B.C. LUMBER WORKER ‘MAKE DEMOCRACY WORTH DEFENDING’ ---CCL Brief| Organized Canadian workers who recognize the menace of Communist aggression and are prepared to shoulder their responsibilities in defence of democracy are exposed to frustration and despair by the national failure to remedy conditions in Canada. This was the keynote of the 5,000-word brief submitted to the Federal Cabinet, as prepared by the National Execu- Page 12 Geo. Mitchell Reports he UNION U INTERIOR ISSUE ‘HE IWA is well on its way to debunk the nonsensical notion that any economic necessity compels the maintenance of a lower wage level in the Interior of British Columbia. Business interests have made big money by peddling this false idea around the province. This issue will be fought out in concilia- tion proceedings affecting employees of the Columbia Cellulose Corporation Ltd. in the north. April 19, 1952 Installation Set For 1-80 Newly-elected officers for Local 1-80, IWA, will be in- stalled by International President J. E. Fadling at the next membership meet- ing to be held in the Odeon Theatre, Duncan, April 29, at 10 am. District Secretary-Treas¢ urer George Mitchell is ex- pected to assist at the Costs of living are as high, and in some places higher, through- someewnen out the Interior. _ Workers in the Interior are en- titled to stand- ards of living at least equal to those earned at the Coast. Work is just as exacting and hazardous in the Interior, and Var should be rewarded by wages and working conditions established elsewhere. Employers’ Advantages The employers have many ad- vantages in the Interior, One such advantage is that their capi- tal investment is not as great as at the Coast. When they gain the added advantage of low cost labor they simply sell in the lum- ber market at proportionately greater profit. The hard and unpalatable fact is that lumber workers in the In- terior have not had equal oppor- tunities with those at the Coast to build an organization that can cope with unscrupulous em- ployers. The lumber workers in that area have for this reason been cruelly exploited. When there is a scarcity of skilled labor, the lumber oper- ators pay above the scale, even above the scale prevailing at the Coast. At the same time they refuse to incorporate these rates in a contract, expecting, no doubt, that when skilled labor is plentiful they will manipulate wage rates to their advantage. There are too many instances on record where employers have failed to bargain in good faith, or when a collective agreement has been reached they have shamelessly disregarded its terms. No Difference 1 In the Prince Rupert-Terrace area, the Columbia Cellulose Corp. has logging operations which extend beyond the imagi- nary line supposed to divide the Coast area from the Interior. We can discover no differences in the operations on either side of this line. Yet they propose that men working for the same company at the same type of work, a few miles apart, should be paid different scales, just be- cause the Interior wants the old differential under the precedent established. The reasoning behind this at- tempted discrimination against Interior lumber workers is the reasoning of anti-labor interests who are determined to maintain depressed wages in the Interior, and are therefore exerting pres- sure to hold this dividing line. The situation which has now developed in the north brings this question closer home to Coast workers. If they succeed in enforcing lower wage scales in the proximity of Coast logging operations, it will be only a short time till they find arguments to lower wages in the immediate Coast area, to “keep things in balance.” We have one more good reason on the Coast to put all our weight into the fight this year to nego- tiate a deal for the Interior lum- ber workers at least as good as the one secured at the Coast. TOP RATES FOR MEDICS Top-heavy incomes of lawyers, doctors and dentists, away above the general public standard, have been revealed in a survey by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. In 1948 only 4.69 percent of all Canadians paying income tax had incomes of over $5,000, but in 1946, 47.2 percent of all’ doc- tors earned between $5,000 and $20,000. In 1948, 64:9 percent of the country’s made between $5,000 and $25,000. In 1944, 27.8 per- cent of the nation’s dentists’ made more than $5,500. Insure Success in Life! LEARN TECHNICAL METAPHYSICS Valuable Information! CANADA SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL METAPHYSICS 2532 McKenzie Street VANCOUVER, B.C. Publication date of the next Issue of the B.C. LUMBER WORKER is May 3. Deadline for ad copy is April 27, and for few copy April 27, President...» Ist Vice-President ..... 2nd Vice-President Srd_ Vice-President Secretary-Treasurer ... EC LonsentWorxen Representing the Orgacized Loggers and Mill Workers of B.C,“ ie PUBLISHED TWICE MONTHLY BY INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO-CCL) B.C. DISTRICT COUNCIL No. 1. DISTRICT OFFICERS: recernvevesensessescrernsoneeD Biewart Alsbury International Board Member «2... Address all communications to GEORGE H, MITCHELL, Secretary-Treasurer 45 Kingsway - Phone FAirmont 8507-8 ‘Vancouver, B,C. Subscription Rates.. Advertising Representative...........@. A. Spencer Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Dept., Ottawa 20,000 COPIES PRINTED IN THIS ISSUE => m Bradley Joe Morris voevvanrRobert Watters George H. Mitchell tom G, MacKenzie $1.50 per annum tive of the Canadian Congress of Labor to point out that Canada should have a social and economic program at home which workers would find worth defending. - The submission dealt at length with the urgent necessity of price control, and scored the ineffec- tiveness of measures adopted by the Federal Government to curb inflation. The Congress also reiterated the demand of the 1950 conven- tion for home construction within the reach of the lower income groups on reasonable terms. National Code A National Labor Code was demanded in order to secure uni formly satisfactory labor Iegis- lation in all provinces. Discrimination against hotel and water transport employees in the compulsory arbitration which followed the railway strike was attacked. Removal of this dis- crimination was necessary, it was stated, to restore harmony and good will among the em- ployees affected and maintain efficient service for the travelling public. Increased benefits under the Unemployment Insurance Act without increased contributions were also advocated together with elimination of non-compen- sable days and reduction of the waiting period. Labor Representation The Government was urged by the Congress to adopt a uniform policy of appointing labor rep- resentatives on all government bodies in which it has a direct interest, with the exception of technical matters of defence. Opposition was expressed to the proposed agreements with the provinces conferring upon them the right to enter the field of indirect taxes. It was said “indirect taxes are hidden taxes; they tax a man according to the size of his stomach rather than his pocket-book.” Numerous other _recommenda- tions were made based on the policy decisions of the annual convention. Committee Kept Idle Mystery of the moribund Standing Committee on Labor of the B.C. Legislature re- mained unsolved April 16. No explanation had been given by the Coalition Government why such a committee is regularly appointed each session and in- variably denied the right to transact any business. Motion of the Legislature, Feb- ruary 22, appointed the following as members of this Select Stand- ing Committee for the present session: Labor — Messrs. Gillis, Mc- Donell, MacDougall, Whisker, MacIntyre, Pearson, Proudfoot, Uphill, E. E, Winch, Turner, and Nimsick. On February 27, Arthur Tur- ner, MLA, moved as follows: “That briefs presented to the Cabinet by recognized labor and management organizations be re- ferred to the Select Standing Committee on Labor and that the Committee be authorized to hear further representations on mat- ters contained therein and report its findings to this House.” When the Turner resolution was before the House, the debate was adjourned by the Mi of Labor, throueh which device he successfully postponed all con- sideration of the matter until the closing days of the session, when the work of the committee would in all certainty be fruitless. ceremony. “A full attendance of members is urged. BLIND... INCOMPETENT... UNWANTED... A vote of “No Confidence” in the B.C. Legislature, put to the house by Opposition Leader Harold Winch, CCF, was defeated by the steamroller Coalition majority. Mr. Winch documented his belief that “His Majesty’s ministers have shown incompetence, lack of foresight and no longer possess the confidence of the people to a degree sufficient to enable th satisfact ily to carry through measures of essential importance” b! giving nine quotations from Vancouver and Victoria newspapers. 1221 GRANVILLE STREET VANCOUVER, B.C. MArine 7235 Under New Management Money Orders! When you want to send money by mail, use Canadian Bank of Commerce money orders. You can buy them at any Commerce branch in British Columbia. They can be mailed safely—can be cashed readily. Be safe when mailing money. Use Canadian Bank of Commerce Money Orders. BANKING BY MAIL is convenient, easy to do. See for yourself—today. THE CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE > 80 Branches in British Columbia