph
Germer, Director of Organization
for the IWA.

Very informative was the talk
by Chris Pritchard from the
Workmen’s Compensation Board.
Due to our interest in the visiting
of injured woodworkers, we lis-
tened attentively to the statistics
related by Mr. Pritchard. Log-
ging accidents in 1949 totalled
5,107 with 64 fatalities, Acci-
dents in the sawmills for the
same year, 4,500 with 14 fatali-
ties. The Rehab Clinic had a to-

ONE BILLION DOLLARS
in savines 7 ... MY BANK’

How’s your Savings Plan

Toa Musee coutss
for

1950... Save what you can afford

to save regularly.

Banx or Monrreau
Canada's First Bank

WORKING WITH CANADIANS IN EVERY WALK OF LIFE SINCE 1817

piasss

|

tal of 3,693 patients in 1949, with
a yearly attendance of 123,139
and a daily attendance of 493.

It was gratifying to note that
there had been a wonderful re-
sponse from the IWA and other
unions that had been contacted
with regard to amendments to the
Compensation Act and changes in
the Safety Regulations. We were
impressed to hear that a two-
minute silence was observed at
the Convention in memory of
hose woodworkers killed during
1949.

Main theme of the Convention
according to the delegates was
the 1950 Wage and Union Shop
Drive. The full import of “No
Contract—No Work” was stressed
in this Auxiliary Local and the
women stand prepared to assist
in any way they can if called upon
in the eventuality of a struggle
towards realization of the objec-
tives set forth by the Union.

Also of interest was the report
of the get-together with the other
women present at the Convention
on Saturday, Jan. 7, in_ the
Lounge Room of the Plaza Hotel.

Plans are being made for a So-
cial for the Auxiliary and Local
membership sometime in the
month of April. A social evening
for the Auxiliary membership
will be held in the latter part of
March,

The Sunshine Draw was won
by Muriel Bradley.

Many thanks from the Auxili-
ary members to the Brothers in
Local 1-217 (who were delegates
to the recent District Convention)
for their gift of chocolates which
were enjoyed by all at our meet-
ing.

Muriel Bradley,
Secretary.

CO-OPS GET
GOOD HOMES

Dr. M. M. Coady, one of Ca-
nada’s greatest co-operative lead-
ers had the following tips for
workers during his recent visit to
British Columbia.

“The earliest field of consumer
co-operation is money. This
means the credit union, We have
450 credit unions in the Mari-
times, with 90,000 members, and
$11 million in savings.

“Then there is the field of busi-
ness—storekeeping. We have now
210 stores, and last year they did
a business of $17 million. We
have a wholesale, with three af-
filiates, and they did a business
of $10 million.

“Then there are the services.
Our most spectacular work has
been in the field of housing. This
summer in Cape Breton, we had
28 groups building houses, one of
them a 45 member group. The
work is done by the people them-
selves, and in this way they are
able to build homes at a cost of
about $3,500 or $4,000. These
homes would run up to $7,000 or
$8,000 if done in any other way.”

Co-Op Pilot,

SUPPORT OUR
ADVERTISERS

worker to the following:

Lucier Baril, Chemainus—Elbow
injury. Doing well. :
Edwards, Port Renfrew—Old in-
juries, arm and leg. Improving.
Forbes, Stickland Fuels—Leg in-
jury. Hopes to be out soon.
H. Williamson, Crystal Lake Log-

ging—Leg injury. Feeling fine.

A. Carson, Fugle Lumber Co.,
Dawson Creek—Broken leg.

W. Niobeck, Chemainus — Doing
well.

Read Nichols, Comox Logging —
Has just undergone another
operation. Bone graft on leg.
Feeling as well as possible un-
der the circumstances;

Paul Conlon, Chemainus — Back
in hospital with old foot injury.
In good spirits.

Ernest Brown, Parksville — Leg
injury. Feeling quite cheerful.

O. Parta, Chemainus — Back in
hospital with old leg injury.
We were glad to see Oni so well
and cheerful,

Ross Sinclair, Comox Logging —
Knee injury.

Nelson, Enderby—Back in hospi-
tal with old foot injury.

S. Bean, Canadian Forest Prod-
ucts, Harrison Creek—Leg in-
jury.

H. M. Williamson, Crystal Lake
Logging, Sechelt—Back and leg
injuries.

Jack Innis, Stuart Island—Back
injury. Operation.

Logger, name not available —
Back injury.

Three decks of playing cards
for Compensation Ward were left
in care of Oni Parta by Sisters
eae Fulljames and Muriel Brad-
ley.

Vancouver General Hospital

Sisters G. McDougall and L,
Busch of the Women’s Auxiliary,
Local 1-217, visited the Vancou-
couver General Hospital, and dis-
tributed copies of the B.C. Lum-
ber Worker, International Wood-
worker, cigarettes, matches and
chocolate bars to the following:
Joe Koenig, Eburne—T.B. Ward.

Hoping to be up and around

soon.

A. Holsteine, Deering Lumber,

Nanaimo — Skin graft to be
done on hand.

A. Ross, Mission—Leg amputated

In good spirits.

O. Storr, Campbell River — In-
jured leg. Feeling fine.

Bondreaux — Visitors unable to
see him, but papers and cigar-
ettes left with nurse.

W. Marlor, Franklin River —

Fairly well.

A. Wallin, Campbell River—Sinus
trouble. Feeling not too bad.
F. Egner, Ladysmith—Leg injury

Quite cheerful,

W. Rowhik—Operation on hand.

Lundberg Abert, Eburne Saw-
mills — Operated on previous
day. Doing well.

M. Sokolsky, Pioneer Lumber,
Port McNeil—Getting better.
G. Robinson, Hunting & Merritt
—Uleers. Feeling not too bad.
M, Larson, B.C. Forest Products,
Pitt River—Burns on shoulder

and arm. Feeling well.

W. Grisonthwaite, Allison Har-
bor — Frozen feet, Necessary
to amputate both feet, Very
painful.

Eugene Ducchorme, Jackson Bay
—Leg injury. Very cheerful.

Oscar Stochoski, Western Ply-
woods—Scalded arm. Ready to
go home.

John Rankin, Robertson & Hack,

ett—Tumour on spine. Not so’ A

well.

W,. Gordon, Princeton — Old leg
injury. Feeling fairly well.

F. Barry — Leg injury. Feeling
better,

R, Murray—Logging camp cook.
Broken leg and hip. Also shoul-
der injury and arm. Operation
pending.

D. Barton, Englewood, Canadian
Forest Products—Old arm in-
jury. Bone graft. Not so well.

Bosses’ Report

Labor’s 1950 bargaining posi-
tion is the poorest since the war
ended.

That's not to say that the
unions will be weak. Neverthe,
less, unemployment will be hig!
enough to make them a little
more cautious,

*

Unemployment now probably
is about 4 million.

Unless business improves more
than expected, the total will grow
still more by summer. July’s job-
less could set a post-war high of
5 million.

se

* *

*

Women have been ‘relatively
better than men at finding non-
farm jobs over the last year.

Presumably, there is a wage-
cutting angle in this... Em-
ployment of women rose about
350,000 in 1949; for men, the
total was down more than 700,-
000.

—Business Week.

BY THE WAY...

Peter Pitman of Sydney, Aus-
tralia, resigned from ‘Tooth’s
Brewery after serving 70 years.

His reward from the firm — a
perpetual calendar!

Love is not blind—it sees more,
not less. But because it sees
more, it is willing to see less.

—Rabbi Julius Gordon

After her first horseback ride,
a. young lady was heard to ex-
claim: “I never imagined any-
thing filled with hay could ride
so hard”.

After a series of accidents, a
man reported to his safety com-
mittee: “I’ve had so many close
calls, I feel like a fugitive from
the law, of averages”.

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